THE ACS REFORM OF INTRODUCTORY SCIENCE COURSES
FOR
NON-SCIENCE MAJORS PROGRAM

Teaching Squares

The Teaching Squares Participant Handbook and related materials (link to Handbook) are included on the ACS website with the permission of Anne Wessely, a principal developer of this tool. Comments/Questions about Teaching Squares may be sent directly to Anne at awessely@stlcc.edu or 314-984-7509 (phone) or to acs@colleges.org.

While not initially designed as a mentoring tool, Teaching Squares can be used as a low cost mentoring activity, a model for faculty engagement, with minimal adaptation to the process and questions used.

What is Teaching Squares? Teaching Squares is designed to improve teaching and build community, by increasing professional and personal connections among faculty, through a structured, non-threatening process of classroom observation and shared reflection. The project captures the best aspects of peer evaluation - peer observation and discussion - while eliminating the elements of judgment and evaluation.

What participants say about Teaching Squares:

Teaching Squares offers instructors the opportunity to see the commonalities of teaching and the exciting differences between disciplines and realize other people meet the same challenges.

This has been the least artificial and least threatening way to discover and test new methods of teaching.

Visiting other courses reminded me of how challenging it is to be on the students’ side of the desk and how intimidating some of my courses must be for them.

We found our common ground, our common concerns, and made strong connections with each other across disciplines which are often separated.

Suggestions for adapting Teaching Squares to your situation:

• Read the handbook through to become acquainted with the design, goals, and timeline.
• Identify potential Teaching Squares partners. Ask them to read the handbook, and then discuss the activity together. Make a commitment to the activity and principles involved.
• Hold and Organizational meeting. Set goals and establish operating agreements. (See suggested Agenda in Handbook). Create a project timeline that fits your schedules. Arrange Classroom visits.
• Review the Course Information Sheet. Edit the Major Teaching Goal(s) and Student Course Goals to match those for your courses.
• Review Classroom Visitation Checklist. Determine contents of and make Participant folders
• Review Classroom Observer’s Role
• Review questions for Square Share Content. Add others your group would like to discuss.
• Review Square Share sheet related to “After completing the classroom visits.”
• Conduct classroom visits
• Meet to discuss/reflect on the visits.
• Plan any desired follow-up.

Teaching Squares = High Energy

• Increases converstations about teaching
• Increases dissemination of innovative practices
• Increases identification with students
• Increases understanding of colleague's work
• Increases connection with entire institution
• Recognizes and reinforces good practice

ACS Science Reform Program Homepage

This ACS program is supported by the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles