Jonathan Terry - Day 4

1. Using protocols like "critical friends" helps teachers become more reflective because it gives them the opportunity to brainstorm with their colleagues.  It also is a time where a teacher can get honest feedback or suggestions about the state of their lesson plans and work to make it better.  So many times a teacher will create activities or lessons in a closed environment.  "Critical friends" puts the planning in an open environment where constructive criticism can be received.

2. For critical friends to be effective, the teacher has to be part of a community where they feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback.  The community should be a safe environment where each member knows that feedback given is done to make things better, not to attack the person.  I also think having the receiving teacher stay silent while all constructive criticism is given helps the community because there isn't a notion of "I need to defend myself" after each statement.

3. I think with some adjustments this protocol could be very effective with students.  I would be very wary of trying this protocol as a whole group, because it is hard to make a student feel comfortable around every other student in the classroom.  I would split the class into smaller groups of 3 or 4 and go through the same critique process.  I really like the use of the "I like" and "I wonder" statements, because it takes away a lot of the potential for mean or hurtful comments. 

4. Within my PBL, I plan to use the gallery walk protocol to have students view and leave relevant feedback on each other's initial ship blueprints.  This is a great way to not only help groups see other ideas, but also get comments on things they can alter and improve on their own designs.  I will also use the consensus protocol for helping students understand the definition for density.  During the building of their ships there will also be some face-to-face conferencing that I will do with each group.