Promoting Collegial Collaboration

Providing new and veteran teachers time to develop collegial collaboration is an essential part to any induction program or retention effort. Collaboration time can occur in a number of ways, such as grade level planning time, common prep periods, or periodic release time. New and veteran teachers can both benefit from these experiences, allowing veteran teachers to share successful classroom practices and new teachers an opportunity to share new instructional approaches they recently learned about in their teacher preparation programs.

One collaboration program that research has proven effective is the Critical Friends Group (CFG) developed by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Harmony Education Center. CFG occurs when "Skilled facilitators/coaches help teachers and administrators create and/or sustain learning communities where they can develop shared norms and values, engage in reflective dialogue, give each other feedback on their work, and hold each other accountable" (National School Reform Faculty website). At the CFG website you can access a host of resources including the research behind the model, protocols for CFG dialogue, reflective dialogue training guides, and frequently asked questions. The CFG protocols provide step-by-step directions for a facilitator to follow as the learning community reflects on student work, classroom incidences, literature, and classroom visits. The protocols are free for anyone to access and use, along with support materials. The image below is an example of the protocols for the learning community to utilize related to learning from student work. The protocols assist the group in examining student work and having a reflective dialogue on student learning. If you are interested in using any of the resources from the Harmony Education Center visit the following links:

• Harmony Education Center: http://www.nsrfharmony.org/
• CFG Program Description: http://www.nsrfharmony.org/program.html
  
• Protocols: http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/index.html
• Take a Look at How Other States Implement the Program: http://www.nsrfharmony.org/centers.html