Assessment tool: Socratic seminar
Type: summative
Grouping: individual, whole class
Purpose: This tool will help students to use communication skills in a socratic seminar to showcase their knowledge and understanding. Students will ask questions and try to answer questions within this assessment tool.
Rationale: Communication is an important aspect of assessment and within a group of your peers is important. In an informal way, the whole class is creating a collaborative understanding of the topic by asking questions and expressing opinions and responses to them. A teacher may use observation or a checklist indicating what outcomes or performance indicators are being achieved. It is important that these are discussed prior to the socratic seminar so students understand what and how they are being assessed. In this type of assessment it is hard for someone to participate if they haven't done the work or reading. A socratic seminar should be modelled first so students can witness this first hand under informal conditions.
21CLD connection: A variation I have sen of this is to have students on the outside of the circle having their own conversation based on the inner circle conversation but via social media such as Facebook or Edmodo. This can be recorded and printed for assessment of level and complexity of conversation at a later time by the teacher. This use generates some real time conversation where more than one person can express a viewpoint. Knowledge construction is individualized and collectively. It then becomes transmitted onto the social media where the conversation can continue beyond the time frame of the class.
Example:
Grouping: individual, whole class
Purpose: This tool will help students to use communication skills in a socratic seminar to showcase their knowledge and understanding. Students will ask questions and try to answer questions within this assessment tool.
Rationale: Communication is an important aspect of assessment and within a group of your peers is important. In an informal way, the whole class is creating a collaborative understanding of the topic by asking questions and expressing opinions and responses to them. A teacher may use observation or a checklist indicating what outcomes or performance indicators are being achieved. It is important that these are discussed prior to the socratic seminar so students understand what and how they are being assessed. In this type of assessment it is hard for someone to participate if they haven't done the work or reading. A socratic seminar should be modelled first so students can witness this first hand under informal conditions.
21CLD connection: A variation I have sen of this is to have students on the outside of the circle having their own conversation based on the inner circle conversation but via social media such as Facebook or Edmodo. This can be recorded and printed for assessment of level and complexity of conversation at a later time by the teacher. This use generates some real time conversation where more than one person can express a viewpoint. Knowledge construction is individualized and collectively. It then becomes transmitted onto the social media where the conversation can continue beyond the time frame of the class.
Example:
Source: Retrieved from: http://www.studyguide.org/socratic_seminar_student.htm