Critical Friends to Support ERWC Fidelity

1. Critical Friendsto Support ERWC Fidelity Kathleen D. Rowlands ERWC i3 Coaches

2. 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 Broad Definition of Critical Friends Work

3. “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 Coaching Purposes

4. Collegial coaching • Instructional coaching • Literacy coaching • Mentor coaching • Peer coaching Professional Development: What Works --Sally J. Zepeda 2008 Types of Coaching

5. Do work that is analogous to that of peer coaching. Critical Friends

6. Number of Districts: ? • Number of Schools: ? • Number of Teachers: ? Taking Coaching to Scale

7. 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. Two ERWC Coaching Models

8. Solid professional development models. • CLEAR separation of coaching and evaluation. • Focus on fidelity of implementation and student learning. Both ERWC Models

9. What ERWC teachers know and can do…and what we need them to know and be able to do—with FIDELITY!. Bridging the Gaps

10. CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE COACHING(Both Models)

11. Collaboration • Communication • Consistency • Clarity of Vision 4 C’s of Effective Coaching

12. Collaboration, NOT evaluation • Trust • Friendly, supportive, and interactive learning environment. Key Coaching Components

13. Help with setting goals • Encouraging action • Acting as a sounding board • Giving feedback • Prompting • Questioning Tasks of the Coach

14. Common language • Specific focus • Hard evidence-objective data • Interaction • Predictability • Reciprocity Effective Conferencing(separating the person from the practice)

15. Critical friends work …is different…

16. 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 Coaching

17. 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. Critical Friends

18. 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. Some Characteristics of the Relationship

19. “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. Critical Friends Coaching Model

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

21. “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. Data Collection Focus

22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpfGFKcguV0 • As you watch: • What is the relationship between the partners? • What are your key take-aways? How To Be a Critical Friend

23. useful Tools

24. Observation and modeling • Pre-observation conference, extended classroom observation, post-observation conference • Discussions about teaching and learning…theirs and their students’ learning. • Questions to help them develop a habit of reflective practice. • Protocols: specific routines for observation, looking at student work, etc. Coaching Tools

25. A Useful Model

26. 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

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

28. 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? Post Conference

29. Good Questions

30. “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). “It’s about the Questions”