Critical Friends Groups
Critical Friends Groups (CFGs) provide a forum
for professional development that focuses on developing collegial
relationships and encouraging reflective practice in order to
increase student achievement. By examining student and adult
work through collaborative reflection, educators hold themselves
accountable for continuous improvement toward helping every
student learn.
Of value to all leaders in education, facilitative
leadership skills, built through participation in CFGs, engage
school communities in work worth doing, foster a focused school
community, and build a collaborative and reflective culture
in schools.
A CFG is a professional learning community
(teachers, school leaders, counselors, school psychologists,
classified staff, coaches…) that commits to collaborating
on a long-term basis toward improved student learning. Through
consistent meetings they work together to improve practice,
examine curriculum and student work, identify school culture
issues that affect student achievement, and observe each other
at work.
Small Schools Northwest offers a 5-day institute
to train a coach to facilitate and support such a group of their
peers. The number of coaches a school needs depends on the number
of groups they want to have in the school. We whole-heartedly
recommend this institute for administrators, teacher leaders,
and district office personnel as the skills and tools in the
training are immediately applicable to committee, leadership
and whole staff meetings in addition to teacher collaboration.
2008
Critical Friends Group Institutes
CFG COACHES INSTITUTE
The CFG Coaches Institute is designed to train a peer coach to facilitate
and support a group of 6-10 of their peers throughout the school
year. The initial training is 5 days with ongoing support to
new coaches provided as needed.
Dates: November 13-15 and December 5-6, 2008
Times: 8:00 am to 4:00 PM
Location: Corbett House, Lewis & Clark College
Cost: $650
Credit Options: 1 to 2 semester credits are available, both degree applicable and non-degree applicable. See registration form for more details.
ADVANCED CFG COACHES INSTITUTE
Return to Lewis & Clark for professional development that will help you reflect upon and refine your practice with critical friendship in this new program created specifically for trained CFG Coaches.
We'll frame our work together around examining the following essential questions:
* How can the CFG Coach act as an agent of change?
* How can I push the equity conversation in my professional context?
* What role does my own self-reflection play in modeling courageous conversations about equity?
Our three-day institute will equip participants with new tools and resources to go deeper with existing CFGs.
Dates: July 8-10, 2008
Times: 8:00 am to 4:00 PM
Location: Lewis & Clark College
Cost: $320
Credit Options: 1 semester non-degree applicable credit is available. See registration form for more details.
To Register
Download and complete the registration
form and fax (503-768-6045) or mail it to Small Schools
Northwest.
Cancellation Policy
Registrations paid in full will gladly be refunded if Small
Schools Northwest is notified in writing one month prior to
each Institute.
Accommodations
Residental Campus Housing
Lewis & Clark College student dorms are available for these summer institutes.
Rates are $18/night for a double and $25/night for a single. To get more information on residential housing and the registration form, go to http://www.lclark.edu/dept/ccps/housing.html
If you have any questions, please contact Kim
Feicke.
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CFG
Coaches Retreat
Taking Charge of Our Own Learning
October 10 , 2008
Collaboration and sharing our work publicly are not the ‘normal’ way of doing business in schools. In CFGs, we come together as professionals to explore and improve our practice, to better understand our students, and to challenge ourselves to face that which makes us uncomfortable in order to move our practice forward.
These worthy and noble goals for our CFGs often get waylaid by the circumstances we face in our schools. Join your CFG colleagues at the fall Coaches Retreat to recommit yourself to these goals and the work of building collaborative practices across your school. We will explore the following topics:
* Refreshing and Refining our CFG Skills
* Incorporating CFG Tools into Staff Meetings and PLCs
* Looking at Data to Change Practice
* Digging Deeper into Issues of Equity
The day will
provide opportunities for networking with other coaches, working
on dilemmas in your practice, learning new tools and protocols
and thinking about how to move your group forward or get a group
started. This retreat will leave you refreshed, rejuvenated
and recommitted to your CFG work!
Click
here for registration information
WHEN: October 10, 2008
TIME: 8:30AM-3:30 PM
WHERE: LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE
COST: $75
(Cost
is inclusive in the institute fee for those trained
at L & C in Spring and Summer 2008)
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CFG Coaching and Support
If you are trying to get a CFG going in your school and don't have a trained CFG coach to run it, or just need an infusion of new energy into your group, we can help!
We have trained CFG facilitators who can contract with you to:
- facilitate a CFG in your school or district
- introduce new protocols and tools to your active CFG
- facilitate presentations to staff about CFG work
- facilitate difficult conversations that need external support
- help you think through new ways to work with your CFG
- provide resources and research for topics of discussion in your CFG
Please contact
us to let us know how we can support your CFG work.
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Cross-District CFG Groups
Are you in need of a CFG group? Come join us!
Sometimes for whatever reason, it just doesn't work to get a CFG going in your building. Other times you need fresh perspective from folks outside your school or district to discuss your issues. We are currently offering regional administrator and teacher-based CFGs. These groups meet on a monthly basis during the school year, offering you an opportunity to expand your professional network, build your CFG skills, and get critical feedback on the dilemmas in your practice. Participation is free.
Want to find out more? Please contact
us !
Credit
for CFG Participation
As anyone who has participated in one knows, Critical Friends Groups
are an invaluable professional development tool in improving student
achievement. In recognition of that value, Lewis & Clark College
offers one semester hour of non-degree applicable graduate credit
to CFG participants.
The requirements for receiving credit for the course include 1)
participating in your CFG group for at least 15 hours throughout
the school year and 2) writing a 1-2 page formal reflection paper
on your participation in that group.
The reflection paper will be due at the end of the school year
and is expected to meet criteria for graduate-level writing.
The paper will focus on the following questions: 1)What went on
in your CFG meetings this year? (What kinds of protocols did you
use, what kind of work did you look at, what kinds of discussions
did you have?) 2)How did your work in your CFG this year impact
your teaching practice and/or support progress towards equity of
student outcomes in your school and classroom? 3)What goals does
your CFG have for next year or what goals do you have for your CFG?
To register for this course, you must fill out Continuing Education Credit Registration
and Payment Forms and return them to the address on the website. Registration forms are also available at Lewis
& Clark College or you can contact us to have them sent to your
school.
Registrations are due by December 1, 2008
Please contact us if you
have any questions about this opportunity and be sure to share it
with all of the CFG participants in your school!
Info for Reg Form:
Course Title: CFG Discovery Council
Department: CEED
Course #: 841
Credit Hours: 1 semester hour
Tuition: $80
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