Learning Circles: January to May 2021
Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small number of schools located throughout the world.
There is a topic of interest for everyone on all grade levels.
Projects begin on January 30, 2021, and run for 5 and 16-weeks. You can sponsor your own project idea or just participate in someone else’s project. Since you will be guided by facilitators along each step of the process, Learning Circles is an excellent choice for beginners as well as experienced OneBench teachers.
We are offering the new 5 week-long Hello World
Learning Circles for Elementary, Middle, and High School teachers and students who have never participated in an online project, OneBench, or a Learning Circle.
This 5-week experience introduces teachers and students to the basics of online projects and Learning Circles including Teacher Introductions, Culture Sharing, and Information Exchange. If you have never participated in an online project or Learning Circle project before and you would like to know what it is like, this is the place to begin your OneBench experience.
List of projects that will be offered for beginning and experienced participants
Grade Levels are indicated after each project – Elementary (E), Middle (M), and High School (H)
Hello World
Our popular five-week long Learning Circles for beginners at the Elementary, Middle, and High School levels.
Hello World Learning Circles are for teachers and students who have never participated in an OneBench project or a Learning Circle.
This five-week experience will introduce teachers and students to the basics of Learning Circles, including teacher introductions, culture sharing, and information exchange. If you have never participated in an OneBench project or a Learning Circle before and you would like to know what it is like, this is the place to begin your OneBench experience.
My Hero: First Steps
A five-week project that will introduce teachers and students to the My Hero Learning Circles project.
This experience combines elements of the Hello World project along with an introduction to the projects students can create on the My Hero group.
Participants will engage in teaching introduction, culture sharing, and information exchange about heroes past and present. If you would like to get your students involved in the My Hero project, this is the place to begin their experience.
Computer Chronicles
Promotes non-fictional forms of writing across the curriculum.
Each class has the opportunity to sponsor their own project based on the curricular needs of the sponsoring teacher and students.
Each participating Learning Circles class will solicit articles from their partner classes and edit them to create a Final Publication/Project.
This Final Project is combined with the other projects sponsored by circle partners to form a completed Circle publication.
Places and Perspectives
Encourages students to explore the regional history, culture, government, and geography by sharing their knowledge with people from different locations.
The goal is to help students understand how historical events and geographic conditions interact to help shape their lives and gives them a deeper understanding of themselves, their families, and their communities.
Each classroom sponsors a project for a section in the Places and Perspectives Review.
My Hero Learning Circles
Is a joint venture between Learning Circles and My Hero.
This Circle will bring together students and teachers who are interested in collaborating with other schools from diverse areas of the world on the topic of My Hero through writing, photography, and digital video. Final Projects will be created using the My Hero Web site Organizer.
Global Issues
Allows students to discuss a broad range of educational, social, political, environmental, and economic issues with concern and affect the Earth's entire population.
Projects will focus on identifying and developing solutions for the countless issues that face the Earth's inhabitants.
This curriculum encompasses many subject areas including sociology, science, government, history, and economics.
Teacher Sponsored Themes
Teachers are invited to sponsor and facilitate a theme for a Learning Circle.
We will help you create and promote this special Circle. If you would like to facilitate a special Learning Circle theme, under the Group feature in your profile, you can easily create a Learning Circle Group or write to bird@onebench.com
