00:00 Introduction

• Teddy Lane welcomes educators to the session and invites attendees to share where they are joining from, what subjects they teach, and whether they have used Socratic seminars or other discussion-based methods in their classrooms.

• The introduction emphasizes that Socratic seminars can work across disciplines—not only in English and social studies—and frames the session around helping students share ideas, listen actively, and take greater ownership of classroom conversations.

• Teddy previews the agenda, explaining that attendees will first review the structure and benefits of Socratic seminars, then explore two Flint lesson examples, examine student preparation data and follow-up tools, and finish with an interactive Q&A.

03:56 What is a Socratic seminar?

• Teddy explains how Socratic seminars shift classroom discussions away from teacher-led questioning and toward student-led inquiry, allowing students’ ideas, interpretations, and questions to guide the conversation.

• The session outlines a common seminar structure in which one group of students discusses a central question while another group listens, observes, and takes notes before the groups switch roles.

• Teddy highlights how this format builds both active speaking and active listening skills, helping students practice responding thoughtfully, waiting for others to finish, and engaging with ideas rather than simply preparing their next answer.

• The section also explores the teacher’s role as an observer and facilitator who can step back, monitor student participation, take notes, and intervene only when the discussion needs additional direction or support.

• Teddy introduces Flint as a tool for reducing the preparation burden associated with Socratic seminars by giving students clear instructions and helping them develop evidence-based ideas before the live classroom discussion begins.

06:11 French ACTFL lesson demo

• Using Le Petit Prince as an example, Teddy demonstrates how a French teacher can create a Socratic seminar preparation activity centered on the question of what the fox teaches the prince about what makes something unique or meaningful.

• The walkthrough begins inside Flint’s Activity Builder, where Teddy shows how teachers can organize activities within classes and folders, select relevant curriculum standards, and choose between building manually or collaborating with Sparky.

• Teddy uses speech-to-text prompting to describe the lesson, student reading levels, desired seminar outcomes, and the type of support students should receive, illustrating how teachers can communicate their instructional ideas naturally rather than writing highly structured prompts.

• The demonstration shows how Sparky can ask clarifying questions about lesson structure, the central discussion question, language expectations, and the amount of guidance students should receive before generating the activity.

• Teddy explains how the lesson can begin by identifying where each student is in the preparation process, allowing Sparky to provide personalized support rather than forcing every student to begin with the same step.

• The walkthrough also covers configuring French as the primary language while allowing English as a secondary language, supporting students who may need occasional vocabulary or comprehension assistance while preparing to discuss the text in French.

• Teddy demonstrates how teachers can align the activity with ACTFL standards related to reading comprehension, communication, and classroom discussion, while also adding or generating a rubric to evaluate the strength of students’ claims and textual evidence.

• The section explores assignment settings such as deadlines, timed sessions, response limits, and calendar visibility, helping teachers ensure students complete their preparation before the live Socratic seminar.

• Teddy concludes the demonstration by previewing and simulating the activity, showing how teachers can test Sparky’s instructions, language behavior, and rubric alignment before publishing the lesson to students.

22:12 Common Core social studies lesson demo

• The second demonstration explores a Common Core-aligned social studies lesson based on Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, with students preparing to debate whether King presents a convincing argument.

• Teddy explains how teachers can structure the Socratic seminar as a pro-and-con debate, either placing one side in the center while the other listens or mixing both perspectives within each discussion group.

• The walkthrough shows how teachers can add Common Core English language arts and social studies standards to a Flint class, browse school curriculum documents, and confirm that the relevant standards are available before building an activity.

• Teddy demonstrates how separate pro and con activities can provide each student group with different guidance, evidence prompts, and preparation support based on the side of the debate they have been assigned.

• The session then moves into Flint’s activity analytics, where Teddy shows how teachers can review class-wide strengths, areas for improvement, rubric performance, and specific examples from student conversations before the seminar begins.

• Teddy explains how these insights can help teachers anticipate which ideas students are likely to raise, identify topics that may be overlooked, and prepare questions or prompts in case the live discussion stalls.

• The demonstration highlights how teachers can recognize strong student ideas and intentionally invite quieter students to share contributions they developed during their preparation work.

• Teddy also shows how areas of improvement can reveal missing citations, incomplete reasoning, or underdeveloped claims, allowing teachers to provide targeted support one or two days before the seminar.

• The section explores Flint’s follow-up activity tools, including the ability to generate class-wide or individualized activities based on student performance and assign additional preparation only to learners who need it.

• Teddy demonstrates how rubric data can be used to organize differentiated preparation groups, with some students completing targeted follow-up work while others begin practicing their arguments in trial debates.

• The walkthrough concludes by showing how teachers can review individual student conversations, provide personalized rubric feedback, and use class-level analytics to ensure students enter the Socratic seminar feeling prepared and confident enough to contribute.

37:24 Q&A

• The Q&A begins with a discussion of how educators can access Flint through both free and paid plans, including the differences between the tools and integrations available within each option.

• Teddy explains that paid school plans include features such as LMS and SIS integrations, automatic class rostering, curriculum uploads, organized class folders, and expanded activity management tools.

• The discussion also reinforces how Socratic seminars and discussion-preparation activities can be adapted across disciplines, including math, science, world languages, English, and social studies.

• Teddy closes by directing educators to additional Flint resources, including previous webinar recordings, teacher office hours, Flint’s social channels, and the Flint Community, where educators can ask questions, share activities, and exchange classroom strategies.

• The session concludes by inviting attendees to continue experimenting with student-led discussion and use Flint to help learners arrive prepared to speak, listen, and engage more deeply with one another.