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posted by:
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Kathryn Show
on May 15, 2003
at 9:05PM
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subject:
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Lesson Study
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We have had some success with lesson study as a means for teachers to
begin to trust each other and be open to others observing a
team-planned lesson. Two years ago, when we had more science resource
teachers, we were able to get teachers together by grade level from any
school. We limited the group to 10. That group planned a lesson
together, one of them volunteered or we found a willing teacher to
teach the lesson or one of the resource teachers taught the lesson
while subs were provided for everyone to observe and reflect
afterwards. This proved to be a very rich experience for the teachers.
Since then, due to decreased funds available, we are trying it with
grade level teams in the same school. Some of the teachers had
participated before and knew the value of lesson study and that opened
the door for others to be open to it. It is meaningful p.d. but again
time is a problem. Meeting during planning time means that the process
gets fragmented because it is just about impossible to plan a lesson
adequately in a short time. But the whole process really forces
everyone to focus on instructional strategies and evidence of student
learning and whether or not the goals of the lesson have been met,
rather than focusing on the teacher. Since the teacher is implementing
the plan that everyone was involved in, it is a bit less threatening.
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