CFG: Critical Friends Group

A critical friends group meeting at Klingenstein.

Critical Friends Groups (CFG) are collaborative work groups for teachers. It is the ultimate in what I like to call "grassroots PD": professional development by teachers and for teachers. Participating in a CFG was one of my most valuable experiences at Klingenstein and I've brought the idea back to my school!

In a CFG a group of four teachers gets together regularly. At each meeting one teacher takes the role of "Presenter". The presenter shares an issue or question that they are struggling with in one of their classes. They also bring artifacts to help the rest of the participants understand the issue more fully. The issue can range from a problem with a particular student, to a lesson, to a challenge with an entire unit or project in the course. The goal of the meeting is to help the presenter think more deeply about the problem and arrive at some of their own solutions.

A key piece of CFG is that there is a strictly timed protocol. For example, the presenter has exactly 5 minutes to present their issue. Next, the participants ask clarifying questions. After the 5 minutes of clarifying questions there is a "probing questions" phase which gets deeper into the problem and potential solutions. There is a part of the protocol where the presenter must simply listen and another part in which the presenter is the only one allowed to speak. This structure is extremely valuable. The time constraints ensure that all comments are to the point and efficiently stated. The structure also provides the expectations so that there aren't any awkward moments in the conversation. One of my advisors at Klingenstein stated that "structure is needed for creativity" and this protocol certainly proves that.

Another thing that I love about CFG is that you can be in cross curricular groups of all different grade levels and everyone still benefits. In my CFG I presented an issue that dealt with precalculus content to a high school history and law teacher, a middle school french teacher and an elementary teacher. Despite not being comfortable with the content, they gave me incredible feedback and I took their feedback to heart by changing some aspects of the lesson.

I am also reading a book called "The Teaching Gap" which used the TIMSS study to compare teaching of mathematics between the US, Germany and Japan. Inspired by a model in Japan, called "Lesson Study", the authors of the book advocate for a total restructuring of professional development in the US. Lesson study is when a group of teachers co-writes a lesson over the course of a year. They do tons of research, pilot the lesson, make changes to the lesson and then share it with the community. CFG seems like a baby version of Lesson Study in that it gathers the collective knowledge of a close knit group of teachers to critique and refine a lesson. It doesn't require a total restructuring of the countries PD either, just a dedicated group of teachers, committed to helping each other.

This year, I started a CFG at my current school and we are already off to a great start. I'm really looking forward to seeing what we will learn from each other!