TI 0754 - Best Practices for Organizing a Teaching Square: A Guide for Academic Staff

Course Description

A teaching square is a practice wherein a small group of instructors observe each other’s teaching, typically with the goal of using these classroom visits to reflect on their own teaching practices rather than evaluating each other’s teaching. Participating in a teaching square can help you reflect on your own teaching practices, get teaching ideas from other instructors, and build a constructive community of inquiry around teaching and learning. Teaching squares can be organized around a particular theme that participants wish to reflect on and investigate. In this workshop, we will introduce best practices for organizing teaching squares, and participants will discuss ways they could envision using teaching squares in their teaching contexts.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Understand the key practices and goals of teaching squares
• Identify ways a teaching square could be useful in your teaching context
• Plan your own teaching square.

Facilitators: Dr. Rachel Friedman, and Dr. Angela George