Goals

This tool provides detailed support for a workshop that introduces professional development providers and mathematics teachers to the lesson study method for ongoing professional learning.

Users

Professional development providers and teachers.

Introduction

Note: this is a draft version of this tool - a revised version will be released soon.

The path to becoming an expert mathematics teacher is a long one. While a sequence of well-focused professional development sessions can provide a good start, long-term progress involves teachers thinking about their teaching in greater depth. Becoming part of a professional learning community provides the kind of supportive environment that sustains the long-term commitment needed to build expertise. Lesson study, based on long-established practice in Japan, provides a powerful approach for the work of a professional learning community. In this workshop, we will take participants through an authentic lesson study process, illustrating each step with video clips from a lesson study that took place in the United Kingdom. The aim is that, by studying this process, participants will be inspired to set up their own lesson study communities.

Since the publication of The Teaching Gap, Lesson Study has become used much more widely across the western world as a powerful method for the professional development of mathematics teachers. The book identified the practice of Lesson Study as one of the contributing factors that has led to the high quality of teaching in Japan. While other nations strive to improve teaching through the provision of courses and other PD initiatives, Japanese teachers improve by watching and discussing classroom teaching. This is not done casually, however. Teachers spend many months preparing these ‘research lessons’ and often several hours discussing them in depth afterwards, under the watchful eye of an external ‘expert’ or koshi. Over time, this develops a culture of professionalism that is often missing in the western nations. This workshop can be the first step.

Session Outline

• Introduction
• Professional learning communities
• The research focus
• The lesson plan
• Teaching the research lesson
• Analyzing the research lesson
• Reviewing and revising

Videos

The Presentation Slides contain six embedded videos that may not play in older versions of Powerpoint. You can view the video online here: