Linking Five-Paragraph Essays, Seminars, and Differentiated Projects in Secondary School Humanities Curriculum

Introduction

Discussion-based assessment methods are rooted in the psychological principles of questioning (Agarwal, 2019; Costa & Kallick, 2015; Dillon, 1982). Writing in response to questions is an essential component of preparation for discussion-based activities so that students have sufficient knowledge to participate in a rigorous discussion. This also forms part of the basis for the expository essay as a form of advanced communication that can be taught with templates. The teaching of writing skills across the curriculum has been shown in research studies to be an important component for students effectively learning content knowledge, developing more advanced reasoning skills, developing additional literacy skills in the synthesis of multiple sources of information at higher complexity levels of reading, and improving their communication skills (Graham et al., 2020).

This chapter presents a Socratic seminar rubric template, a five-paragraph essay rubric template, and related assessment processes as formative and summative assessment tools aligned with principles of questioning and cognition from educational psychology. These are built on established best practices but refined on a framework that links them together on a standards-based structure that allows for the teacher and student to have regular check-ins about what is working and what may need tutorial (see Figure 1). Bloom’s taxonomy, for example, has levels of thinking skills that overlay Costa’s levels of questioning (see Costa & Kallick, 2015). There is a hierarchy of cognitive domains and associated action verbs to begin questions from basic knowledge to advanced synthesis, evaluation, and creation of new knowledge (Agarwal, 2019; Costa & Kallick, 2015; Dillon, 1982). Discussion-based teaching and learning is important in fostering students’ knowledge and reasoning skills as well as peer collaboration that fosters classroom community (Moeller & Moeller, 2002). Discussion skills should be taught within English language arts and social studies courses.

The curriculum framework presented is important for school administrators, especially assistant principals who will likely be working more closely with teachers, because the standards-based approach to linking expository writing with discussion-based tasks and aligned to the assessment flowchart (see Figure 1), gives teachers and assistant principals a common framework with which to understand student academic progress. This can be further aligned across grade levels for a “spiraling” curriculum in which each grade level intentionally builds on the previous grade level skills for college preparedness (Harati et al., 2020). Practicing discussion skills that are formatively assessed will prepare students for summative discussion-based assessments that foster their confidence in synthesizing the readings and other learning materials and in discussing the concepts and topics of the course with their peers (Carina et al., 2020). Writing responses to the prompts in preparation for the seminar fosters students’ synthesis skills and their expository writing skills when the preparation assignment is structured in essay format. Socratic seminars are an example of a teacher-directed, structured approach that requires students to actively engage with the materials and with each other in ways that can be aligned with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL; Hall et al., 2012) and Understanding by Design (UbD; Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) that also align with the social studies C3 Framework (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013) and literacy standards (International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English, 2009).