Engaging Students in Poetry Discussions Using Socratic Circles
Listen to how Ms Zalena Aman used Socratic Circles to spark richer poetry discussions in her Secondary English classroom.
Last updated 9 September 2026
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In this episode, English Language Teacher Ms Zalena Aman from Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary) talks to Dr Jeanne Ho, Deputy Director Special Projects (ELIS), about her classroom inquiry project which explored the use of Socratic Circles to engage students in poetry discussions.
Zalena attended ELIS’s Classroom Inquiry for EL and Literature Teachers course in 2023.
Further reading by discussion topic
Topic | Further Reading |
Classroom Talk | Boyd, M. P., & Galda, L. (2011). Real Talk in Elementary Classrooms: Effective Oral Language Practice. Guilford Press. Zwiers, J., & Crawford, M. (2011). Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk That Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings. Stenhouse Publishers. |
Socratic Circles | Brown, A. C. (2016). Classroom community and discourse: How argumentation emerges during a Socratic circle. Dialogic Pedagogy: A Journal for Studies of Dialogic Education, 4. https://doi.org/10.5195/dpj.2016.160 (opens in new tab) |