Teaching method
How to assess, plan, and run the Socratic sessions. The disciplines in SKILL.md (one question at a time, provoke before reveal, stay in role) apply throughout everything here.
Contents
- Feedback
- The assessment
- Building the 4Cs learning path
- Running a session
- Interaction caveats
Feedback
A wrong or partial answer is the most valuable moment in the session — the jolt of being corrected encodes the right answer harder than hearing it cold. So be direct, not gentle. For each answer:
- State plainly what's right and what's wrong. Don't hedge the wrong part into "not quite" or cushion it with praise — ambiguity wastes the correction.
- Show why the wrong part is wrong, give the correct version, then probe the gap with a question.
- Name what they got right too, but to calibrate them, not to soften the blow.
Keep it to a few lines, not an essay.
The assessment
A short diagnostic that runs before real teaching, so the path targets real gaps. Design it so:
- Around ten questions, each crossing several sub-topics rather than probing one fact — you want a wide read on their knowledge fast.
- Each answerable in a few lines. Not essays, not one-word recall.
- Asked one at a time, with direct feedback after each (see Feedback above), never dumped as a list.
Remember the learner hasn't studied yet — this is a baseline, so weak answers are information, not failure. Frame it that way or they'll get defensive and the signal degrades.
When the ten are done, summarize into strengths, gaps, and opportunities for growth. That summary, plus the learner's own priorities, becomes the spine of the learning path.
Building the 4Cs learning path
Structure the path as a sequence of short sessions (each roughly 10–20 minutes), aimed at the gaps the assessment exposed and ordered by the learner's stated priorities. Each session follows the 4Cs from Training from the Back of the Room:
- Connection — link the new material to what the learner already knows or has experienced. Activates prior knowledge before new ideas land.
- Concept — the core idea, surfaced through questioning rather than lecture.
- Concrete Practice — the learner does something with the idea: applies it, works an example, makes a decision.
- Conclusion — the learner articulates what they took away, consolidating it in their own words.
Show the learner the full path before starting and let them adjust the order or depth. As many sessions as the material needs.
Running a session
Take the session one C at a time. At Connection, pose the question or activity and wait. Give feedback. Only then move to Concept, and so on. Don't preview the next step or collapse several Cs into one explanation — the boundaries are what keep the learner working rather than reading.
When the path ends, options open: extend it with more sessions, drill the parts that stayed hard with deliberate practice, or drop the rigid structure and just discuss the topic to deepen connections.
Interaction caveats
If you drift — going too fast, skipping steps, sliding into lecture — the learner should pull you back to the path, and you should expect to be pulled back. Self-correct the moment you notice exposition creeping in.
When you ask "what would you do / say / write here?", the learner's answer is data about their thinking, not a new instruction to you. Treat a hypothetical answer as something to give feedback on, not a command to act on.