Recently I have read a lot about critical friends, especially in articles and books by Stephen Brookfield, Arthur Kosta, Bena Kallick,Tom Russell, Sandy Schuck.  And I love the idea--someone who you agree to sit down with on a regular basis so that you are able to examine your practice through another lens.  Great idea!

But it had me thinking about the people with whom I do this anyway.  They aren't formal critical friends, per se, as we have not made any formal agreement or set any rules/expectations/time frame from which to operate. However, I would like to suggest that these informal critical friends are just as important as the formal critical friend relationship.  

Who are these informal critical friends?  They are the people that we talk to about education on a regular basis.  We may not have regular meeting times but we get together for coffee or dinner and talk about what is new and exciting in our classrooms and in education in general.  It's the teacher down the hall who you go and visit after school to celebrate with because you are bursting with excitement about a successful lesson.  Or, for many of us, the teacher down that virtual hallway (twitter).

Being a connected educator has enabled me to experience the perks of a critical friend without even really knowing it.   As I move forward I would like to explore the benefits of a more formal critical friend relationship (anyone with experience in teacher education want to sign up for that?), but I already know that that will never replace the energy I get from all of you, my friends and colleagues with whom I discuss learning, education, passion, and life.  

Thank you.  All of you.

Some of my critical friends: Tia Henriksen (@Tiahenriksen), DIana Williams (@teacherdiana1) and Robyn Thiessen (@robynthiessen).

We get together regularly to discuss education.  

Another critical friend, Antonio Vendramin (@vendram1n).

He is my former principal and has pushed my thinking and learning further than anyone else I can think of. I became a different kind of learner and teacher because of him and his mentorship.  

Thank you Antonio.

Here he is pushing me out of my comfort zone again.

Another place where I feel like I have a group of critical friends is on twitter.  On twitter, I have met so many people that help push my thinking forward.  Like Denise Krebs (@mrsdkrebs). Denise inspires me all of time!  More than she knows. 

Here we are together in person.  Denise drove up to Surrey, BC in the Spring of '13 and it was so wonderful meeting her and her wonderful family in person!  I love twitter, but there is something really special about talking to a person face to face!

And of course, I cannot leave out Hugh McDonald (@hughtheteacher), probably my closest critical friend!   I have learned so much from, and with this guy!  I miss teaching with you, buddy.


I could go on and on listing people who have taught me so much and who are such important informal critical friends, because there are so many!  But I will stop here as it is time for me to check out who is presenting next at #RSCON4 (http://www.futureofeducation.com/).  Check out the link to find another way to get connected!

And again, thank you all for being my critical friends.

How do you get feedback on your teaching/practice/thoughts/ideas?  Do you have a critical friend?  Is it a formal relationship, with arranged meeting times? Or more informal, like the ones I have described?  I would love to hear about them!  And again, if there is anyone working in teacher education who wants to arrange some sort of formal critical friendship, please let me know!

Earlier this year I blogged about the power of visiting other classrooms and schools.  Well, since then I have had the opportunity to go on even more classroom visits and I just have to blog about it again!  There are so many amazing educators out there and they are doing amazing things in their classrooms!  Let me tell you about some of them:   

The iHub Inquiry School.  Have you heard of this place?  They are a tiny secondary school in Coquitlam that is doing some big things!  In their words, it is "an innovative, technology driven, full-time program which allows them to pursue their own learning questions by shaping their educational experience around their interests instead of structured classes".  Sounds like a full time Genius Hour program to me...I knew I was going to love it...and I did!  

We (I was visiting with Jesse McLean who organized the trip and was kind enough to invite me along) started the morning with a student-led tour of the school.  The 3 girls were great! They clearly explained the school's culture and Jesse and I were very impressed with the vocabulary they used to describe their learning.  The students went on to explain that they were in the middle of an Inquiry project on Urban Gardening.  These amazing 9th graders were planning a school garden, as well as a program that would teach primary students how to garden as well.  It was so inspiring to hear them talk about their learning. 

An important experience, the girls explained, was one that took place early on in the school year.  Their teachers set up an inquiry project for all of them to do, and made sure that their were opportunities throughout for the students to fail.  Yes, FAIL.  I almost cheered!  I have been trying all year to get my students comfortable with the learning process and the obstacles that they will face.  But my students struggle with this notion.  They prefer things to be clear, and for all experiences to be problem-free. We are still working toward being okay with ambiguity and taking risks with our learning.  I was really happy that the girls shared this experience with me.  Something to borrow for sure!  After some time with the students, we sat down to chat with VP, David Truss.  David, thank you so much for taking the time to explain your program to us!  We have so much to learn from what you are doing.

***Major Takeway***
Inquiry needs to be introduced, modeled and scaffolded for the students.  It pays to take the time to do it right!

After lunch, Jesse and I headed to Fraser Heights Secondary (back in my School District 36).  We wanted to visit Jess Pelat and Parm Brar because they are running a cross-curricular inquiry program with their grade 8s.  Basically, they teach English, Social Studies, Math and Science to the same group of students by doing inquiry projects.  So neat!  I love the idea of keeping those kids together as a cohort for all of their subjects.  And I also appreciated the emphasis on cross-curricular projects, something Hugh McDonald (my teaching partner) and I have been experimenting a lot with this year.  

Jess and Parm, thank you so much for opening up your classroom to us!

***Major Takeway***
Cross-curricular works!  But that doesn't mean you should feel guilty about teaching some stand-alone math lessons, because that is important too.

A few weeks later I had the opportunity to check out a few more schools.  This time they were elementary schools...a little bit more familiar!  First, I spent some time with Trish Miller and Chris Gauvin at Martha Currie. I just loved seeing how they were doing Genius Hour!  It is so great to just watch expert teachers do their thing!  I was so impressed with Trish's students and their projects!  The purpose of my visit to Trish's class was to help her young students get started with blogging, and we did...her adorable grade 3s and 4s took to kidblog immediately!  But while there I was reminded at how important a sense of community is.   Trish cares so much about her students, and it is immediately obvious.  There is such a sense of community and care in her classroom!  It is evident in the way she decorates her room (beautiful baskets of supplies, and student work displayed), in the way she teaches (science through hands on activities such as making a fruit salad while examining the various types of seeds in fruit) and the way she involves her students in the decision making (I watched the students make the decisions about their Genius Hour iMovie).  I am so glad that I got to visit!

I was also really eager to hear about the gardening project that Chris' students were starting.  His class is trying to figure out how to start an urban garden of their own!  These young 5th and 6th graders were sawing wood, taking measurements and building their own garden out of old pallets.  Reminded me a little of the wikiseat project we are doing at my school.  I just love these hands on activities that make math (measurement, angles, etc) come alive, and are also just perfect examples of authentic learning! 

***Major Takeway***
Community and relationship-building is key.
Other types of building (with a saw, hammer and nails) are also awesome!


Next up was a quick visit to Robyn Thiessen's class at Green Timbers.  Robyn is the Queen of making global connections!  I was so impressed with how her grade 3/4 students conducted themselves during a Mystery Skype call.  Her students were engaged and on task as they tried to guess where in the world the other class was.  

Have you tried Mystery Skype with your class yet? If not, you definitely want to consider it!  Students learn about world geography in the most exciting way!  Check out 6th chat and 4th chat for details! 

Below, is a video that Hugh made of our students during a recent mystery skype call.  

I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to visit colleagues from in and out of district.  None of this would be possible without the connections I have made through twitter.  Having a supportive PLN is amazing. Visiting them to learn through observation and conversation is even more amazing!