As depicted in this visual, “Critics” are like a dark cloud: they look for your flaws, want to win (and you to lose), hold you back, change your mood (for the worse), and will make you swear (or at least want to).  â€śCritical Friends”, on the other hand, are the “Silver Lining”: they see your strengths, want to help, move you forward (toward success), change your mind, and make you smile.  I am fortunate to have several Critical Friends.  The Quesnel cohort regularly unites (before class, after class, and during our “spare” time) to seek each other’s advice and feedback, just like in Bambino’s (2002) “Critical Friends Groups”:

The structure and format of Critical Friends Groups create opportunities for colleagues to challenge their own practice as well as that of their peers.  The work is critical because it challenges educators to improve their teaching practice and to bring about the changes that schools need, but the process is neither negative nor threatening.  The work involves friends who share a mission, offer strong support, and nurture a community of learners (Bambino, 2002).

The Quesnel Bachelor of Education teacher candidates value one another’s opinion and are each other’s biggest supporters.  So, when we were tasked with being “Critical Friends” on a recent resource sharing assignment, we were ready and willing. We have been giving each other this type of feedback all along, this time it was just structured into the assignment and required.  

We initiated the Critical Friend’s process by drawing popsicles sticks.  Carly, Andrea, and I were paired together and made plans to meet and share our resources when ready.  The obstacle, however, was timing.  This condensed and intensive Spring semester has overwhelmed us with readings, assignments, and quizzes, so much so that we barely have time to eat, never mind schedule time to meet outside of the four weekly, three-hour class times.  This problem is akin to what full-time teachers confront: feeling like there is no allotted or structured time to engage in meaningful collaboration with their colleagues.  Nevertheless, like teachers do, we “made it work.”

I provided Carly with some pre-emptive solutions to young writer’s block (i.e., how to deal with the digging in of heels when it comes to putting pencil to paper) and I probed Andrea to think about how she would tackle students getting distracted by games and the like when using an online learning platform.  My colleagues also provided me with some great feedback, imploring me to think about how I would support and encourage those students coming to me from difficult backgrounds, who have not experienced positive “options” in their lives, and who might have trouble thinking ahead to formulate hopes and dreams—all valuable insights that would help improve my delivery of this resource/lesson. 

References

Bambino, Deborah. (2002, March 1). “Critical Friends.” [Article] ASCD. Uploaded May 8, 2022, from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/critical-friends

P.S. If you are interested in the resource I shared with my “Critical Friends”, head over to the Portfolio Components section, scroll down to Lesson Planning and Resource Sharing, and you will find it under Career Education titled “My Hopes and Dreams – A Resource Worth Sharing.”