"Critical Friend" Kevin

When I got my start in school administration, I was an assistant principal in a Catholic high school where our principal had a great idea. Each day at approximately a half hour before the first bell would ring, she would get on the intercom and invite any faculty and staff in the building to pray, if they desired...and most of them did. We would gather in a circle outside our library and the principal would invite people, voluntarily, to share what they wished to pray for. Some days, no one participated in this part; on these days, the principal would just launch into a prayer with which we were familiar. However, on most days, we would have gobs of participation. People would share good news about children and grandchildren, they would pray for students who needed extra help, and they would share challenging stories that had caused them stress heading into the day. As you can imagine, it was easy to grow close to these people. When people open up and let you know what is really goin...

The National School Reform Faculty's "Student Inquiry Rounds" may be just one protocol, but it has many different looks, depending on the way it is being used by a teacher. This protocol invites the "presenter" to bring copies of a piece of student work to a collaborative team. With this protocol, the presenter is asked to say nothing about the work, but simply to distribute it for examination by the group. Individuals in the group then share what can be "seen" by looking at the work, what questions they have, and what interpretations they can make. Only after time is devoted to each of these pieces does the presenter return to answer some of these questions and to reveal his or her purpose in bringing the work to the group. To finish the protocol, the group then discusses potential "next steps" the teacher may take. It may seem frustrating that the true purpose of looking at the student work may not be revealed until the group is deep i...