In summary following are the factors considered most important for the success of this framework:
- Critical friendships must begin with building an atmosphere of mutual trust.
- Defining accurately which elements are required in the process (for eg conditions, dates, the formal procedure)
- Setting clear objectives and assessment criteria
- Feedback and discussion of the assessment: it is important to listen, clarify ideas and reach specific conclusions, which are understood and shared by everyone.
- Offering value judgments only when required and accepted by the person assessed.
- Making a follow-up of the technique for a certain period (up to two years), to check whether real improvement has been made (Bloom, 1999)
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Understanding and sharing the meaning of the word “critical” (Bloom et al., 1956): it does not mean “judgment”, but “the highest level of thought”. One must work to raise the quality of teachers, not to emphasize their weaknesses.
- Being aware of some of the potential constraints and problems, which networks must avoid:
- It may degenerate into rows and negative argument among the group members, if the tool and its usage are not properly planned, or if the subjects are not conscious of the real purpose.
- Both weaknesses and strengths must be recognized; it must not be forgotten that the criticism is a constructive one.
- It is difficult to create a relationship of trust with colleagues with whom there is very little contact, whichever the reason for this lack of contact. Therefore, meetings must be held fairly frequently and the process must be carried out a number of times, some times with a warning, and sometimes without, so that the general view is a more complete one.
- The process is quite time-consuming for evaluators, which may lead to a negative attitude towards the teachers evaluated.
- One must not overdo it, neither by saying too much, nor by using the wrong tone, in order not to hurt people’s feelings. Thus, it is also advisable in some cases to compare the data with those obtained from outside, neutral observers.
Andreu et al (20003)
The Critical Friends Process
Critical friend group (CFG) offers teachers a voluntary opportunity to share and develop professionals skills (Bloom, 1999) because this is a way of thinking about themselves as a group rather than individually. Hence CFG is an evaluation framework, which allows us to improve our work. Once trust is established the critical friend and the learners may start the assessment process. According to Costa and Kallick (1993), a successful sequence might be that reflected in the table below:
2. My experience as an Observer
I chose a work colleague to act as my critical friend to experiment this notion. We decided to follow the critical friends process described in Table 1. My critical friend was responsible for teaching ESOL (English for the Speakers of Other Languages) to a group of adults. This was a medium sized class; it consisted of 10 learners. The learners were between 20 and 57 years old. One thing common between the learners was that English was the second language for them. The learners belonged to different ethnic groups and had come from different Asian countries. This observation with my critical friend was arranged for Monday 13th of March 2006.The date and time were decided two weeks earlier.
The lesson that I observed took place in a fairly large room. The center of the classroom was furnished with desks and chairs. In front of this seating area was whiteboard. The classroom walls were covered with charts and students work. The environment was amenable to the learning process.
The lesson observed was part of an ESOL Entry 1(English for the Speakers of Other Languages) course. This was the week 17 of the course. The lesson was timetabled to start at 10:00 am and the tutor arrived 10 minutes before the class. The lesson was observed for an hour.
The observation criteria were discussed in advance. I observed the lesson and filled in the observation sheet (see APPENDIX a). The areas to be evaluated encompassed the following headings
- Planning and preparation 2) objectives 3) Activities and resources
4) Communication 5) Classroom management
My critical friend and I agreed to these headings after a discussion arranged prior to the observation.
Planning and preparation
The tutor did not have a scheme of work although had a comprehensive lesson plan (see APPENDIX b for the lesson plan). The lesson was on the topic of ‘borrowing money from the bank’. The tutor outlined the aims and the objectives of the lesson; she also made a link to the previous session. Looking at the lesson plan it also describes the teacher and student activities. It has been noticed that these activities involve more of a group work and does not allow students to work on their own. The lesson plan does not address differentiation either. As observed the class consisted of mixed ability learners. It meant hat the aptitude of students in class was mixed. Therefore an attempt to set a common pace throughout the learning session would be ineffective. The tutor managed to finish the lesson in time. However the duration given for the group activities took longer than expected.
Objectives
The topic was introduced appropriately. The term ‘borrow’ was explained and also the difference between ‘loan’ and ‘borrowing’ was made clear. Then a task was given to the students. This was explained verbally and no handouts were given out to the learners. They were instructed to work in pairs and do a role-play on the topic. One student was advised to be a bank officer while the other was asked to be a borrower. The activity was not supported with the handouts therefore the students were confused on what to ask from each other. Then the tutor took over and prompted some questions, which the student A repeated. Similarly the students B was reluctant to answer back so tutor helped her to make up a sentence. This continued for 15 minutes.
Then the lecturer continued with the same topic and decided to give them a pair work.
The lecturer was standing in front of the board and obstructing what was written on it. The lecturer wrote the sentences on the board and the students copied. This was only done after the students asked how to write them. The students were then to use these phrases in talking to each other in pairs. There was no time limit given for this activity. During this activity it was noted that the students started talking in their own language. After 20 minutes the activity ended. The learning objectives were met by conducting these activities but the activities were not organized well.
Activities and recourses
The methods used in the classroom were active. In the beginning of the session there was a bit of lecturing. Then the group discussions and the pair work took place. It was noticed that the tasks given were bit hard for the students. The group discussion had no set objectives and time span. The class was divided into two groups and was asked to carry out a discussion on the topic. They were also asked to describe an experience of an appointment at bank. The students were experiencing difficulty in making sentences of the vocabulary introduced; therefore the teacher helped frequently. At the end of this activity the tutor went around and checked the work done by the students. There was a new student in the class who felt a bit nervous to join in this activity. She was encouraged by the tutor to participate in the group discussion and did well in the activity. At the end the tutor summarized the discussion. The next activity was to do a role-play in the class. The students were divided in to pairs. There were no handouts given to the class thus nothing was provided for students to recall their learning. The tutor mainly used whiteboard as a resource. She introduced the vocabulary by writing it on the board. Then the tutor divided the students into pairs and instructed one student to be the bank officer and the other to act as borrower. She wrote simple sentences on the board to help the students to begin the conversation. It was noted that there was no scripts given to them. The students did well in this task and made it quite original. It was also noticed that this activity was intervened by the tutor quite often. If this activity was planned and prepared for then it would have run for itself and intervened as little as possible.
Communication
The tutor explained the topic well. The tone was loud and clear. She talked slowly so that all the students were able to understand her clearly. Some times the words used were a bit difficult for students at they were at a very beginners level. The tutor made them understand by giving the alternative words. She also used these words in to sentences so they can relate to them in every day life. But she did not ask them many questions to check the learning. The questions she asked were sometimes a bit complex for the learners. For e.g. she asked the learners during the discussion if they knew what was the interest rate when you borrow the money from a bank? Now considering the learners were all females and housewives, they never had the chance to learn about the interest rate. The teacher explained but it was still hard fro them to understand how it worked.
There was no audio or visual aid provided during the session. Sometimes it can be useful to play a video or audio on the topic. It stimulates the learning of auditory or visual learners.
The tutor was dressed up smart and looked professional. While writing on the board she stood straight and allowed enough time for students to copy the work. Although the writing on the board was small for some of the learners and they had to ask her what was written on the board.
Classroom management
The tutor had a good rapport with the students. They listened to her instructions carefully and performed the tasks well. The tutor met some of the objectives. As there was no assessment recorded so it is hard whether any learning took place. The tutor showed authority by her gesture as she stood up straight, faced students directly and gave orders with a confident tone. The tutor arrived before the class and greeted students when they came in. The lesson did not start on time, in fact the tutor waited for ten minutes for the students who came late. This action encourages the late arrival in future. The teacher had good control f the class and maintained silence. It was noticed that the teacher had more control over the learning hence adopted instructive style of teaching.
3. My experience of being observed
As planned with my critical friend this observation took place on Wednesday 3rd May 2006. The lesson started at 10:00 am and finished at 10:45. This was a group of ESOL students. I arrived ten minutes before the lesson and organized my handouts by putting them in order on my table. The learners started coming in and all the students arrived by 10.05.I recorded the attendance whilst greeting the learners. I gave a copy of the lesson plan to my critical friend who was also present in the class. I wrote the aims and objectives of the lesson on the board.
The session was on the topic of ‘Health’. I began with introducing the topic and wrote some vocabulary on the board. I then gave them a cross word to do. The students were asked to look at the pictures and find the word on the crossword. This task was given the limit of 15 minutes. I was facilitating the session by going around and checking their work .At the end of this activity I went through the answers and explained the difficult words. The next activity involved students to complete the sentences. The students were given ten minutes to complete this activity. I checked the progress of each student and gave feedback. The aim of this activity was to check the understanding of some of the learning points covered in this unit and provide feedback. The next ten minutes were used for Q&A session on the topic. The lesson was summarized by me and then finished at 10:45.
At the end of the lesson my critical friend discussed her observations with me. She did not use an observation form to record her notes, however later on she sent me an email with her feedback report.
Feedback and suggestions
My critical friend and I discussed some constructive proposals to improve my teaching practice. As my critical friend is also an ESOL tutor it makes her feel more confident to give suggestions. The first suggestion was about the crossword activity. My critical friend suggests that ‘going through the pictures before solving the crossword did not leave enough room for the learners to guess the correct response for themselves’. I explained that the reason for doing this was because some of the learners were weaker than others. I was also advised to use the fishbowl technique in order to teach and discuss active listening skills. I was also suggested to provide a list of thinking verbs for student reference. These can be on the wall or in a book. Add to, or modify the list as new verbs and modifying adverbs are discovered. These thinking verbs can also be on cards and can be given to students either randomly or in a certain order as a means of extending students’ reflections.
My critical friend has also suggested me to use role-play activities in class, which will improve their listening and speaking ability. For example, one student in each pair could be a receptionist at the surgery, with their partner who wants to make an appointment with the doctor. Students can take turns to play this role. This will also help them to build their confidence.
It was noted by the critical friend that there was no homework given to the class. An idea was put forward to give students homework on regular basis, as it will allow them to think on the topic on their own.
During the observation it was noted by my critical friend that I started the lesson abruptly without involving the learners into health issues. She states that ‘a recap on the previous lesson would have helped learners to recall their learning on the topic’.
My critical friend also suggested me to use individual worksheets for the students, which were appropriate for their level. Since it was noticed that the students struggled to complete the individual worksheet (fill in the gaps).
My critical friend praised me for having the lesson plan and the handouts organized. Furthermore she commented on my handwriting on the board, she thought that it was a bit small for the elderly people in the class. (I had a 57-year-old lady in the class who had a poor vision)
It was suggested to teach new vocabulary by using the flash cards in the classroom. The students learn them much more easily this way. It will give them a chance to respond to what they see on the card with the words or phrases.
My critical friend put an interesting idea forward of playing a video on the topic without the sound and learners could try to add a commentary to it. However this idea may not be practical for the teachers who teach in the community as most of the community venues lack in resources and may not be able to provide a video and the television.
I was also advised to recap on the lesson and the learners should be involved to summarize the learning.
4. Reflections on my strengths and areas of development
The feedback provided by my critical friend was very productive for me. This feedback has given me a lens that will help to elevate my work. This experience has helped me to evaluate my own ideas and get another view.
Now I am prepared to implement, as far as possible all improvements suggested.
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