Packet ThreeFor Day Two

Lesson Study Packet

SummerLeadership

Institute:

PowerfulProfessional

LearningIn Science

National Science Education Leadership Association&

North Carolina Science Leadership Association

July 7-10, 2008

Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC

Lois Brown Easton (leastoners@aol.com)Stevi Quate (Stevi.Quate@cudenver.edu)

AN EXPERIENCE IN LESSON STUDY

(from Chapter 14 “Lesson Study” by Catherine C. Lewis in Powerful Designs forProfessional Learning, edited by Lois Easton)

DEFINITION: Lesson study is a professional learning design, based on the way that Japaneseteachers improve instruction. It has been practiced for many decades in Japan, and has take n off in about250 sites across the US in the past 5 years. It is a cycle of instructional improvement focused onplanning, observation, and revision of actual “research lessons.” In lesson study, teachers work togetherto do the following:

• Formulate goals for student learning and long-term development.• Collaboratively plan a “research lesson” designed to bring to life these goals.• Conduct the lesson, with one team member teaching and others gathering evidence on student

learning and development.• Discuss the evidence gathered during the lesson, using it to improve the lesson, the unit, and

instruction more generally.• Teach the revised lesson in another classroom, if desired, and study and improve it again

(Lewis, 2002a,b).

Through this cycle of activities, teachers deepen their knowledge of content, pedagogy, studentthinking, and their access to knowledgeable colleagues. All of these support the improvement ofinstruction, not just of the “research lesson,” but of instruction much more broadly.

THE CYCLE OF LESSON STUDY (we will do only the bold & underlined steps)

1. Form a lesson study group.

2. Focus the lesson study.a. Consider long-term goals for student developmentb. Choose a content area and topic.

3. Plan the research lesson

a. Study existing curriculum materials, and build on them wherepossible

b. Consider the unit planc. Try the task and anticipate student thinkingd. Make a data collection plane. Consider involving outsiders to the research lesson and colloquium

(specialists, colleagues, administrators, funders, networkers, and others ina position to advance your work)

f. Arrange logistics

4. Conduct the research lesson and colloquium

5. Consolidate learning, plan next steps

Lewis, C., Perry, R., and Murata, A. (April 2006). How should research contribute toinstructional improvement? The case of lesson study. Educational Researcher, 31(3), 3-14.

OUR PROCESS

1. In your teaching group, review the given lesson and improve it as much asyou can. One way to improve it is to have someone “teach” it within yourown group to see what happens.

2. Once you have it as “perfected” as possible, decide who will teach it to the“students” (who will be another teaching group). Anyone can teach theapproved lesson; lesson study is not about the idiosyncrasies of a teacher; it isabout a joint effort to improve a lesson. It is about seeing what happens whenthe lesson is taught.

3. Also decide what data you want to collect and assign every other member ofthe teaching group to be observers for part of the data you want. Here aresome samples of data you might want to collect:

Questions that come to your mind as you observeCritical things are happening in the classroom?Questions the students askedQuestions the teachers askedEvidence of higher level thinkingEvidence of skillEvidence of confusionEvidence of engagementFollowing the lesson and deviations from the lesson

4. The teacher will teach the lesson, as decided upon by the group with the restof the group arranged around the students, collecting data as unobtrusively aspossible. (Note: The teacher should feel free to adapt the lesson if needs arisebut should be sure to note when and why the lesson needed adaptation in orderto share that information with the group during the colloquium).

5. As soon as possible after the lesson, the group should reconvene for thecolloquium. The colloquium begins with the comments of the teacher(particularly what worked and what didn’t work). Then, the data collectorsshould report what they noticed. If it’s possible to have the students present,they should report what they experienced. A recorder can keep track of theinformation.

6. During the colloquium, participants should make recommendations on how toimprove the lesson and a decision should be made about whether or not to re-teach it or apply learning to the next lesson to be studied.

Ocean Creatures Lesson PlanSubject - ScienceGrade Level - 6

Science Standard: (Life Science) Students know and understand thecharacteristics and structure of living things, the processes of life,and how living things interact with each other and theirenvironment.

Objectives:

1. The students will correctly use a KWL chart to organizeinformation.

2. The students will create a flip chart of their animal aboutits habitat, characteristics, a labeled diagram of the animal,a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting their animal toanother student's, and any other important information.

3. Students will collaborate with each other well.

Description: This is the first of three lessons on sea creatures.

Materials: Paper, crayons/markers/colored pencils, KWL chart,Venn chart (students can make these charts themselves)

Procedure:

1. Have the students select a sea creature. Make sure eachstudent has a sea creature that is different from everyoneelse’s selection.

2. Have them divide a piece of paper vertically into threeparts. Have them label the first column K (for Know), thesecond column W (for Want to Know) and the third

column L (for Learned).

3. Have them work individually on the first two columnsonly, listing what they know about the creature and whatthey want to know.

4. Then, have them interview each other on their seacreatures, gaining any information they can in the Knowcolumn.

5. Finally, have pairs of students work together to create aVenn diagram of their two sea creatures.

a. On a piece of paper, have them create two circlesthat overlap. At the top of one circle, have them putthe name of one of the student’s sea creatures. Atthe top of the other circle, have them put the name ofthe other student’s sea creature.

b. Have them work together to list important butdistinctly different characteristics of each seacreature within that sea creature’s circle.

c. Then, have them work together to list in the areawhere the circles intersect the characteristics that thetwo creatures share.

6. Have each pair of students present their Venn diagrams tothe rest of the class.

Reflection: What? So what? Now what?

What? Explain the key learnings you’ll take with you.

So what? How are you making sense of this learning? What differencewill it make in your professional life?

Now what? What will you do with this learning? How will you apply it?