At the Albany Park Multicultural Academy in Chicago, students are exposed to weekly seminars where they discuss issues raised in various articles. The teacher facilitators encourage students to think critically about the issues and express their opinions about them, suing the text of the article as well as their personal experience as the basis for their comments. The goal is to make a connection between the ideas in the articles and what is happening in the world today. The facilitators also encourage students to think about the conclusions they draw, questioning their own ideas and developing problem-solving strategies. The following rating scale and chart describe the criteria teachers use to assess the students' thinking skills. They also show how the students' social skills are developed and assessed by participating inthese discussions.
Albany Park Multicultural Academy
Socratic Seminar
Evaluation of Seminar-By Seminar Leader
Criterion I: Participation
Score____
0 - Does not participate
1 - One way communication - Talks but does not listen
2 - Two way communication, shows openness
3 - Asks others to clarify and substantiate statements
4 - Participates fully, courteous to others, attempts to get others to participate, does not monopolize
Criterion II: Substantiation
Score____
0 - Does not support opinions
1 - Attempts to support opinions, but more from experience than from the text
2 - Supports from text as well as from experience, but examples only rarely show real understanding
3 - Supports opinions with evidence from text and from experience, sometimes showing understanding of the text and relevance of the issue
4 - Supports opinions with evidence from the text and from experience, showing understanding of the text and relevance of the issue
Criterion III: Thinking About My Thinking (Metacognition)
Score____
0 - Does not utilize self monitoring or apply logical thinking
1 - Attempts to solve breakdown in thought process but shows confusion in making an hypothesis
2 - Applies logic to problems, has difficulty drawing conclusions, uses deductive reasoning, works to check hypothesis
3 - Analyses hypothesis but does not apply logical processing in drawing conclusions
4 - Displays problem solving strategy, shows ability to remediate breakdown in thinking, questions own ideas
Total Score:______
Grading Scale:
A = 10 - 12
B = 6 - 9
C = 2 - 5
D = 1
F = 0
| None | Moving | In Progress | Meets | Exceeds |
| does not participate | one way communication (I talk but I don't listen) |
two way communication, shows openness | asks others to clarify and substantiate statements | participates fully, courteous to others, attempts to get quiet students to participate, does not monopolize conversation |
Criteria II: Thinking About My Thinking (Metacognition)
| None | Moving | In Progress | Meets | Exceeds |
| does not utilize self monitoring or apply logical thinking | attempts to solve breakdown in thought process but shows confusion in making an hypothesis | applies logic to problems, has difficulty drawing conclusions, uses deductive reasoning, works to check hypothesis | analyzes hypothesis but does not apply logical processing in drawing conclusions | displays problem-solving strategy, shows ability to remediate breakdown in thinking, questions own ideas |