Critical Friendsto Support ERWC Fidelity

Kathleen D. Rowlands

ERWC i3 Coaches

Broad Definition of Critical Friends Work

• A process thorough which professional educators work together:• to reflect on current practices; • to expand, refine, and build new skills; • to share ideas and teach one another; • to conduct classroom research; • to solve workplace problems

How to Plan and Implement a Peer Coaching Program

Pam Robbins, 1991, ASCD p. 1

Coaching Purposes

• “To improve the instructional practices of teachers in order to increase student learning” (163);

• To develop teacher potential; and• To support teachers.

Professional Development: What Works

Sally J. Zepeda 2008

Types of Coaching

• Collegial coaching• Instructional coaching• Literacy coaching• Mentor coaching• Peer coaching

Professional Development: What Works

--Sally J. Zepeda 2008

Critical Friends

• Do work that is analogous to that of peer coaching.

Taking Coaching to Scale

• Number of Districts: ?• Number of Schools: ?• Number of Teachers: ?

Two ERWC Coaching Models

Critical Friends • For colleagues in a

building to use together for support, to improve instruction, and to address grant issues.

Instructional Coaching• For the Advisory

Board member or the ERWC Professional Developer to use with individual teachers or a school.

Both ERWC Models

• Solid professional development models.• CLEAR separation of coaching and evaluation.• Focus on fidelity of implementation and

student learning.

Bridging the Gaps

What ERWC teachers know and can do…and what we need them to know and be able to do—

with FIDELITY!.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE COACHING (BOTH MODELS)

4 C’s of Effective Coaching

• Collaboration• Communication• Consistency• Clarity of Vision

Key Coaching Components• Collaboration, NOT evaluation• Trust• Friendly, supportive, and interactive

learning environment.

Tasks of the Coach

• Help with setting goals• Encouraging action• Acting as a sounding board• Giving feedback• Prompting• Questioning

Effective Conferencing(separating the person from the practice)

• Common language• Specific focus• Hard evidence-objective data• Interaction• Predictability • Reciprocity

CRITICAL FRIENDS WORK…is different…

Critical Friends Coaching

• Helps ensure the transfer of newly learned skills from an in-service learning opportunity into practice.

• “In-class training by a supportive partner who helps a teacher correctly apply skills learned in a workshop” (Joyce and Showers 1982, p. 5).

Critical Friends

• THINKING PARTNERS: we are thinking through and learning together as a team.

• Less formal than instructional coaching• Teachers should select their own partners.• There is a rule: peer coaches can get a divorce.

Some Characteristics of the Relationship

• Critical Friends partnerships are voluntary.• Information shared within the relationship

is strictly confidential.• Each participant is responsible to complete

any work that both have deemed beneficial.

Critical Friends Coaching Model

• “Inviting teacher” steers the coaching process:• Observation focus;• Form of data collection;• Agreed upon guidelines for coach’s and

mentee’s behavior;• Discussion parameters;• Date and time of observation.

Focus on the Practical

• Effective coaching partnerships focus on the practical, not the abstract. (“It’s About the Questions” p. 76)

Data Collection Focus

• “One of most difficult aspects of peer coaching , after conquering feelings of discomfort about teaching publically, is deciding on a focus for the observation” (29).• Inviting teacher might start with a safe focus—something he

or she is confident about and does well.• Brainstorm menu of options

• Determining data collection method• Essential that inviting teacher and coach talk about data

collection instrument in detail so that data collected matches desired focus.

• Data collection must be manageable for the coach and relevant to the inviting teacher.

How To Be a Critical Friend

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpfGFKcguV0

• As you watch:• What is the relationship between the

partners?• What are your key take-aways?

USEFUL TOOLS

Coaching Tools

1. Observation and modeling• Pre-observation conference, extended

classroom observation, post-observation conference

• Discussions about teaching and learning…theirs and their students’ learning.

2. Questions to help them develop a habit of reflective practice.

3. Protocols: specific routines for observation, looking at student work, etc.

A Useful Model

Post-Conference

• Collaborative: characterized by a mutual discussion of the teaching observed. Critical Friend asks teacher to reflect on what happened as expected or planned and what happened differently. Inviting teacher analyzes what teaching or student behaviors contributed to outcomes. The teacher determines what changes to make when teaching the lesson again.

Post-Conference

• Mirroring: “Here are the data you asked me to collect. If you have any questions, please let me know.”

Post Conference

• Critical Friend asks the inviting teacher questions to promote reflection about the lesson.• Questions; what happened as expected?• What happened differently from expectations?• How would the inviting teacher teach this

lesson next time?

Good Questions

“It’s about the Questions”

• “A coaching relationship isn’t about providing a quick fix or a recipe for success. Rather the most powerful relationships focus on reflecting, exploring, analyzing, and digging deeper into good practice”

(Ronald R. Bearwald, p. 74).