1.

2. What is Lesson study ?

• A popular process of teacher professional development in Japan

• Derived from two Japanese word s : jugyokenkyu )

• Jugyo = lesson ; kenkyu = study/research

• • Lesson study (by Makato Yoshida, 1999)

• • Research lesson (by Catherine C. Lewis, 1997)

3.

• Aims to improve the quality of teaching and learning experience that teachers provide to their students.

• Practiced by Japanese teachers for more than 40 years

• It is practised in

• government in-service training,

• special interest group,

• teachers club or

• school-based in-service training /

• konaikenshu

4. Procedure to set up Lesson Study

• Step 1: Form a group

• Step 2: Focus on the goal

• Step 3: Plan the research lesson

• Step 4: Teach and observe the lesson

• Step 5: Discuss and analyze the lesson

• Step 6: Reflect and plan for the next steps

5. Lesson Study Cycle

• 3. TEACH AND OBSERVE

• Conduct research lesson

• Collect data

• 1. SET GOAL

• Consider long term goals for student learning and development

• Study curriculum and standards

• 2. PLAN

• Select or revise research lesson

• Anticipate student responses

• Plan data collection and lesson

• 4. REFLECT

• Share data

• What is learned about students learning, lesson design, th e content?

• What are implications for this lesson and instruction more broadly?

6. Benefits of Lesson Study

• reduces teacher isolation

• helps teachers learn to observe & critique

• Deepens teachers understanding of content and curricular scope and sequence

• Allows teachers to focus on helping all students learn

• Increases collaboration and respect for each other

7. SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT LESSON STUDY

8. Misconceptions about Lesson Study

• 1. LS is lesson planning

• 2. LS means writing lessons from scratch

• 3. LS means writing a rigid script

• 4. LS is writing the perfect lesson to be spread to others

• 5. The research lesson is a demonstration lesson or expert lesson

• 6. LS is basic research

9. 1. LS is lesson planning?

• Lesson planning is just a small part of LS

• LS is a process involves formulating long term goals, studying student responses to actual lesson and revising the approach to instruction.

• Teachers formulate questions and activities that will move students to improve their current understanding to the desired understanding of the subject matter.

• The actual student reactions are used to revamp the lesson plan, and the instructional approach more generally.

• It is about research and watching students learn.

10. 2. LS is writing lessons from scratch?

• Not necessary, you may search out good available lessons on the topic.

• Refine or modify to adapt to your setting

• (so that you have more time to observe the students learning)

• Spend more time on anticipate student responses, study student work, and refine the lesson.

• The focus is on improvement, not creation

11. 3. LS means writing a rigid script?

• No, the research lesson plan is NOT a script because

• • Every problem or question is chosen carefully so as to promote student thinking

• • Every step/activity is planned carefully so that the experience that students gain will help them to understand the lesson better.

• • forget about the details, teach them by looking at their faces

• Need to be flexible and change when necessary

12. 4. LS is writing the perfect lesson to be spread to others

• There is no perfect lesson. The world is diverse and constantly changing, there is no guarantee that

• • a particular lesson is right for all students in all schools, or

• • it will continue to work well with future students

• LS provides a mean for teachers to continue to refine lesson so that they can respond effectively to the students in their class today (not yesterday).

• Students lives are changing, so lesson study never ends.

13. 5. Research lesson is a demo lesson/ expert lesson?

• Every teacher has something important to contribute

• An effective LS should consists of both expert and novice teachers - to be open and learn from each other.

• All group members take responsibility to develop the approach and for collection and analysis of data on the students.

14. 6. LS is a basic research?

• It is different from most educational research or even action research

• 2 main differences:

• • a) the primary goal of Lesson Study is NOT to generate new knowledge. It is to improve instruction for students in ones own purview.

• • (research methodology & statistical analysis do not come into play)

• • b) LS examines an active improvement effort, NOT just an idea or question.

• • The point of LS is not to study certain effect individually but to practice all the qualities thought to comprise good teaching.

15. Benefits of Lesson Study

• Enhance content and pedagogical knowledge

• Encourage collegial collaboration

• Value teachers

16. Enhance content and pedagogical knowledge I feel that Lesson Study is very important for teachers to get new ideas. When we discuss, we share a lot and I have gained many new ideas. I also feel that Lesson Study will be helpful for me to prepare a lesson because after the discussion, we have a different perspective on teaching certain lessons . . . it is really interesting to know how others teach the same topic. (Journal of a lady mathematics teacher , 19-07-04)

17. Enhance content and pedagogical knowledge cont I learn a lot because there are a lot of things that I dont think [never thought of] but other teachers do. So, when we share them, we are getting new ideas . . . just for the lesson plan about integers, I have never heard about using the colored-chips at all and I have never even thought about it. (Interview of a lady mathematics teacher, 10-08-04)

18. Encourage collegial collaboration

• a change in the nature of the staff-room discourse

• • greater focus on the study lessons and alternative teaching strategies,

• • a lot more sharing of ideas.

• greater support among the colleagues.

19. Value teachers LS recognizes the central importance and difficulty of teaching - of actually bringing to life standards , frameworks and best practices in the classroom. Lesson Study invests time and resources in planning , studying and refining what actually happens in classroom. It is a system of research and development in which teachers advance theory and practice through the careful study of their own classrooms, constantly testing and improving on best practice.

20. Contrasting views of professional development (courtesy of Lynn Liptak) Traditional Lesson Study

• Begins with answer

• Driven by outside expert

• Communication flow:

• Trainer teachers

• Hierarchical relations between trainer & learners

• Research informs practice

• Begins with questions

• Driven by participants

• Communication flow:

• Among teachers

• Reciprocal relations among learners

• Practice is research

21. Ask yourself . . .

• How can teachers improve their teaching without lesson study?

• Akihiko Takahashi, De Paul University

22. Lets work through misconceptions and build a robust version of Lesson Study in our school . . .

• We can only improve our teaching in depth collaboratively in a supporting setting!

23. Thank You