Socratic seminars and grades: How do I grade a student?

One thing I am asked about often is how to grade the work students complete in Socratic seminars. I like to think of it more as tracking and assessing rather than grading. It’s more important to track progress than it is to give students a grade because Socratic seminars are designed to meet students where they are in terms of the many different skills needed to have a successful seminar. In order to monitor progress, I track student participation. For a more traditional sense of grading, I use a rubric to score their writing responses (to the seminar).  Using both of those methods, I am able to really assess a student’s understanding of our class novel and identify areas in which they need more support. 

Tracking Participation: When I track participation among students, I use a typical form with their names listed and boxes next to their names. Along with that, I use a Key and place a letter next to their name each time someone speaks in the seminar. P = Prediction C = Connection I = Inference Q = Question for clarification/comprehension D = question to spark discussion R = retell T = cite text specific O = off task 

I like to keep track of the type of comments students make during the conversation because it helps me to come up with reading goals. For example, if I notice a student is often asking clarifying questions during seminars, I might create a small reading group to practice reading skills or assign the student to make notes to monitor their understanding while reading. 



Writing Assessment: I like to integrate writing along with the reading and to do that, I often assign a writing reflection after the Socratic seminars. In a few of my posts, I’ve mentioned how I present students with a Central Question around the halfway point of a seminar. During this time, students discuss their opinions and listen to other opinions. Their writing assignment requires students to formulate a final opinion on the question and relate their answer to their own lives and the story. I provide a rubric so students know what is expected, and I am able to see how much of the story (as well as the conversation) they retained. The rubrics are another great tool for me to use in assessing their understanding, but a great place to assess writing skills as well! ​