MY NAME IS ASHER LEV

CHAIM POTOK

FINAL ASSESSMENT: Socratic Seminar

To bring “closure” to this unit on My Name is Asher Lev, we will have a Socratic Seminar on the issues, insights, thoughts, epiphanies you have while, or as a result of, reading this book. (That means you need to look for them if they aren’t coming on their own.) This discussion will take place on the day the book is due: Nov 7 or Nov 8.

The key to this discussion is that I will not be leading it. You, the students, will be. I will be there, I may even contribute, but my main job will be to keep track of who participates and who doesn’t in order to give you a score. This discussion will hopefully be a valuable and enlightening experience for us all.

Requirements:

  1. Come to the discussion having read the whole book so you can make intelligent and applicable comments.
  1. There are 3 basic kinds of questions:

?Factual: based on the text and can have only one correct answer

?Interpretive: based on the text, but the text can support more than one answer

?Evaluative: don’t necessarily rely on the text, but are questions that ask you to make a judgment call and come to a moral/logical conclusion relative to issues discussed in the text

You will need to come prepared with three Interpretive/Evaluative questions on the day of the seminar.

  1. In addition, while reading, make a list of 10 meaningful quotes/passages/moments, etc. and write a response to each, explaining why it is significant to you.Your list of 10 quotes/passages/moments, etc. and their responses must be typed. Be sure your responses are each a good, solid paragraph—no more, no less!
  1. Use this list and questions to prepare for the discussion. Each student will choose one of the topics they wrote about to bring up to the class.

4. Each student will not only have to introduce a topic for the class to discuss, but they must also respond to others’ topics. (That’s how it becomes a discussion, of course.) I will be keeping track of who speaks, how often they do so, and how valid and applicable their comments are. Please keep in mind that the whole class needs to participate, so if you are a talker, be sure to allow others the chance too. (See attached rubric.)

SCORING:

1. Top Ten List and responses: 50 pts

2. Presenting your topic to the class: 50 pts

Total possible: 100pts