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Running Head: CRITICAL FRIENDSHIP: LEADING FROM THE INSIDE OUT
Article Review: Critical Friendship: Leading from the Inside Out
Chad Hedderman
South Dakota State University
Principalship EDAD 707
Fall 2008
Dr. Gus Scully
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Article Review: Critical Friendship: Leading from the Inside Out
“The key to changing teachers’ behaviors is to help them get in touch with their own beliefs and the commonly held beliefs of their learning community and identify the gaps in their own practice.” (Baron, 2007, p. 56) This article discusses the ways that critical friendship in the school community can lead to student improvement and an overall better school community.
It is the administrators’ responsibility as an instructional leader to create a culture of critical friendship while acting in ethical manner. Critical friendship is at the heart of a professional learning community in which the members are committed to learning from one another and working together for a common goal (Baron, 2007). An administrator must lead from the inside out, and with integrity, in order to connect with the teachers on the core beliefs and moral purpose of the school community. A principal should model relationships with his/her staff, and be compassionate and understanding. These relationships are built by mutual trust and freedom from judgment. A principal must work with teachers to collaboratively work together and share ideas to improve student learning. Critical friendship starts from the inside of one’s identity and develops into professional relationships that can last a lifetime (Baron, 2007).
Critical friends take an interest in one another’s core beliefs and will hold each other accountable for continually adapting their practice the meet the needs of all learners (Baron, 2007). This article discusses many different ways that critical friends are committed. Some of these include looking at their own practice and being reflective to improve themselves and the community. Critical friends learn to support one another when risks are taken to improve their practices and most importantly they care about each other. They make their practice public to each other and are willing to share best practices. Critical friends hold each other accountable for meeting the needs of students that struggle the most. They believe that together they are more capable of what they need to know than they are alone.
Professional development is a great opportunity to build critical friendships. Programs should develop professional development opportunities that mirror the vision, mission and commonly held beliefs of the school community (Baron, 2007). It is important to get all teachers together to discuss what really matters, the academic success of all students. By dong this administrators can learn what it takes to change teacher practices to improve student learning. Baron (2007) states that the culture of most schools offer few opportunities for professional collaboration designed to change teacher practices. Time, along with practices and policies can be powerful obstacles to overcome for professional development. This article states many examples of how to overcome these challenges. One example would be having the members of a school community work together to make real lasting improvements in their own school. This can be accomplished by empowering the teachers. Another example is teachers and administrators must help one another turn theories and beliefs into practice for actual student learning.
This article was chosen because it was great at discussing the importance of having a positive critical friendship exist in the school community. It mentioned that to create this community, administrators will need high-quality training and sustained support (Baron, 2007). Some ways that an administrator can build these communities would be to create open door policies for all staff. Bring the school community together for a pot-luck lunch once a week will help build positive relationships within the organization. An administrator should work with the community to have social gathers exclusively for the staff and family during holidays and special school functions, such as homecoming and Christmas. The most important role in building critical friendship is letting the entire school community know that as an administrator they care about the personal well being of all members.
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References
Baron, D. (2007, May). Critcial Friendship: Leading from the Inside Out. Principal Leadership, 7(9), pp. 56-58. 37