ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a quick overview of teaching circles, followed by reports from several faculty who have found them useful in starting a conversation about teaching and learning that would not otherwise take place. Maybe there's occasional, desultory chat about teaching in the elevator or faculty dining room, but when it comes to planned, purposeful conversation occasions set aside for good talk about good teaching the situation is pretty bleak. In such circumstances, teaching circles are a wonderful way to get the conversation started. Teaching circles might also conduct cooperative assessment of student learning, as in the example below from Rio Hondo College. As indicated by the three Faculty Reports that follow here, teaching circles can serve a range of needs and purposes while advancing a larger, more general sense that teaching is an important scholarly activity, worth talking about.
