Tips and Tricks for Facilitating Community Building Circles Remotely

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This time of quarantine and remote schooling has presented unique challenges for all of us working in fields that typically rely on face-to-face communication. We feel for everyone who has had to shift and adapt their work rapidly while keeping up with the changing demands of this unpredictable situation. As we continue to communicate with one another remotely, we are all doing the best we can to use existing online platforms to enhance relationships and community, which is more essential than ever. And, we have had some wonderful experiences doing just that! Here are some things we have learned about facilitating Community Building Circles on Zoom.

Make sure participants have their correct name on their screen. This seems basic, but it sure helps out the facilitators and other participants if everyone has their correct name appearing on their screen. If your workplace or school is used to having people state their preferred pronouns, you may consider encouraging participants to add their preferred pronouns in their name box as well. 

Use the participants’ names as the talking piece. Names are personal, and using people’s names out loud helps to build relationships and helps people feel seen. Determine ahead of time the order for the circle. We use an alphabetized list of participants, but feel free to do whatever makes sense for your group. At the start of the circle, read through names in the order that the circle will take, and ask participants to write down who is ahead of them and who is behind them in the order.  Explain that the names will become the talking piece. After someone has finished their comments for the round, they will indicate they are finished by saying the name of the next person, i.e. “I pass the talking piece to Beth.” Then that person says their comment and passes it to the next person by saying their name. 

Invite participants to turn on their videos.  Being able to see everyone’s face enhances trust and communication among circle participants. While we certainly don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, we have found that gentle encouragement can help participants feel safe in turning on their cameras. 

Have a variety of simple, non-threatening prompts for check-in rounds. Some examples:

  • Something that brings you joy during this time.

  • Something you are doing to relieve stress during this time.

  • Share a TV show/YouTube channel/book you’ve enjoyed this week.

  • Give everyone a minute to find something from their surroundings to share with the group, i.e. something red, something soft, something useful, or something squishy.

Have prompts for Rounds that relate to your circle theme and goals.  Consider what you want to achieve with this circle. Perhaps it is general community building, stress management, current events or addressing a certain dynamic within the organization or classroom, etc. Once you have a theme for your circle, you can create prompts for the Rounds that will give coherence and direction to the overall conversation. Typically, we start with a light check-in question and then progress towards questions that are more central to the purpose of the circle. 

Consider dividing the class into smaller groups for virtual circles. Breakout rooms are a great tool to use on Zoom to facilitate smaller group circles, which can feel more personal and engaging, and give each participant more time to share. 

Always state the Circle guidelines at the beginning. Guidelines are essential to creating the structure and safety necessary to encourage people to participate in the circle. Most often we use five standard guidelines:

  1. Respect the talking piece (one person speaks at a time, no interrupting)

  2. Honor privacy

  3. Speak from the heart and speak for yourself

  4. Participate, don’t dominate, time is our shared resource 

  5. It is okay to pass

You may want to create your own guidelines with your students and/or colleagues that work for your specific group. The process of creating the guidelines together is a great way of building community and helping people feel included and respected from the beginning.  A good way to start this process is to ask participants, “What do you need to be able to participate fully in the circle?” With this information you can construct your guidelines.  

When working with youth or students, we also recommend that you communicate clearly with parents about circles - what they are and the importance of guidelines. You may want to consider creating a set of guidelines specifically for parents with regards to student privacy and parental involvement.   

Resources:  We have become real fans of Jennifer Gonzalez who is the editor for Cult of Pedagogy. Check it out and see what you think. Her website has a multitude of resources with an emphasis on culturally responsive teaching tools.

Check out our rubric for planning community building circles, which we created to help teachers design effective circles. It will be familiar to those of you who have attended our workshops and trainings.

Speaking of workshops, we will be resuming our (now virtual) Restorative Practices Workshops in November 2020.  These workshops are geared toward schools and organizations and are open to anyone who wants to learn more about Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices.  We would love your input on what type of timing and format works best for you, so please fill out our survey! And all of last year’s workshops sold out, so sign up early and help us spread the word. 

Thank you so much for all that you do for our communities.

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How Restorative Practices Helped Schools and Communities in 2020

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Restorative Practices and the Movement for Racial Justice: P2RC Responds to This Moment