Assessment and Evaluation: Although I generally use the seminar to provide students an opportunity to process ideas before a formal assessment, the discussion can be used as a demonstration of knowledge as well.

Socratic Seminar: Evaluation Option 1:

Assessing the comments.

Criteria for assessing the comments made in the discussion might be determined by the teacher, the students, or through a dialog between teacher and students.

One possibility is to assign comments a score between 1 and 6, based on the following levels of understanding evident in the comment.

1. Shows comprehension of the reading.
2. Shows comprehension of the reading and understanding of the essential question.
3. Clearly relates to comments made by other students.
4. Clearly relates to comments made by other students, and advances the discussion
(this could be an insightful question or thought-provoking comment).
5. Advances the discussion, and connects to themes from other reading we’ve done.
6. Synthesis. Based on what we’ve studied, read, and recently discussed, new meaning is made.

Link to PDF:

Evaluation Option #2

Another approach is to use the discussion as a way for students to demonstrate knowledge of specific content. In the case of literary works, the categories might break down into plot, character, symbol, and theme. You can create a rubric by breaking down the knowledge you'd like to see demonstrated into several categories, then articulating what comments of escalating levels of thought might sound like or contain.