Circle Share

"Circle Share" is a great way for my students to build community within my classroom, take pride in the work they've done and honor the work of other students. The way it works is the students move their desks out of the way (we have to discuss this before hand, of course) and gather in a circle on the floor. If they're taking too long to circle up, I count backwards from five or ten and if anyone is still standing or talking after I get to one, they lose a participation point.

Once we're in the circle, the students share a single line of their writing. I tell them it doesn't have to be their "best" line to make them feel safe. We also discuss my expectations, which are that no one will comment, either positively or negatively, after each person reads. I'll just say "Thank you, -----" and we'll go on to the next person.

As we get more comfortable - and this never happens in some classes - we'll be able to comment both positively and with kind suggestions. That can't happen, though, until everyone feels safe and secure in the classroom.

Here are some of the lines that were read on Friday:

"My place in the family is second youngest child."

"I heard my mom screaming for me, and then I ran."

"I have a lot of dogs."

"I got baptised on September 13, 2009 in the chapel at Landmark Independent Baptist."

"It always smelled like fresh baked cookies, too."

"About six or seven years ago we had a dog named J.R., but we just called him Jay."

"It smelled really good in there until the dog came in from outside."

"And then he was being really bad about it all."

"One day his face will fade away into nothing."

"I moved and milk got all over me."

"My favorite thing to do after school is play football."

"I couldn't wait to move into our first, real house."

"I was so scared, my hands were shaking."


After everyone shared around the circle we did an "acknowledgement" - a special, funny clap for the whole group. I told the students how excited I was to read these pieces as they turned from freewrites or brainstorming to actual drafts. They seemed excited, too, and that's the idea, after all.