REFLECTIONS

1. As a result of this session, I have learned. . .

As a result of this session, I have refreshed my memories of our attempt of CFG's on our campus. I learned more about what a CFG is and what protocols are involved.

What a CFG truly is and it's purpose. Also learned about how it should be set-up.

As a result of this session, I have learned that teachers that participate in a CFG have to be open enough to receive and give feedback about their and their colleagues' work.

What CFG's are--teacher support group for sharing best practices, etc. & to improve student learning. Provide a format for non-threatening feedback.

CFG's to help to build relationships within a school. They are composed of a group of teachers/employees that get together to improve their teaching practices to bring about change. CFG's are supposed to provide group members with effective feedback and a strong support system.

I have learned that the CFG network helps in more ways than just observation. The idea of showing student work, lesson plans, project design to critical friends can be very powerful for creating effective teaching tools, certainly more powerful than me trying to figure stuff out on my own.
Critical Friends Groups can provide staff development for each other naturally rather than administration deciding what a group of teachers should develop. It's differentiated.

Forming Critical Friends Groups seems like an ideal way to examine what lessons/activities work or do not work in the classroom. Those lessons that do not work well can always be modifies, and a strong support group providing constructive criticism would be an effective way to approach "tuning" an assignment.

As a result of this session, I have learned that some of the processes of CFG are already done informally. I learned a new activity--"Text Rendering Experience"

2. I, personally, would like to learn more about. . .

I would like to learn more about how we could incorporate this on our campus without teachers feeling overwhelmed. Is that possible?

I have learned what it should have been and what I would like to see [my high school] try. I would also like to learn how the processes/protocols can benefit the group.

How to set up, manage & maintain a CFG that is comprised of a variety of individuals from a variety of educational arenas, including the private sector and school community.

I, personally would like to know more about how other high schools in Houston like CFG.

Starting a CFG for teachers in our school or our district (my subject is very specific-I would need other teachers from other schools to provide feedback)

The skills of CFG could be implemented in faculty meetings and team meeting.

I'd like to learn more about how students can get involved.

More about protocols, how to build the trust, how to ask the hard questions, how to stop meeting from becoming a gripe session, how to sustain, how to establish attendance accountability

I believe [my high school] utilizes the concepts explored in Deborah Bambino's article in Thursday morning team meetings, cluster and advisory group meeting, and supplemental meetings as departments see fit. We can improve by allowing multiple departments to collaborate for a new perspective on instructional development. CFGs can also be incorporated in teacher/student meetings, etc. In this way [my high school] would advocate more community involvement in the student learning process.

Can I visit a CFG group?

I would like to learn more about creating a climate that is comfortable for this kind of group.

3. I believe that my campus would benefit from more staff development in this area if it were. . .

I think a lot of this happens in our team meetings and I'm not sure there is room for it on our campus with our current teacher commitments.

My campus would benefit if they were exposed to a "true" CFG centered around student learning.

I believe that my campus would benefit from more staff development in this area if it were proven to show increased student participation and teachers that are already feeling pulled in several directions would want to devote time to meeting and sharing.

I believe this might be appropriate and desirable at my school.

We just need time to do collaborative activities--even between people in like disciplines in different schools.

Used to improve student achievement. Would it be voluntary? Would we get professional development credit? Is there any oversight or accountability w/in the group?

My campus would benefit if this took place across teams (meaning subjects) because teachers can get critical about their own subject.

Voluntary--because so many teachers' first thought is "What is the district giving us now?"

. . .did not require giving up 3 hours of personal time (evenings, Saturdays, after school)

I believe that my campus would benefit from more staff development in this area if it were less time consuming as far as the training is involved.

I believe that my campus would benefit from more staff development in this area if it were used to give teachers norms or protocols to use in their daily routines.

I would like to learn more about CFG results from schools utilizing these groups, as well as the impact on TAKS results (as shown in meeting). Please send PPT presentation if you are able.

My campus would benefit from this training in this area if it were held in our building or near our campus.