MORE ON LESSON STUDY

Stage 4: One member of the group teaches the lesson, and other group members attend the class to observe and collect evidence of student learning, thinking and engagement.
In preparation for teaching the lesson, teams think about how to collect data that will help them determine the extent to which the learning goal is achieved.
Teams develop an observation protocol based on their predictions of student responses and decide what types of evidence will be collected from students.
Before the actual class period, inform students about the Research Lesson and the observers that will be in the classroom.
Prior to the lesson, introduce the observers to the class and indicate what they will be doing. If you are doing Lesson Study as a formal research project, remind students of informed consent.
Traditional classroom observations tend to focus on what the teacher does during the class period. Observations of Research Lessons focus on students and what they do in response to instruction. Observers should have a copy of the lesson plan and student handouts used in the lesson. Also provide observers with specific questions to focus their attention during the lesson.
To get richer information, you might invite outside observers to attend the lesson.


Stage 5: The analysis phase addresses three questions. In what ways did students accomplish the lesson goals? How could the lesson be improved? What did we learn from this experience?
After the lesson is taught, while it is still fresh in everybody's minds, the group--and any invited observers--meet to discuss and analyze it.
Participants offer their observations, interpretations and comments on the lesson. The purpose is to analyze and evaluate the lesson thoroughly in terms of student learning, thinking and engagement.
To prepare for this post-lesson session, it helps to identify someone to take careful notes during this session and to collect the additional data from lesson observers. Bring copies of important material such as observers’ notes and other documentation.
Japanese teachers refer to the post-lesson session as a “colloquium” during which the lesson study teacher, group members and outside observers discuss the Research Lesson. The person who taught the lesson is given the opportunity to speak first followed by lesson study group members and other observers. The discussion should focus on the lesson (not the teacher) and on analyzing what, how and why students learned or did not learn from the experience.

* To be continued.