Resisting the Socratic Method in Clinical Settings: Uplifting Marginalized Voices, and Creating More Resilient Advocates/Learners Through Discussion

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: Marriott St. Louis Grand

Room: Landmark 3

Floor: Ground Floor, Conference Plaza

Discussion is an act of resistance that advances equity in the classroom and creates more informed and resilient citizens. We believe that in order to advance justice outside of the classroom, we must first advance justice inside the classroom. This means resisting the Socratic method and other traditional lecture teaching styles and instead implementing learning strategies that are student focused and driven. Part of facilitating effective discussions is fostering a classroom environment where marginalized students are protected. Learning how to create and enforce classroom norms and working agreements provides clinicians with the necessary framework to address if/when a student is making the classroom less safe for marginalized voices. Effective discussions create space for marginalized voices to be heard and engaged within the classroom.

Additionally, students who learn how to have an actual discussion are more likely to be culturally competent and resilient. Once our classrooms become a place for actual discussion, they transform into a creative, collaborative, idea-generating space. This space allows for rich engagement in how to advance justice outside of the classroom. The presentation will be a mixture of discussion activities targeted at modeling examples of types of discussions clinicians can bring to their classroom and a presentation delving into the importance of discussion in clinic and key takeaways for facilitating discussion. The presentation will be rooted in the University of Wisconsin Madison’s Discussion Project – a project out of the university’s School of Education whose goal is to provide specialized professional learning courses to help educators design and facilitate more engaging, inclusive, and intellectually rigorous discussion classrooms. We see immense value in drawing from their expertise and tailoring it to the clinic setting.

Our goal is for attendees to leave with concrete tools for discussion and participation that they can immediately implement and are replicated across settings.