The third talk that I attended at the Research Forum was Coaching the Coaches: Challenges and Possibilities of Critical Friends Groups which was presented by Angela and Pat from San Antonio. Since Tim and I have been doing some serious thinking about revamping coaches support for CFG's in Houston, I really appreciated hearing about the model being used in San Antonio.

Angela and Pat talked about the significance of context, and they shared a chart that organized the multiple layers of coaches' practice. From this chart, they lifted out challenges about the logistics, purpose, and work that CFG coaches faced in their work. All of the coaches that Angela and Pat work with are supported by being in a CFG for coaches where they can improve their facilitation skills and make their coaching work public. I would love to involve more Houston CFG coaches in CFG's just for coaches [see "Everybody Needs Two"]

These are the questions that are still resonating in my head:
"Who is responsible for providing support for new coaches?"
"How do schools take ownership of the initiative?"
"How much support is too much?"
"How do you keep the ship afloat without being the captain?"

Reflections on the Research Forum
I didn't get to attend a 4th session or the overall debrief because I had to take part in the facilitator's planning session from 3-6. I'm thankful that I got to participate as a presenter and as a listener. Both experiences helped me refine my own ideas. I wish that everybody had come with a paper, and I wish that a list of all presenters and their contact information had been available. There are several people that I'd like to stay in contact with, and I'm not sure how easy that will be.