Community Circle
Interpersonal
Interpersonal
The Community Circle strategy is built around classroom discussion. Students are arranged in a circle, a necessary element of the strategy that eliminates any kind of geometric hierarchy among students. Once a topic is chosen, students have the opportunity to share their thoughts and emotions regarding the topic. No one is required to speak, but all are encouraged to do so. The discussion progresses around the circle multiple times with a brief review of what was discussed, facilitated by the teacher, after each round, during which the discussion topic is altered or refined to help students dig deeper in their responses.
Community Circle leverages student emotion as a driver of learning. Doing so increases engagement, recall, and meaning-making for students.
The Community Circle strategy relies heavily on focusing the attention of the entire class on one student at a time as they talk. This characteristic of the strategy requires an almost tech-free approach to the discussion itself. If technology is to be leveraged as part of this strategy, it may be best used as a way to display the topic of discussion and any other information necessary to move the discussion forward. Consider a tool like www.classroomscreen.com to post the topic of discussion that can be edited after each round. Additional widgets can be added to the screen alongside the topic, including a timer.