The Inside-Out Circle is useful for discovering prior knowledge, drill-and-practice activity, as a review, as a listening exercise – taking turns talking and summarizing.
A) Students count off by twos
B) Direct “ones” to stand in a circle and turn around facing out.
C) Direct “twos” to face “ones” so that they create an outer circle.
D) Give students a direction was, “Shake hands, say good morning.”
Give students a question or problem to discuss and a time parameter. For example, “For the next 2 minutes discuss everything you know about the Civil War.”
E) After the time limit is up, direct them to shake hands again to say, “Nice talking to you.”
F) Direct one of the circles to move to the right or left by a certain number of people. For example, “Outer circle, move 3 people to your right. Please say, “Hi” to the people you walk by.
G) Either give them the same question or problem, or ask them to discuss something different.
H) Repeat steps 5 – 10 as needed.
