Los Angeles Public Library ▬ Learning Circles Are A New Kind Of Class For Adults

Learning Circles Are A New Kind Of Class For Adults At The Los Angeles Public Library!

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READ: Fall 2020

Learning circles are basically study groups for adults who want to take online courses together. The online courses can come from many places, including colleges, news-papers, YouTube, or databases on the LAPL website.

There is almost no limit to the kinds of courses you can take in a learning circle! So far, we’ve had learning circles on basic computer skills, acrylic painting, American sign language, interview skills, knitting, and much more!

Learning circles make online courses more interesting and fun, because instead of taking the class all by yourself, you take it with other people! You can make new friends and help one another learn as you study. Learning circles are as much about building a community of learners as they are about the subject being studied.

Just recently, two of our literacy coordinators, Abel and Priscilla, helped lead learning circles. Below, they tell us what it was like!

Priscilla Rojas Naiman:  Angi Brzycki, adult librarian at the Hollywood Branch, and I recently concluded a six week learning circle on the 1619 Project.

For those unfamiliar with it, the 1619 Project was a massive effort by The New York Times Magazine to detail the history of slavery, its lasting effects within our culture, and to celebrate the often-suppressed role of formerly enslaved peoples in making American democracy manifest. Its aim was to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

The 1619 Project Learning Circle was difficult to get through but highly needed in light of today’s climate. An average of 15 people joined us each week on Zoom from all over the country. They came prepared by having read the essays the NY Times collected and heard the podcasts assigned so that the discussion would be fruitful. There were participants who came to this country not knowing that the Black community had so many trials over the centuries.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

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