It's Saturday morning, and the Tecolote group at St. John's College is thinking great thoughts.

This room of teachers is engaged in discussion about issues of nationalism, respecting the rights of other cultures, dissidence, the uprising in Cairo, why students struggle in the classroom, how teachers can find a way to play a stronger role in educational reform, and whether freedom of speech gives you the freedom to speak in your native language if it's not English.

And all this because of the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay.

Tecolote, which started in 2002, is an outreach program of St. John's that teaches through conversation. It takes place over four Saturdays in a row, twice a year (January/February and again in September). Sitting in on one recent session, it struck me that the program is designed to develop creative thinking, mutual respect, and the right to voice an educated opinion (and disagreement).

Each year Tecolote program director Stephen Van Luchene selects a text and a theme for tutors and students to discuss. In past years Tecolote has used Immanuel Kant's The Critique of Pure Reason and Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb.

This year's theme is "Reflections on Democracy in America," and the required reading is Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (85 essays published in 1787 and 1788 urging ratification of the U.S. Constitution). The tutors use the texts as a jumping-off point for conversation.

"The program gives teachers from all over the state and from various grade levels the chance to come together and discuss — with some depth — interesting works that are most often outside the scope of what they will be teaching," tutor Litzi Engel said. "Teachers tell me that it changes how they work in the classroom."

One of those teachers — and a Tecolote tutor — is Laura Carthy, a Capital High School instructor and a St. John's graduate.

"I can't think of too many occasions where I look forward to meeting with teachers at school, because we're usually being given directives or being asked to address an issue or problem relating to student or school policies," she said. "... The Tecolote program is different in that everyone is eager to participate. We really get to think in a way we are not usually asked to do in the classroom. It's an intellectual workout — really hard but rejuvenating."

Ernesto Cruz, a Santa Fe High School history teacher, was also in Engel's session. The program, he said via e-mail afterward, "reminds me of the need for discussion in the classroom. With all of the state and federal mandates that are forced upon us, it is easy to lose sight of how important discussion is for teaching critical-thinking skills. The ability to construct and defend an argument based on logic and fact, and to read texts closely and think critically, are in danger of being lost in public education."

He made it clear that he also finds Tecolote "a lot of fun."

And it was fun watching the participants as Engel used quotes from the texts to ask questions about democracy, the value of the Bill of Rights today, whether the Federalist Papers define who "we, the people" are, and other issues that somehow always led to education and then back to the text itself.

And Tecolote reinforces the need to talk with someone, not at them, as Carthy noted: "I think teachers are often guilty of talking 'at' students. I always try to sit with my students and show them, even on a symbolic level, that I am one of them. That's a St. John's philosophy — that everyone is a learner."

Teachers — who are usually recommended for the program by St. John's alumni or Tecolote participants — receive a free lunch and $100-per-Saturday stipend for attending. Visit www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/tecolote.shtml for information.