User:Artsie34/Feather Circles

Feather Circles

Basic Information
The feather circle emphasizes working together as a community to help the speaker, writer, or reader self-reflect. When applied in writing, it enhances the writing skills of an individual by means of giving, receiving, and reflecting on group feedback. The feather circle entails each writer, speaker, or reader to share thoughts freely and honestly. The contents, topics, and outcomes of the circles are, most of the time, personal and reflective, which is why this method of sharing personal reflections and thoughts within a circle has been used in traditional healing and therapy, thus taking the form of a healing circle.

Origins and Symbolism
The feather circle is made of many pieces of feathers intertwined together to make a full circle. Each individual feather in the circle is a part of the whole, and all the feathers come together to make a full circle. This places emphasis on the collective nature of the ritual. For Native Americans in the United States, the feather is symbolic of the cosmos as the Pueblos use feather sticks to dance in prayer for rain during solstice rituals. The feather symbolizes “prayers, sources of ideas or marks of honor.” It also represents the Creative Force.

The feather circle originates from the Native American’s ritual of passing around a feather within a circle, and whoever gets the feather voluntarily speaks his/her thoughts and feelings, or whatever that comes to mind. There is no time limit to restrict the length of each speaker’s turn, neither is there a specified topic as the circle continues. For Native Americans and as a Native American ritual, the feather circle creates a type of spiritual healing, as it starts off with a prayer. Also known as a talking circle, the feather circle is commonly used in traditional drug and alcohol therapy to help individuals cope with their problems within a group of supporters who share similar problems.

Variations
* Literature Circle * Talking Circle * Writing Circle

Literature Circles
One variation of the feather circle that has become widely used in classrooms is the literature circle. A literature circle is a group of students forming a discussion group to examine a work of literature being read in the class. The discussion is student driven and is directed based on the outlooks the students share on their readings. Any number of topics can be brought up in the literature circle concerning the reading such as “events and characters in the book, the author’s craft, or personal experiences related to the story" .In a literature circle, readers read the same book or short story over a period of time, “discuss it regularly as a group,” and share the insights gained in front of the class .It provides an informal, yet structured means for students to collaboratively discuss and explore their readings of literature. The roles of the students participating in the circle are: discussion director, passage master, illustrator, connector, and researcher . The discussion director comes up with questions raised within the text while the passage master finds pertinent parts of the text for discussion. The illustrator, on the other hand, creates images that reflect what is being read. The connector relates what is read to real life, methodology, experiences, etc. Then the role of the researcher is self-explanatory.

Classroom Effectiveness
Literature circle works well with students at any level. Since the discussions are not teacher led, they create an informal atmosphere. As a result, “literature circles have assumed a prominent place in the curriculum in the United States and Canada, as well as the United Kingdom”. This discussion method is becoming increasingly popular due to its overall effectiveness in the classroom. “In 1996, the International Reading Association and the National Council for Teachers of English both endorsed the use of literature circles as a recommended strategy for increasing literacy skills” The literature circles are valuable to the classroom because they “provide a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to books" <5>. Readers with different backgrounds would have different readings of the same work, which helps students learn from each other . This strategy of teaching allows students to communicate verbal as well as written skills by providing students with autonomy instead of the teacher . This activity also allows students to hear other perspectives that others have taken on the piece of literature that they may not have otherwise considered and in turn deepen their own understandings. The literature circle encourages students to do a deeper and more thorough reading of the assigned literature on their own before participating in the circle.

Talking Circles
Talking Circles (a.k.a. healing circles): This focus group method originated in Native American communities as a form of "intragroup communication to share information, offer support, or solve problems" "Becker, Sarah A., Dyanne D. Affonso, and Madonna Blue Horse Beard. "Talking Circles: Northern Plains Tribes American Indian Women's Views of Cancer as a Health Issue." Public Health Nursing 23.1 (2006): 27-36. Galileo. Web. 4 Mar. 2010. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmh&AN=19589768&site=chc-live. and serves as a combination of the Native American traditions of story- telling and religious ceremonies. Talking circles are often an effective method of communication among those in the Native American community because this approach allows Native Americans to connect their cultural backgrounds and beliefs to topics that may have no apparent connection to them otherwise. For example, a group of American Indian women suffering from cervical or breast cancer were asked to participate in a talking circle for the purpose of understanding the cultural meanings of cancer among Native American women. In this particular talking circle, a sacred rock was passed around to signify a participant's turn to talk. Other talking circles incorporate elements of Native American culture such as burning sage or using eagle feathers. Had these women been asked to simply participate in a cancer research forum, they may not have felt as free to express themselves and their perspectives on dealing with cancer.

In the classroom setting, the talking circle could be used in environments where there are Native American learners. Native American culture has largely been ignored in the classroom and Native American students may appreciate this style of discussion and learning. It can be utilized to discuss literary topics as well as issues pertaining to the student body.

Writing Circles
Another branch of the feather circle is the writing circle. With its surname being feather circle, the writing circle creates “a community of writers”. After having completed their writings, students read and share each personal piece in a circle. Writing circles allow writers to form a support group in which they can critique other’s writings and have their work critiqued as well.The writing circle allows writers to develop their writing skills and help others to do the same. “The writing circle seeks to create an environment where writing happens, where new writers can discover their voices and accomplished writers can unfold and deepen theirs” .As Lynn Nelson describes it, this Native American tradition tells you to “speak from the heart,” in this case, write from your heart. A writing circle helps a writer to find a voice unique to his or her own. In other words, students who write with their hearts add flesh to their writing instead of only creating a skeleton. The writing circle can apply to teacher or student development or to any individual(s) seeking to improve their writing skills.

Writing circles are often led by an instructor but also are directed by each individual writer and his/her input, “During the course of a workshop, each writer's work is responded to by the instructor as well as by members of the group” <8>. Readers respond to what aspects of the writings impress them as well as which areas need improvement. When implementing the feather circles to better the writing skills of students inside the classroom, difficulties may arise as some students may be reluctant to share in class what they have written. Students may not be enthusiastic to the idea, and other factors such as student comfort level may result in variation of outcome. However, it all depends on when and how the method is used.

The book circle is used by teachers to share ideas to teach American history. Teachers participating in the circle seek to enhance the experience of the students by sharing interesting documents found and read. In this circle, teachers conference and participate by sharing ideas together and give each other suggestions and feedback.

Writing Assessments
Many known educators support writing assessments as a part of the everyday classroom assessment tools. Jim Blassingame and John H. Buchman state in their book, Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools that Portfolio Assessments or Writing Assessments, "show process as well as product, they create a collection of work, they are useful to review instruction, and--maybe most important--they show a student's growth over time. Portfolios aid classroom teachers by allowing them to see strength and weaknesses of students. ...Teachers can begin to tailor classroom teaching to students and their learning styles and can see where strengths and weaknesses lie." The Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee states that writing assessments, "can be used for a variety of appropriate purposes, both inside the classroom and outside: providing assistance to students, awarding a grade, placing students in appropriate courses, allowing them to exit a course or sequence of courses, certifying proficiency, and evaluating programs." Teachers like Linda Reid acknowledge the writing test requirements, yet suggest placing a feather circle “twist” on the topics the students get to choose from. One suggestion is to offer the students multiple options on writing tests so that they will have to opportunity to find one they can relate to. Writing Assessments are useful to tell where students are in the classroom, what their learning style is, and how far the student has succeeded in the class. Standardize writing assessments do not test a student’s progress- they test their current abilities. Let’s say a student came into the course not knowing how to write in complete sentences, but the student makes gradual improvement through the writing circle and they can now write in complete simple sentences. A standardize writing assessment is going to judge her ability to write based on the current status as a writer, which is simple sentences, and that test scores her low because she cannot write in complex sentences. However, the fact that she can now write in complete simple sentences is a great improvement. A standardize test simply does not show how far that student has come, but instead, it limits her to her current status as a writer. These tests may be useful in some ways, yet educators are still fretting that this style of assessment is not necessarily accurate. In Arizona, students must take the AIMS tests in math, reading, and writing. Studies show that sixth graders improved in writing from having a 76% passage rate in 2005 to a 90% passage rate in 2006. However, students in other grades across the various counties showed a wide range of both improvement and decline. The State Superintendent argued the impossibility of scoring the tests in the same manner each year. The students could have done just as well as they had the year before, and the difference in judges could have made a difference in the scores. In 2007, eighth grade students in Massachusetts, another state that is exploring the usage of feather circles, took third place in their nation writing scores. However, it is difficult for educators to be able to prove that feather circles can strengthen or weaken writing tests scores due to the subjectivity of the grading. Although education standards vary from state to state, educators are finding uses for the feather circle within those confinements. For example, in the state of Arizona, students are expected to be able to write for particular audiences in high school. When writing for a feather circle, students must consider their peers as the initial audience, but the implications are meant to go beyond the classroom, since the piece is supposed to be truly meaningful past the grade.

