Community Circle A strategy for organized group discussion
Community Circle is a good strategy for group discussions. It allows all students an opportunity to respond to questions, without the pressure of putting them on the spot. It can help:
- structure small group discussion
- allow for 100% participation
- ensure active processing of content
Directions
- Devise 3-5 thought-provoking discussion questions about your lesson content
- Divide the class into circles of between 5 and 10 students
- Instruct students to respond to the first question by going around the circle one-by-one, in order
- Inform participants that they may "pass" at any time
- Continue with each of the questions
- Listen for student responses, and note which students pass, and on which questions. Find opportunities to encourage students who passed to answer future questions.
Variations
- Do two go-arounds: 1) Respond to the question directly, 2) Respond to other group members’ ideas
- Provide a small object to pass around the circle to signify the speaker’s turn