On Teaching with Wisdom

This course virtual package explores Teaching with Wisdom, which is organized around the principles of the Paideia method (from the Greek paidos meaning “upbringing”) and incorporates FOUR aspects of learning:

• Lecturing (Didactic Teaching)
• Reading and Research
• Socratic Conversation
• Experiential Learning

Each of the four aspects of learning are important for the students to gain full knowledge and understanding of the subject under study. While lecturing is the most common method of teaching in secondary schools, and a great lecture is a viable means for teaching, Socratic conversation or as Aristotle explains it in his Rhetoric, the dialectic is often ignored. Our theory is that teachers do not intentionally implement Socratic conversation in part because this means is rarely explicitly taught. The same idea hold for core reading and researching and applied learning. Since these methods are often not explicitly taught they are not learned and enjoyed. This course includes the most complete means for implementing Socratic conversation as a step-by-step process know as Shared Inquiry TM. It is intended to be followed by practicing the Shared Inquiry TM method using the two brief writings included in the SI Manual located under Section Five: Resources.

Once mastered by the teacher and implemented regularly in the classroom, students will greatly benefit from digging deeper for meaning through active reading and collegial conversation.