Live small groups
Two to five teachers meet live in peer groups to work through a structured Circles session together.
Circles Learning
Learning with other teachers makes professional development actually work.
Teachers meet live in peer groups of 2–5, at a time they choose, to work through structured Circles sessions. Tutors provide feedback on the group’s work after every session.
Circles at a glance
- Group size
- 2 to 5 teachers
- Cadence
- Weekly live sessions
- Languages
- Spanish, English
- Designed for
- Institutions investing in teacher PD
How the method works
Four design decisions baked into every Circles cohort.
Feedback and support
Tutors review each group’s work after every session. Circles provides support when needed and gives your institution visibility into progress.
Feedback after every session
You do not wait until the end of the course. After each session, your group receives specific feedback on its practical work.
Logistics that actually work
Stable scheduling, no class disruption. Enrollments and reporting are handled for your institution.
Why group learning works
Circles Learning is a teacher professional-development platform where live peer groups of 2 to 5 teachers meet at a time they choose and work through structured Circles sessions. Tutors provide feedback on each group’s work after every session, while Circles provides support and visibility into progress.
Sustained teacher learning happens when there are others who expect something of you, who offer another point of view, and who help you try new things in your classroom. That is the logic that drives every Circle.
It is not studying yet another video alone. It is practicing with peers in a live Circles session, showing up prepared, hearing a colleague who teaches in another context, and going back to your classroom with a concrete idea for the following week.
There are decades of pedagogical research behind this format: communities of practice and collaborative learning among teachers.
Who Circles is for
Three institutional contexts where Circles fits well, pedagogically.
K-12 school networks
For networks with a shared pedagogical focus that want professional development to reach every teacher at the same time, without each school solving its own logistics. Live peer groups can mix teachers across schools and meet outside class hours.
Universities
For higher-education teaching offices that want to develop their faculty in their pedagogical role. Works well for cross-faculty programs — assessment, AI applied to teaching, instructional design — where peer learning across disciplines is part of the value.
Foundations, programs and networks
For foundations, government programs, and professional networks that fund or coordinate teacher development for schools. Live peer groups, tutor feedback after each session, and progress visibility can be scoped to the program being designed with participating schools.
How it compares to other options
Circles combines live peer groups, tutor feedback on group work after every session, and institutional progress visibility.
| Modality | Live peer learning | Tutor support | Peer learning | Feedback | Flexible schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-paced online courses | No | No | No | No | Yes, fully asynchronous |
| LMS content libraries | No | No | No | No | Yes, asynchronous |
| University extension programs | Yes, lecture-style | Partial, course by course | Partial, varies by course | Partial, in graded work | No, fixed academic calendar |
| In-person workshops | Yes, single-day | Yes, during the workshop | Yes, in person | Partial, no follow-up | No, fixed date |
| Conferences and travel PD | Yes, lecture-style | No | Partial, in hallways | No | No, fixed date and place |
| In-house PD teams | Yes | Yes, depends on internal capacity | Yes, within the school | Variable | Variable |
| One-to-many webinars | Yes, lecture-style | No | No, mass chat | No | No, fixed date |
| External consultants | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes, depending on scope | Partial |
| Circles | Yes, weekly peer meetings | Tutors review group work after each session | Yes, groups of 2–5 teachers | Yes, on group work after every session | Yes, multiple time slots |
Frequently asked questions
How are the groups of 2–5 teachers formed?
Groups are formed by chosen time slot and, when applicable, by grade level or subject so peers share enough context for productive dialogue. Each group works together for the full course through structured Circles sessions, which gives time to build the trust needed to share what is working and what is not.
Does a tutor attend each Circle meeting?
No. Each peer group works through a structured Circles session together. Tutors review the group's deliverable afterward and are available to support the group when needed.
Does it work without disrupting class hours?
Yes. Live peer meetings are scheduled outside school hours. Each teacher picks among several weekly time slots and is grouped with two to four peers in the same slot. The training runs in parallel with normal school operations, with no class replacement and no substitute teachers required.
What kind of feedback do you get after each session?
After each session, tutors provide specific feedback on the group's work: responses to the practical activity, observations on how to apply what was learned in the classroom, and questions to bring to the following session. Feedback is continuous, not concentrated only at the end of the course.
How does TeachView relate to Circles?
TeachView is our classroom-observation and AI-supported feedback tool: it records classes, transcribes them, and helps leadership teams have feedback conversations with their teachers. It pairs with Circles when an institution wants to close the learn-practice-observe loop. They can be contracted together or separately.
How do we scale this for our whole network?
We have run cohorts that group teachers from dozens to hundreds of schools in parallel, with several time slots so each teacher can choose. Operations use live peer groups of 2–5 teachers, tutor feedback after each session, and consolidated progress reporting per school. We define the scope together in an initial conversation.
Start with your team
Look at the courses in the catalog, or let us talk about what your institution needs.