Collaborative Lesson Study

Discover how Lesson Study benefits both students and teachers. Unlike scripted curricula that strip teachers of professional decisionmaking, Lesson Study values teachers by expecting them to be agents of improvement in their own classrooms. This resource empowers readers to oppose reform efforts that minimize teacher agency by offering an evidence-based approach to teacher-led instructional improvement. The text provides structures for attending to students’ interests, knowledge, and values when planning, teaching, reflecting, and revising instruction. It also shows educators how to use Lesson Study to design culturally responsive, differentiated instruction for the K–12 classroom. Use this step-by-step guide to develop professional learning communities; increase teacher motivation, efficacy, and knowledge; and support improvement adapted to local contexts.

Book Features:

• Guides readers through three cycles of Lesson Study, taking teacher learning deeper with each cycle.
• Focuses on developing student understanding that supports meaningful instruction across academic areas.
• Emphasizes the utility of Lesson Study for informing culturally responsive instruction.
• Offers examples from a variety of grade-levels and content areas, featuring both pre- and inservice teachers.
• Includes additional resources and prompts in each chapter to guide application.

Vicki S. Collet is an associate professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at the University of Arkansas. Prior to becoming a teacher educator, she worked as a district curriculum coordinator, instructional coach, interventionist, and elementary and secondary classroom teacher.

“Collaborative Lesson Study provides the path to the most meaningful professional learning many of us will experience and I, for one, am deeply grateful to Vicki for writing this significant book.”
—From the foreword by Ellin Oliver Keene, founder, Mosaic Literacy LLC

“This book helps us understand how educators in a "turnaround school" became powerful agents of instructional improvement. Collaborative Lesson Study will inspire all educators with the power of collaborative research on instruction.”
—Catherine Lewis, director of The Lesson Study Group, Mills College

“Teachers who dive into this book with eyes and minds wide open will emerge with much, much more than a process for curriculum refinement. They will develop a new vision of teacher leadership and teacher collaboration in service of student learning.”
—Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, executive director, National Writing Project

Contents

Foreword Ellin Oliver Keene ix

Introduction  1
Lesson Study in a Turnaround School 2
An Overview of Lesson Study 2
Impact of Lesson Study on Student Learning 6
About This Book 7
Note 9

PART I: LESSON STUDY AS RESPONSIVE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

1. Engaging in Lesson Study: Risk-Taking, Resilience, and ReVisioning  13
Perpetual Motion: Unrelenting Improvement of Teaching and Learning 15
Risk and Reward: Professional Growth Through Lesson Study 17
Valuing Teaching and Teachers 20
Context Matters 21
Reflect and Respond 22

2. Challenging Norms of Privacy and Isolation 25
Benefits of Collaboration 25
Challenges to Collaboration 28
Shared Expectations 33
Supporting, Scheduling, and Sustaining the Work 36
Overcoming Privacy and Isolation 39
Reflect and Respond 40

3. Lesson Study as Contextualized Learning 41
Why Context Matters 42
Lesson Study in Varying Contexts 43
Supporting a Positive Culture for Teaching 48
Reflect and Respond 49

PART II: LAYERS OF THE LESSON STUDY PROCESS

4. Purposeful Planning: Teachers as Designers 53
Collective Agency and Innovation 53
Creating a Vision for the Lesson 54
Predictive Planning 61
Reflect and Respond 62

5. Observation: The Eyes Have It 63
Another Pair of Eyes 63
Before the Observation 65
The Observation: Seeing with New Eyes 69
Reflect and Respond 72

6. Debrief: Deep Reflection and Lesson ReVisioning 75
A Disposition for Reflection 75
Reflection Starts with Description 79
ReVisioning Through Appraising and Appreciating 81
ReVisioning Teaching and Learning 84
Reflect and Respond 85

PART III: REFINING THE FOCUS

7. Building Understanding 89
What Is Understanding? 89
Supporting Student Understanding 91
Developing Teacher Understanding 93
Reflect and Respond 96

8. Flexibility 97
Teaching Requires Cognitive Flexibility 97
Flexibility vs. the Perfect Lesson Plan 100
Flexibility as a Focus for Lesson Study 101
Increased Flexibility 104
Reflect and Respond 104

9. Supporting Responsiveness 107
Cultural Responsiveness 108
Contextual Responsiveness 111
Responsiveness to Individual Lives and Interests 114
Responsiveness to Students’ Learning Needs 116
Responsiveness to Teachers’ Needs 117
Understanding, Flexibility, and Responsiveness 118
Reflect and Respond 119

Conclusion: Ongoing Cycles of Lesson Study 121
Variations and Iterations 121
Dispositions 125
ReVisioning Through Lesson Study 126
Reflect and Respond 128

Appendix A: Agenda for Introducing Lesson Study by Savanna Gragg 129

Appendix B: Planning Our Lesson 131

Appendix C: Observation Day Agenda 132

Appendix D: Videos for Observation Practice 134

Appendix E: Before and After Lesson Study Plans 136

Appendix F: Student Interest Inventory 145

References 147

Index 155

About the Author 165