Lesson Study: Planning the Research Lesson
"Research lesson," in the parlance of lesson study, is defined by Research for Better Schools as follows:
A research lesson, also commonly referred to as a "study lesson," is the lesson that is team-written, taught in the presence of observing colleagues, discussed during the debriefing session, revised, retaught, and reported.
In this video, you'll see a team of teachers go through the research lesson planning phase of the lesson-study process. The learner-centered thinking of the participants is apparent in the conversation. Great to see this kind of collaboration in action!
See a video of educators talking about the lesson-study process here, read this earlier post for a broader perspective on lesson study, or find out more here about how Developmental Studies Center can help support lesson study at your school.
Stay connected with us:
This video could be a useful
This video could be a useful tool in prepping groups before their planning meeting.
I'd ask the groups to discuss what they see going on in the video that they value and want to emulate and what additional components they think are needed for a complete planning session. I'd hope to direct them to adding:
I'm also curious about the role of the facilitator in that video. She is clearly an outsider to the group. I'd love to incorporate that into the conversation as well: To what extent do teacher-participants find that helpful? How can members of the group take on facilitator roles?
Thanks for supplying this video!
Matt
Matt, I lead a great deal of
Matt,
I lead a great deal of our lesson study work at DSC and I thank you for your comments. Specifically I think your comments on the facilitator were important. At DSC we really see the role of the facilitator as a critical element to growing lesson study across a school and district. It has been our experience that facilitators are an essential element in helping new lesson study teams learn how to conduct powerful lesson studies.
To this end we have developed a resource for schools and districts called the Lesson Study Support Kit for Facilitators which addresses some of the big questions you raised here. In many instances here in the US, lesson study begins organically by a few teacher leaders who really "get" the power of the model. We are finding however that in order to grow lesson study beyond the few folks who really understand the power of it, it is helpful to have a facilitator to help lead the process. This is especially true for districts who want to grow lesson study across multiple schools.
Post Reply