Kindergarten Professional Learning Partnerships

Professional Learning Partnerships
Last year my good friend Margie and I decided to work together to pilot the Daily Five. We did it on our own time and thoroughly enjoyed the growth together. We visited each other's classrooms, shared stories and made changes to our approach after lots of professional conversations (while walking a local trail of course).
This year our hardworking and innovative Professional Development Committee created an opportunity for teachers who are ready to make a shift in their practice. They provide two full release days for each partner which can be taken in half day blocks.
A colleague asked if I would be interested and of course I agreed!! She would like to move from whole group to small group teaching and is also interested in taking her kindergarten class outdoors once weekly.
With these two learning goals in mind we planned two observational visits to my room so that she could observe small group during exploration time and Kindergarten Daily Five.
She had already introduced the five strands of the Daily Five but students had all done each strand as a whole group and she was stuck. She wanted to move to five small groups but wanted some direction and a model. After her observation in my room, she would go back to her classroom, then return for a debrief after work. After two visits and lots of practice in between I visited her room to observe, support and give feedback. 
It was so helpful to be there and help make on the spot changes to help with flow, timing, teacher role and observe her nurture student independence. She later confided that if I had not been there she probably would have tried it a couple of times and then abandoned the idea. Now we will keep working together to support the changes that she is implementing. It was such a success and is my very favourite approach to shifting practice.
What is your favourite approach to professional development?