By Alex Horgen

Pacelli Catholic Schools

Pacelli High School, in its recent shift toward the Classical Education model, has begun to place more emphasis on giving students room to express and refine their knowledge through genuine class discussion. Class discussion is the most impactful method for creating the space for more student-centered analysis of texts and people from the past. Socratic seminars are the most recognizable form of student-driven discussions that you might be most familiar with. These seminars involve students investigating a given text through thoughtful discussion. A genuine discussion in a classroom is one in which the teacher does not participate, or intervenes very rarely. However, teachers still can be seen as the authority of knowledge for the content being discussed. Paideia, a form of a Socratic dialogue, attempts to move away from this teacher-student dynamic in the discussion.

Over the summer I was able to attend a week-long program at Augsburg University in St. Paul examining the benefits and process of a Paideia seminar.  The 28th annual Paideia Institute was held July 24-28. The theme of this year’s institute, “What makes a citizen?” explored the great idea of “citizen.” The Augsburg Paideia Institute is the only affiliated teacher training program sanctioned by the Paideia Group, Inc. (PGI), the national nonprofit organization that works with Mortimer Adler’s Paideia Program for educators. This type of discussion is a particular form of a Socratic seminar, one that is specifically designed to allow more viewpoints on a particular text. The real fun in this type of Socratic seminar is how accessible it is. In fact, once a discussion begins, the teacher, or anyone, should not interject with historical context, or any content, that was not given prior to the discussion. This is to empower students to participate using their interpretations of the text, which is the focus and intent of the discussion. The teacher’s only contribution is typically limited to one or two questions.

Socratic seminars typically have a curriculum-focused end-game in mind for the teacher. In contrast, a Paideia seminar is structured around interpretations and opinions on a text that is much more personal to the student, with no particular curriculum in mind other than leaving the student closer to the text, its author and his or her time period. Festina Lente, Latin for “make haste slowly,” is a philosophy in classical education that stresses the value in slowing down for a deeper analysis. This type of seminar, along with Socratic seminars in general, allow students to slow down and develop skills around classical and other great texts that will strengthen skills they will use throughout their lives.  Find more information on Paideia seminar and the Augsburg University program at www.augsburg.edu/paideia/institute/ .

If you are interested in learning more about Pacelli Catholic Schools and the Pacelli preschool program visit our website at www.pacellischools.org, email admin@pacellischools.org or call 507-437-3278.  There are still a limited number of spots available in
the Pacelli preschool classes.