An integral part of any teacher professional growth process is in participating in teaching triangles or teaching squares. These professional triangles are squares formed with your colleagues are used as a foundation to do some collective reflection and facilitate the visiting of each other's classes, either online or in person. This kind of collaboration allows for informal exploration of teaching practices and provides a non-threatening way of securing feedback so we can improve our practices. If you have never participated in this kind of process before, here is how it is explained at Washington University in St. Louis:
Teaching Triangles is a semester-long, reciprocal classroom observation and reflection program geared towards helping faculty think through their teaching practices in a supportive, structured environment. In Teaching Triangles, faculty observe and are observed by two colleagues. Observations are meant to stimulate personal self-reflection on teaching practice (not meant to provide direct commentary on colleagues’ performances). Participants engage in non-judgmental, formative feedback and discussion throughout the semester with other members of their Triangle following the observations. The CTL forms triangles and provides a structure for observation and reflection. Each Teaching Triangle consists of three faculty members committed to working together on their teaching for the semester. Triangle participants will agree to visit each other’s courses at least once during the semester to observe their colleagues teach. This observation will not be evaluative; direct commentary on colleagues’ performance is not part of this process. Instead, colleagues will write down their observations of the class session, and, following the class, reflect on their own practice having experienced what it’s like to be in another faculty member’s classroom. Following the observation and the initial reflections, triangle colleagues will convene to discuss their teaching, using some guiding questions provided by the CTL. From: https://ctl.wustl.edu/programs/teaching-triangles/#:~:text=In%20Teaching%20Triangles%2C%20faculty%20observe,commentary%20on%20colleagues'%20performances). Bowdoin College also uses teaching triangles and suggests these questions as a conversation/reflection guide: What happens in a teaching triangle? Each teaching triangle consists of three faculty members. After an initial meeting early in the semester to discuss logistics and establish expectations, each triangle member commits to visiting the other members’ classes at least once. Following all the class visits, the triangle reconvenes to reflect on teaching utilizing some of the questions below.
From: https://www.bowdoin.edu/baldwin-center/pdf/teaching-triangles-overview.pdf As you can see, the emphasis is on reflection and exploration not evaluation or judgment. In our NorQuest professional growth process resources there are several documents that might help you to facilitate such discussions and help you gather your thoughts. If you are from a small department or would rather get feedback from someone other than your close colleagues, the Educational Developers are always available to come, visit and chat! Several years ago, we published a blog on how this is done at NorQuest. Here is the link: Arranging a visit with an Educational Developer.
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AuthorJeff Kuntz Ph.D. ImagesExcept where indicated, images used in the blog posts are personal photos, images from NorQuest College or images from Pixabay. Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images, videos and music. https://pixabay.com/ Archives
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