Lesson Study

The Lesson Study Cycle in our project has four phases (pictured below): Pre-Planning, Collaborative Planning, Focused Observing and Debriefing Based on Student Data. We use lesson study as a vehicle to support teachers' collaborative learning about the Mathematics Teaching Practices articulated in NCTM's Principles to Actions (2014). The supportive yet rigorous structure, implemented in PLCs over time, allows teachers to make significant changes in their practice as opposed to tinkering around the edges. Thompson and Zeuli (1999, as cited in Smith, 2001) describe this type of learning as transformative rather than additive. Current projects that include a lesson study component.

Use of the lesson study as a vehicle for teacher professional learning is in response to the isolation reported by many teachers (Heider 2005; Horn 2008; NCSM 2014; NCTM 2014; NEA 2000), as during these cycles teachers collaboratively plan and examine the influence of instruction on student learning. The model modified from Japanese Lesson Study (Chokshi and Fernández 2004; Watanabe 2002) where teachers carefully tune a lesson; in this case, the main focus is on having teachers tune their practice.