A talking circle, or a listening circle, allows students to create a community in the classroom and express different ways of getting to know another and listen to each other. Talking circles come from Indigenous Ways of Knowing, where people share power with each other rather than having power and control over someone, and having a voice in your community. This benefits student learning because it creates a safe environment for learning for all students. When researching this activity, the resource website highlights steps such as “Setting the tone” making sure you create a safe environment in your classroom, followed by “Planning your Prompts” which will “gradually inviting students to bring their experiences and identities into the classroom” (edutopia.org).

 

Round one through three of the prompts involves students getting to know each other, exploring values and identity, and storytelling. These exercises will provide an opportunity for growth in the classroom. The concluding steps are labelled as “Mirror and Affirm” and well as “Log your Listening” where you set an example of a positive listening environment, and you log all information needed in which you as a teacher observes from the exercise. Another possible way to facilitate a talking circle is using the "‘spider exercise’: the first person speaking held the end of a rope and extended an invitation to the next speaker by tossing them the rope, resulting in an intricate web of relations" (Kainer).

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We would recommend doing land acknowledgements before starting the activity.

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