Teaching squares are a faculty development tool that I have used in the past when I was Associate Dean (Teaching) at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. I have published a short description of this tool as have others (Haave 2014, Rhem2003, Berry 2011, Oberlies et al 2020). Teaching Squares was developed by Anne Wessely at St. Louis Community College and has been used by many colleges and universities. You can read the details of how to set it up in any of the articles listed in the resources below.
The key to implementing Teaching Squares to develop the teaching praxis of post-secondary faculty is that it is a tool with which faculty reflect on their own teaching. Thus, the point is not to critique the teaching you are observing in a colleague's class. This includes critiquing both the negative and positive aspects of your colleague's teaching. The point is for Teaching Squares participants to reflect on their own teaching praxis. Thus, when participants see something different in a colleagues' class that should prompt them to think "hmmm... how would I do that in my class?" Or a participant might ask themselves "I wonder if how my colleague is engaging in their class would work in my class?" Or "I don't think I would feel comfortable doing that in my class. I wonder why?"
As you can see from the sample reflective questions above, it is not at all about critiquing (positive or negative) your colleagues' classes but rather Teaching Squares is a means to prompt critiquing your own class and your own approach to teaching. Thus, after participants in a Teaching Square have visited each other's classes at least once and they get together to debrief the experience, they discuss what they have started thinking about their own teaching, not about their colleagues' teaching.
Unfortunately, many Teaching Squares participants make the mistake of using the after-class group meeting to discuss what they think their colleagues are doing well or correctly in their teaching. Hence, it is disappointing to read a recently published article that perpetuates this mistake stating that in the Teaching Squares debriefing discussion my article (Haave 2014) is cited as advocating that "Observations exclusively focus on positive features in the teaching sessions" (Lemus-Martinez et al 2021). I suspect that the authors misunderstood the statement in my article "The intention of the square is not to criticize each other’s teaching" to mean that only positive aspects of the observed teaching are discussed. A good critique involves a robust discussion of both the strong and weak aspects of whatever is being criticized. I wish that Lemus-Martinez et al (2021) had instead focused on the subsequent sentence in my Teaching Professor article that states "Rather, it’s an opportunity for faculty to reflect on their own teaching in light of colleagues’ teaching examples."
Hopefully, the authors read this blog and can correct their misunderstanding going forward as they continue to use the effective faculty development tool of Teaching Squares.
Resources
Berenson, C. (2017). Teaching squares: Observe and reflect on teaching and learning. Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Guide Series, Calgary, AB. https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/resources/teaching-squares-observe-and-reflect-teaching-and-learning
Berry, D. (2011). Learning by observing our peers. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 1, 99. https://doi.org/10.22329/celt.v1i0.3186
CTLT. (ND). Teaching squares. Centre for Teaching, Learning & Technology, University of British Columbia. https://wiki.ubc.ca/images/c/c5/Teaching-squares.pdf
Haave, N. (2014). Teaching squares: A teaching development tool. The Teaching Professor, 28(10), 1. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/faculty-development/teaching-squares-cross-disciplinary-perspectives/
Lemus-Martinez, S. M., Weiler, T., Schneider, G. W., Moulik, S., & Athauda, G. (2021). “Teaching squares”: A grassroots approach to engaging medical educators in faculty development. Medical Teacher, 43(8), 910–911. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2021.1929903
Oberlies, M. K., Buxton, K., & Zeidman-Karpinski, A. (2020). Adapting evidence-based practices to improve library instruction: Using customized tools to support peer mentoring and observation. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 26(1), 6–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2019.1628078
Rhem, J. (2003). Teaching squares. National Teaching and Learning Forum, 13(1), 1–3. https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/535
Berenson, C. (2017). Teaching squares: Observe and reflect on teaching and learning. Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Guide Series, Calgary, AB. https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/resources/teaching-squares-observe-and-reflect-teaching-and-learning
