Educational Initiatives Blog

Lesson Study: The Core of Japanese Professional Development

Every principal who has tried implementing a change in teaching culture and methods in her school knows just how difficult it can be. With the pressures of running and teaching in a school, comes a natural resistance to new and alien ideas. And yet, it is this resistance that the leader must overcome to create the Art of Transformation. Lesson Study, a widespread practice in Japan brings hope to leaders who aspire to create a masterpiece in their schools.

 

 

Our View: There are several web and print based resources available for teachers these days. As described in this article there are new methods being used to developed lesson plans. An interesting point discussed here is recording classroom sessions and using the student responses as leads to creating new lesson plans. Do teachers make use of these research-based tools?

Are classrooms a monotonous delivery of textual content?

Do teachers look at themselves as resources or facilitators who help students discover new material available outside the classroom?

 

Catherine Lewis, a leading educational researcher, has studied the practice of Lesson Study in the Japanese school education system. She was introduced to the practice when she realised that teachers all across Japan are very effective at teaching Science. When she asked a large number of teachers where they learnt how to teach Science, she got the same answer: “jugyou kenkyuu” – lesson study or research lessons.

 

 

 

 

Research Lessons, as Lewis describes them, are actual classroom lessons which share the following characteristics:

1. Research Lessons are planned for a long time.

2. Research Lessons are observed by other teachers.

3. Research Lessons are designed to bring to life a particular goal or vision of education.

4. Research Lessons are recorded.

5. Research Lessons are discussed.

 

In essence, the practice of lesson study involves a group of teachers carefully planning a lesson on a particular topic with the aim of bringing to life a particular goal or vision (for example, a student-centered classroom). These teachers actually conduct the lesson which is both observed by other teachers and recorded for future reference. This is followed by a seminar in which the teachers discuss, dissect and share the learnings from the experiment.

 

As an example, Catherine Lewis describes in detail a research lesson on levers from the Komae School no. 7 a normal public school. The vision that was being implemented in this lesson was “letting students value friendship and yet build their own perspectives and ways of thinking.” In this context, the teachers chose to “introduce levers in a way that really motivates the student’s desire to learn, and that encourages and emboldens them to develop their own perspectives.” In the process of planning the lesson, the teachers share various ways in which they have taught the lesson before and discuss which ways will help them reach their goal. They decide to challenge students by asking them to lift 100 kg bag of sand, and then group the students with similar ideas together to put their thoughts into practice. The teachers have never tried this before, and wish to find out if this will help promote individual thinking.

 

On the day of the lesson, many teachers from the school are observing. While the plan is put into action, teachers take note of how it goes, and record student interactions, questions, etc. After the lesson, a colloquium is organized where the teachers who planned and conducted a session speak about their experience and then open the forum for discussion. In this process, the lesson gets discussed in detail, and different points of view about what students learnt get shared.

 

1. Individual Professional Development

2. Teachers learning to see children

3. Spread of new content and approaches

4. Honouring the Central Role of Teachers

 

This is an abridged version of Lewis C. “Lesson Study: The Core of Japanese Professional Development” – Invited address to the Special Interest Group in Mathematics Education – American Educational Research Association Meetings, New Orleans, 2000.

 

(The transcript of the original talk can be found at www.lessonresearch.net/aera2000.pdf)

Tags: C Lewis, discussions, Japanese, lesson plans, research, Teachers

Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse

Relationships among educators within a school range from vigorously healthy to dangerously competitive. Strengthen those relationships, and you improve professional practice.

If the relationships between administrators and teachers are trusting, generous, helpful, and cooperative, then the relationships between teachers and students, between students and students, and between teachers and parents are likely to be trusting, generous, helpful, and cooperative. If, on the other hand, relationships between administrators and teachers are fearful, competitive, suspicious, and corrosive, then these qualities will disseminate throughout the school community.

Our View: It is time that schools are looked up as organizations and teachers are given the rights to freely express their views. A healthy exchange of a teacher’s classroom experiences can help in building a large knowledge bank which can then be used an effective teaching tool by several others. A teacher tends to face various challenges every day. It is important to document these experiences, share with her colleagues and be open to new ideas. If the interactions are solution oriented they are sure to deliver results in the classrooms. Students tend to learn better in an environment that encourages free-dialogue. So are we ready for to change the way our schools functions?

In short, the relationships among the educators in a school define all relationships within that school’s culture. Teachers and administrators demonstrate all too well a capacity to either enrich or diminish one another’s lives and thereby enrich or diminish their schools.

Types of Professional Relationships within a School

The author describes four kinds of relationships among the teachers within the school.

These relationships are:

Parallel Play

People working in isolation indicate parallel play. The author explains, “An example of parallel play in education is the self-contained classroom, with the door shut and windows covered so as to isolate yourself from colleagues who might cause you to examine and improve your practices”.

Adversarial Relationships

Teachers often become adversaries in a subtle way by withholding information and insights. Teachers carry around extraordinary insights about their practice-about discipline, parental involvement, and staff development etc., acquired over the years. The author calls this “craft knowledge” and points out, “If one day we teachers could only disclose our rich craft knowledge to one another, we could transform our schools overnight!” People also become adversaries through competition. They become competitors for resources and recognition, which are quite scarce in the world of schools. Barth cites an example of a teacher who said, “I teach in a culture of competition in which teaching is seen as an arcane mystery and teachers guard their tricks like great magicians!”

Congenial Relationships

Congenial relationships are personal and friendly. An example of this is the friendly sharing of food and niceties across the table. Maintaining congeniality in relationships is important.

The author explains: “The promise of congenial relationships helps us shut off the alarm each day and go to work!” However, the if the relationships between the school management and teachers are trusting, generous, helpful, and cooperative, then in turn the relationships between teachers, students and parents will probably be the same.

State expectations explicitly. (Eg. “I expect all of us to work together this year…”)

Model collegiality. (Eg. Visibly join in cheering on others…)

Reward those who behave as colleagues. (Eg. Recognition to those who collaborate.)

Protect those who engage in these collegial behaviours.

Collegial Relationships

Collegial relationships are the highest and the most desirable forms of relationships. At this level, people are not just friendly, but connected at a higher level. Teachers passionately discuss and work to improve their craft and build an invigorating culture around them. A sports coach once said, “Getting good

players is easy. Getting them to play together is the hard part.” Of the four categories of relationships, collegiality is the hardest to establish, but provides the greatest benefits.

Creating a Culture of Collegiality

The author provides ways in which we can replace parallel play and adversarial relationships with congenial and collegial relationships in our schools:

Teachers talking with one another about practice

Teachers do not restrict their discussions to small talk and niceties, but spend a significant amount of time discussing their classroom. This can be encouraged through sharing questions faced in classrooms with other teachers in the staff room.

Teachers sharing their knowledge craft

Once the exchange of ‘craft knowledge’ becomes institutionally sanctioned and there is a repeated practice of this, teachers no longer feel pretentious or as violating taboos by sharing their insights.

Teachers observing one another while they are engaged in practice

No one wants to risk being exposed as incompetent. Yet there is no more powerful way of learning and improving on the job than by observing one another practice in a classroom. For a school leader, it is difficult to create a school culture where mutual observations by teachers are commonplace, as one needs to overcome the individual teachers’ fear about it. However, it is essential as it increases the likelihood of worthwhile learning.

Teachers rooting for one another’s success

All too common in the profession of “Education” is widespread awareness of a fellow teacher in trouble. Each teacher instead of observing the other’s problem should try to help in solving it.

This an abridged version of Roland S. Barth’s Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse.

Tags: principal, Relationships, school, Teachers