Teaching Squares
Open a “mirrored window” onto your teaching and learning: Join a Teaching Square! Members of a “square”* invite each other into their classrooms, not in order to critique one another’s teaching but to reflect on their own.
“The traditional view of the [peer observation] process … includes an assumption that colleagues can learn effectively from each other’s explicit, constructive feedback about observed teaching. However, evidence is increasingly emerging that learning from watching a colleague teach can be just as beneficial as, if not more than, receiving feedback, even when that feedback is well constructed.” (Hendry and Oliver, 2012)
When you join a teaching square you’ll attend 3 one-hour meetings, observe 3 classes, and write 3 paragraphs. You may also make 3 new friends!
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*Squares need not consist of 4 people, but 3-5 is a good range.