Your Square Introduction: Setting Expectations

The “square introduction” meeting is a time for your group to establish some guidelines for how you’d like your square experience to unfold. Most important to this discussion is clarifying group members’ expectations, so there are fewer surprises later on. The following questions are suggested as points you might want to clarify and can serve as a starting point for this discussion.

1. What are we hoping to gain from this experience?

This is the most important question to clarify today and should probably be returned to throughout your square experience. Being aware of your own and your colleagues’ goals can help you be a better square participant. You can use the following chart to record your own and your colleagues’ goals for the square:

2. What are our responsibilities to the group?

For the most part, your responsibilities to your square are few and straightforward:

• coordinate with the group to schedule class visits and the final reflection meeting
• share relevant materials with the group to provide context for visits to your class
• come to class visits prepared to observe
• come to the final meeting prepared to share your self-reflections on your experiences

However, you might also want to clear up a few other questions:

• How will we prepare for our final get-together?
• Is it ok to just come prepared to talk, or should we type up our reflections to share?
• Do we want someone to serve as our “square leader” (to send out a “nudge” email or two if the group is getting off track)?
• How strict will we be in adhering to the “only self-reflection” spirit of the square?
• Do we want to get feedback on any aspects of our teaching? How much of our final conversation will be devoted to such kind of feedback?
• Do we want to appoint someone to take responsibility for keeping our final reflection conversation on track?