Sample of Teacher Directing Outer Circle Feedback

In the previous tip, I talked about how the teacher could elicit more encouraging feedback from the outer circle with process tips.  This week's tip integrates occasional actual excerpts from Matt Copeland demonstrating how teacher directing the outer circle process can sound. This gives you more opportunity to compare your current practice when directing your outer circle students through the stages of offering outer circle feedback to the inner circle.  You as teacher experience the stages of your students reflecting, evaluating, and goal-setting (planning), preparatory to these same outer circle students functioning as the next inner circle.

Although some outer circle feedback responses are repetitive, hearing repetition is useful to inner circle students.

I  Hearing outer circle students’ initial comments and suggestions:  Teacher limits most of the teacher input here to questions which guide the outer discussion.  (By the teacher encouraging even reluctant students to speak in the outer circle, in Matt’s experience it often increases their subsequent comfort level and makes them more likely to contribute when they are in the inner circle).  “Ok [student name] you’re first – initial thought or observation.”

II Following initial go-around of observations, teacher leads outer circle in closer examination of some of their initial feedback. “Now let’s go back and talk about a couple of these ideas in a little more detail.  (A) What were some obvious strengths of the group?” If you as teacher noticed something specific in inner circle discussion, by example, you might ask, “What example of leadership did you see in this conversation?” {and follow-up question]  “How did [so and so by name] demonstrate leadership?” “What was particularly effective using this method?”  “How might we be able to use this idea in our own inner circles in the future?” (B)  "What were areas of conversation that could have been improved? What did you see that could have been done better?”  [For example,if an outer circle student indicates only a few inner circle members participated, a follow-up teacher-directed question might be, “Yes…what could this group have done to include a greater number of voices?”

  These teacher questions empower students to make improvements their own.  Feedback the inner circle hears comes from students, not the teacher.  Any stigma of being graded or judged by the teacher remains minimal.  Students see the feedback as helpful.

III  After hearing the initial comments and after exploring a line of Socratic questioning to explore outer circle detailed feedback and the teacher’s personal notes on the inner circle’s dialogue, the teacher can now ask the outer circle to rate the quality of the inner circle’s performance on a scale of one to ten.  Sometimes students can follow their rating with a one sentence explanation.  Ratings give inner circle students immediate feedback on the overall quality of their conversation.  Over time, ratings track their performance and growth. For some, it breeds healthy competition in the classroom.

IV  Goal setting.  After the outer circle has reflected on the performance of the inner circle and offered both feedback and informal assessment, they need to establish specific goals for their own upcoming inner circle dialogue. Let us presume the first inner circle struggled with balanced participation from all members.  The outer circle establishes a goal that addresses the issue.  As teacher you might ask a question like,  “How might we go about creating a more balanced participation?” or “What are some strategies we might use to accomplish more people feeling invited to participate?” 

 When thinking about developing goals which are “SMART,” (Specific, Measurable, Attainable or Achievable, Relevant or Realistic, and characterized with a Timeframe), as teacher you might also ask, “How will we measure whether or not you have been successful with this goal?” or “How will you see your dialogue improve in this area?” (Using another example, “We want to do a better job by referencing the text more often,” the new outer circle then might be asked to tally the number of references made to the text, and the outer circle becoming the new inner circle may even establish a target number to measure their accomplishment of their created goal.

As a result of these first five tips, have you as teacher “directing” the outer circle feedback gained more ideas on how to engage the outer circle students, adapting your own style?  Refer to Matt Copeland’s book Socratic Circles, (previously cited), chapter 5 and the last half of chapter 6, for more details regarding teacher facilitating the outer circle feedback. 

Future tips will focus on teacher “monitoring” the inner circle conversation.