Starting with Socratic Elenchus
The phrase Socratic Elenchus gets used loosely enough that it is worth pinning down before going any further.
Two words, two jobs: Socratic names the approach and Elenchus names who or what it is for. Most confusion comes from treating them as one idea.
Who asks about this, and why
The reason students and the families supporting them end up here is rarely academic curiosity. It is usually a specific stuck point, and Socratic Elenchus turns out to be the name for it.
The recurring context is fractions and essay structure, where the same confusion tends to resurface.
The question that opens it up
What part of this already makes sense to you?
Whatever comes back, the next question is chosen from the answer rather than from a script — usually something close to What would have to be true for your answer to be wrong?
The mistake to avoid
Where this usually goes wrong is that a finished worksheet means the work was understood — a mistake that is invisible until something unfamiliar turns up.
What to do this week
In practice this means working a problem aloud, then explaining the reasoning to someone else without notes.
When the student starts asking their own next question before being prompted, the idea has landed.