Circles

Why Use Circles?

Circle-keeping comes from Indigenous knowledge and culture (Boyes-Watson & Pranis, 2015). Relationships First NL tells us that "talking circles work to create a safe space for discussion in order to improve relationships and build community" (Relationships First, 2020). It is within this safe space that participants can come together and develop shared values, so that they may create guidelines which encourage and support all those who wish to share their thoughts and feelings (Relationships First, 2020). In circle, we "ensure that every voice is heard" (Relationships First, 2020).

Boyes-Watson and Pranis (2015) tell us that "the Indigenous origins of the Circle process are the source of key teachings that are foundational to the process" (p. 78). The circle is seen as a symbol of Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Remember that in Indigenous education:

Everything is interconnected.
Though everything is connected, there are distinct parts, and it is important for them to be in balance.
Every part of the universe contributes to the whole and is equally valuable.
In the cyclical nature of life, there is always another chance.
(Boyes-Watson & Pranis, 2015, p. 78)

A Note About Jamboards

For online circles, jamboard is a great tool! Add an image to your jamboard with a large circle and students can fill out post-it notes to take their "seat" in the circle. You can even use a digital talking piece! Images like these are excellent for online classes. Simply set your chosen image as the background of a jamboard and students can interact by placing symbols or post-its. As with all resources provided here, this can easily be adapted to work in-class as well.

A Circle for Discovering Student Knowledge: New Topic/Unit

This circle process will help develop student curiosity and engagement surrounding a new topic or unit. What do they think they already know? What do they really know?

For this circle, you will need a talking piece, plus any prepared visual representations of/teaching aids for the new material

1. Students and teacher sit together in a circle of chairs.

2. Welcome to the space of the Circle.

3. All circle participants take a moment together to pause and be mindful. Consider personalizing this to fit the topic of the day. For instance, if your new topic is the History of Rock and Roll, have students close their eyes and visualize the lights and sounds of a rock concert. What instruments are they hearing? Are they standing or sitting at the concert? What is the general mood of the people at the concert?

4. Open the circle by sharing song lyrics, a poem, or some kind of reading related to your new unit/topic. You may choose to do a short meditation, a movement exercise, a listening activity (like listening to a song together), or an affirmation exercise. For our History of Rock and Roll Circle, perhaps you could read-aloud the lyrics to a famous rock song!

5. Review the circle expectations. In each "round" pass the talking piece around the Circle. The keeper poses a question. The keeper then passes the talking piece to the person to his/her left or right. On the first round, participants are invited to say their name as well as respond to the question. Remember, it is always okay for a participant to pass. Remind the group of classroom values and guidelines.

6. Check-in Round: How are you feeling today? Is there something happening in your world that we should know about today? On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate your mood?

7. Main Activity Round: What do you know and what do you wish to learn? "We are about to start to learn about _____________. Today we are having the Circle to hear about what each of you may already think or know about this topic. You may have learned about it before, or you may have just heard about it from others, or you may just want to share what you think it is about. So please share with us whatever you think or know about this topic or what you think this topic is about."

8. Response Round: After listening to what others have said, what are some things about this topic that you hope you will learn or know how to do?

9. Response Round 2: Do you have any concerns or worries about learning this topic? What do you think would be helpful for you?

10. Check-Out Round: How was the Circle today? What is one thing you are excited about learning after today?

11. Close the Circle: This is similar to the Opening. You may even choose to repeat the material used in the Opening. Song lyrics, a brief meditation/visualization activity, or a poem are all great ideas.

12. Thank everyone for participating in the Circle!

Checking for Understanding Circle

This circle process will help encourage students to feel comfortable sharing and asking for help with things that may have confused or challenged them along their learning journey.

For this circle, you will need a talking piece.

1. Students and teacher sit together in a circle of chairs.

2. Welcome to the space of the Circle.

3. All circle participants take a moment together to pause and be mindful. Consider personalizing this to fit the topic of the day. For instance, if you have been working on naming notes on the staff, you may have students visualize a grand staff full of different notes and rhythmic values. Have students think of all the creative tools they use to remember the note names on the staff.

4. Open the circle by sharing song lyrics, a poem, or some kind of reading related to your new unit/topic. You may choose to do a short meditation, a movement exercise, a listening activity (like listening to a song together), or an affirmation exercise.

5. Review the circle expectations. In each "round" pass the talking piece around the Circle. The keeper poses a question and. The keeper then passes the talking piece to the person to his/her left or right. On the first round, participants are invited to say their name as well as respond to the question. Remember, it is always okay for a participant to pass. Remind the group of classroom values and guidelines.

6. Check-in Round: How are you feeling today? Is there something happening in your world that we should know about today? On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate your mood? What colour are you today?

7. Main Activity Round: Offer students an opportunity to self-assess what they understand about the current unit/topic. A quick way to check is to pass around the talking piece and on their turn, each student will put up the number of fingers that represents their level of understanding. Five fingers means they feel like they completely understand everything that has been covered so far, no fingers or a fist it means they are feeling lost and confused. One finger can mean a student has lots of questions, two can mean just a few questions, and so on. For our example topic of learning notes on the staff, a full five fingers may mean that students know all the note names and positions on the staff, where only one finger may mean that students know a note or two, but have trouble remembering them all.

8. Response Round: Ask students who put up five fingers to tell us what they think they understand the best. Ask students who put up four fingers or less to share what they are the most unclear on.

9. Response Round 2: Ask each student to share the thing they think will help them to get a full hand of understanding. Have students share the things they think you can do as a class to help everyone understand this topic/unit best.

10. Check-Out Round: How was the Circle today? What is one thing you are excited about learning after today?

11. Close the Circle: This is similar to the Opening. You may even choose to repeat the material used in the Opening. Song lyrics, a brief meditation/visualization activity, or a poem are all great ideas.

12. Thank everyone for participating in the Circle!

Building Vocabulary Circle/Musical Terminology Circle

Throughout the K-12 music curriculum, there are many opportunities to introduce students to new and useful musical terminology. This Circle can be used to prepare students for reading a new piece of music, or learning challenging or unfamiliar vocabulary.

For this Circle you will need a talking piece and flash cards with new musical terminology; paper/pen and clipboards or journals; or a prepared slideshow of vocabulary words.

1. Students and teacher sit together in a circle of chairs.

2. Welcome to the space of the Circle.

3. All circle participants take a moment together to pause and be mindful. For this particular Circle, perhaps ask students to take a big breath in and while they exhale, ask them to clear their minds so that they are ready to learn new musical terminology.

4. Open the circle by sharing song lyrics, a poem, or some kind of reading related to your new unit/topic. You may choose to do a short meditation, a movement exercise, a listening activity (like listening to a song together), or an affirmation exercise.

5. Review the circle expectations. In each "round" pass the talking piece around the Circle. The keeper poses a question. The keeper then passes the talking piece to the person to his/her left or right. On the first round, participants are invited to say their name as well as respond to the question. Remember, it is always okay for a participant to pass. Remind the group of classroom values and guidelines.

6. Check-in Round: How are you feeling today? Is there something happening in your world that we should know about today? On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate your mood? What colour are you today? What is one new and interesting thing you have been thinking about lately?

7. Main Activity: In order to learn the meaning of new terminology, show flash cards or slideshow or a flip chart with vocabulary words. Ask each person to write down their best guess at the definition of the new word.

8. Response Round: Pass the talking piece around the Circle and have each student share their guess. If someone else has already said their definition, students can say that they agree with that person's guess. When the talking piece gets back around, the teacher will share the definition/meaning of the word on their slideshow or flash card. These rounds should continue until all new words have been explored.

9. Response Round 2: Once students know the meaning of the new terms, ask if they can think of a creative way for the whole class to remember these definitions. Pass the talking piece and allow students to share their creative ideas! This round could also be used as an opportunity for students to start using their new musical terms. If they were learning tempo words, students might say which term they associate with a particular animal ("Turtles move at a Largo speed", "Cheetahs are extremely fast so they match up with a Presto tempo").

10. Check-Out Round: How was the Circle today? What is one term you learned for the first time today?

11. Close the Circle: This is similar to the Opening. You may even choose to repeat the material used in the Opening. Song lyrics, a brief meditation/visualization activity, or a poem are all great ideas.

12. Thank everyone for participating in the Circle!

Sharing Student Writing/Composing in a “Read-Around” Circle

Composing and creating is such an important part of the music curriculum. This circle will provide the opportunity for students to share their writing and help to build a climate of trust and constructive feedback among students.

For this circle you will need a talking piece, recordings of student compositions, clipboards, and pens. MATERIALS Talking piece; copies of student work, so each person has a copy of the work being shared; clipboards; pens; and Rosanne Bane's article, “Seven Levels of Writing Feedback.”

1. Students and teacher sit together in a circle of chairs.

2. Welcome to the space of the Circle.

3. All circle participants take a moment together to pause and be mindful. For this particular Circle, perhaps have students stand in "Superhero Pose" (hands on hips, sternum raised) and take cleansing, confident breaths in and out for ten seconds.

4. Open the circle by sharing song lyrics, a poem, or some kind of reading related to your new unit/topic. You may choose to do a short meditation, a movement exercise, a listening activity (like listening to a song together), or an affirmation exercise.

5. Review the circle expectations. In each "round" pass the talking piece around the Circle. The keeper poses a question. The keeper then passes the talking piece to the person to his/her left or right. On the first round, participants are invited to say their name as well as respond to the question. Remember, it is always okay for a participant to pass. Remind the group of classroom values and guidelines.

6. Check-in Round: How are you feeling today? Is there something happening in your world that we should know about today? On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate your mood? What famous songwriter do you feel like today?

7. Main Activity Round: Listen to one student composition at a time and prepare feedback using the "Seven Levels of Composing Feedback" (see below - adapted from Rosanne Bane's 2013 article, “Seven Levels of Writing Feedback"). You may need to take time in the first few circles of this nature to remind the class of these seven levels as they are key to creating a safe, positive environment in which to share. While they are listening, students should be taking notes on their clipboards.

8. Response Round: As composers and musicians, we can all gain valuable insight by listening to audience feedback. However, it is important as the composer to remember to only make use of this feedback in a way that makes sense for you. ________________________ has asked for this specific level of feedback. If you have something to share that fits into the Seven Levels framework, please share it when the talking piece comes to you. The last person to receive the talking piece should be the composer, who is free to respond or simply thank others. You may need to close and re-open this circle a number of times to work through all students compositions.

9. Check-Out Round: How was the Circle today? What is the best advice you heard today?

10. Close the Circle: This is similar to the Opening. You may even choose to repeat the material used in the Opening. Song lyrics, a brief meditation/visualization activity, or a poem are all great ideas.

11. Thank everyone for participating in the Circle!

Sharing Reflections Circle

This circle will encourage students to listen deeply and respond to a particular piece of music and to listen to the responses of their classmates.

For this circle you will need a talking piece, and you may choose to use student journals. You should prepare two reflective questions about the song. These questions should be open-ended and used to encourage students to express their own feelings and opinions about the piece. Post the questions in a place that the whole class can see.

1. Students and teacher sit together in a circle of chairs.

2. Welcome to the space of the Circle.

3. All circle participants take a moment together to pause and be mindful. Consider personalizing this to fit the topic of the day. For this circle you may ask students to "hear" their favourite piece of music inside their heads (in their mind's ear) and to think about the way that song makes them feel.

4. Open the circle by sharing song lyrics, a poem, or some kind of reading related to your new unit/topic. You may choose to do a short meditation, a movement exercise, a listening activity (like listening to a song together), or an affirmation exercise.

5. Review the circle expectations. In each "round" pass the talking piece around the Circle. The keeper poses a question. The keeper then passes the talking piece to the person to his/her left or right. On the first round, participants are invited to say their name as well as respond to the question. Remember, it is always okay for a participant to pass. Remind the group of classroom values and guidelines.

6. Check-in Round: How are you feeling today? Is there something happening in your world that we should know about today? On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate your mood? What animal do you feel like today?

7. Main Activity: Play the chosen song for the class. You may choose to have students listen first, and then write in their journals, or have students write while they listen. Encourage the class to take their time and to be reflective about the posted questions.

8. Response Round: Pass the talking piece around and invite each member of the class to share some or all of what they have written in their journals (or if you choose not to use journals, simply have students share their reflections on the questions).

9. Response Round 2: Now that you have heard each person share their thoughts, is there anything you would like to say about what you have heard others say? Do any new thoughts or ideas come up for you about this piece of music after listening to everyone? Please feel free to share more about what you wrote or think as well.

10. Check-Out Round: How was the Circle today?

11. Close the Circle: This is similar to the Opening. You may even choose to repeat the material used in the Opening. Song lyrics, a brief meditation/visualization activity, or a poem are all great ideas.

12. Thank everyone for participating in the Circle!

Talking About Practice/Homework Circle

This circle was originally planned to provide a space for students to talk about homework, but it is also perfect for a circle time about at-home practice. You will be able to provide support and invite students to talk about their challenges/strategies for at-home practice; to share ideas and help identify difficulties students are having, and help them discover successful strategies that work for them.

For this circle you will need a talking piece, paper, and a place to display the questions below.

1. Students and teacher sit together in a circle of chairs.

2. Welcome to the space of the Circle.

3. All circle participants take a moment together to pause and be mindful. Consider personalizing this to fit the topic of the day. Perhaps have students think about a time they conquered a challenging section of a piece and how that felt.

4. Open the circle by sharing song lyrics, a poem, or some kind of reading related to your new unit/topic. You may choose to do a short meditation, a movement exercise, a listening activity (like listening to a song together), or an affirmation exercise.

5. Review the circle expectations. In each "round" pass the talking piece around the Circle. The keeper poses a question. The keeper then passes the talking piece to the person to his/her left or right. On the first round, participants are invited to say their name as well as respond to the question. Remember, it is always okay for a participant to pass. Remind the group of classroom values and guidelines.

6. Check-in Round: How are you feeling today? Is there something happening in your world that we should know about today? On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate your mood? What instrument are you today?

7. Main Activity: Have students write responses to the following prompts: Name three habits or strategies that help you to focus on your practice or homework when you are at home. Name three habits or strategies that distract you from practice or homework when you are at home. Ask students to get together in pairs to share their lists: Which are the most important habits or strategies for focusing on at-home practice, and which are the most distracting habits and strategies? Can you narrow it down to one habit for each?

8. Response Round: What did you and your partner decide is the most helpful habit or strategy and which is the most distracting habit or strategy? Then ask the second partner: Can you explain why you chose these as the most helpful and the most distracting? The teacher scribes the list on a flipchart: Helpful/Distracting.

9. Response Round 2: For you personally, of these on the list, which of these habits and strategies do you practice at home?

10. Response Round 3: What is the one thing you could to do to improve your focus on at-home practice or homework and reduce distractions?

11. Response Round 4: What is one thing you could do to help others improve their focus and reduce distractions?

12. Check-Out Round: How was the Circle today?

13. Close the Circle: This is similar to the Opening. You may even choose to repeat the material used in the Opening. Song lyrics, a brief meditation/visualization activity, or a poem are all great ideas.

14. Thank everyone for participating in the Circle!