154 Difference
doesn’t have any stopping and starting dates in it, does it? So we don’t know how long
it would take to perform this contract. In your view, is this a contract that cannot be
performed in under one year? (5/24/6)We see again how much more framing and substance is given students here than in
the stereotypical Socratic exchange; the different parts of the test are clearly laid out,
the part that is applicable in this case is highlighted, and the pertinent facts from the
case are even selected for the student, so that he is left with only one out of many cal-
culations to make. At the end of the exchange with this student, the professor implic-
itly attempts to take responsibility for the discursive trouble in the exchange by saying
“I don’t know why I’m so inarticulate this morning,” and praises the student for “an
analytically satisfactory approach to the problem.” In attempting to generate interest,
this teacher, like the professor in Class #1, also uses a participatory technique to in-
volve the entire class: he periodically asks the class to vote on points that are being
raised in the discussion—another departure from the stereotypical format.
Thus, our modified Socratic classrooms retain the intimidating structure re-
quiring one student to remain in extended conversation through large parts of the
class time (in some cases, one student would carry the dialogue for an entire class).
It is clear from some of the transcripts that this format causes difficulties for some
students, regardless of the many discursive features sometimes used to create a
smoother and less intimidating environment. There is also some variability in pro-
fessorial response; as we’ve seen, not all of the extended dialogues proceed so
smoothly, and professors are not uniformly encouraging or gentle. At times the
joking responses and other devices used to move the dialogue past problematic
moments (talking over, supplying the answer, calling on another student) could
certainly leave a bit of a sour taste (as, for example, when in response to a student
who says “I would say no, but I’m not sure why,” the professor in Class #1 responds,
“See, that really takes away from an argument, if you don’t know why, you know?”
and moves on to another student). On the other hand, the transcripts from these
three classrooms contain numerous dialogues in which professors and students
produce relatively cohesive and coherent narratives developed through lengthy dia-
logues. This is in large part due to the ways the professors actually depart from the
stereotypical Socratic teaching method, providing a wealth of hints and cues, inter-
stitial explanations, and encouraging metacommentary to facilitate the coproduced
dialogue. They also routinely provide answers—that is, they pause for shorter or
longer explicit delineations of the doctrines at issue, their application to the facts
in particular cases, and the ways analogies can be built between cases. In his inter-
view with me, the professor in Class #4 explains the way he views his method as
departing from standard Socratic teaching:
EM: Would you characterize what you do as Socratic teaching?
Prof.: I, I- not in a pure sense. Definitely not. Because, the true Socratic method
is deeply skeptical. Doesn’t provide- never provides an answer. Maybe
provides slightly more and less leading questions that leave the impression
that the questioner has some point of view.... I had people [professors]
who talked that way, but I don’t do that. You know, I- I think that it’s
Socratic in the sense that I ask them a lot of questions. And if that’s what