|
Who |
Karin
Hirschfeld
Karin Hirschfeld is a “School Coach” with the Small
Schools Project, an organization designed to support schools with grants
from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Her background in school reform comes from leading several efforts as
a teacher at Federal Way High School including the introduction of
school-wide “Critical Friends” groups.
Prior to this, she worked in various positions in arts
administration/education and project management at universities and museums,
most recently as the Campus Art Coordinator at the University of Washington.
Karin
holds
a B.A. in Art History from Tufts University and a Masters in Teaching from
Seattle University.
|
|
What |
Critical
Friends Group (CFG)
A
Critical Friends Group (CFG) brings together six to ten teachers within a
school, meeting regularly over the school years, with the goal of helping
each other improve their own classroom practices.
After gaining a solid grounding in group-process skills, members
focus on designing learning goals for students and themselves.
In a structured setting of mutual support and honest critical
feedback from trusted peers, they then work to adapt and revise their
strategies.
CFG members bring to the table student work, teacher lesson plans,
case studies of students, classroom dilemmas and thought-provoking texts.
Using group process structures called “protocols”, CFG members
help each other “tune” their practice by analyzing these artifacts and
issues.
CFG’s combine three components that lead to effective professional
development of teachers: collaboration, inquiry and reflection.
(adapted from the Critical Friends Group Coaches Manual, CESNW) |
