Issues in Curriculum: Improving Instructional Practice Through

Lesson Study

TE 604

3 Units – Fall 2003

Chuck Podhorsky and Vernon Moore
City Heights Technology Center,

Smart Room “A”
594-2630
cpodhorsky@sandi.net

vmoore1@mail.sandi.net

Office Hours: by appointment

Course website (syllabus, readings and resources): lessonstudy.net

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Teacher collaboration is an essential feature to effective professional development. Too often, collaborative activities are forced upon teachers and therefore counter-productive. Further, time for collaboration is often times unstructured and systemically unsupported.

Lesson study, a Japanese approach to instructional improvement, revolves around teacher collaboration. In her text, Lesson Study: A Handbook for Teacher-Led Instructional Change, Catherine Lewis describes the process as “collaborating with fellow teachers to plan, observe, and reflect on lessons.” She continues, “Lesson study is a complex process, supported by collaborative goal-setting, careful data collection on student learning, and protocols that enable productive discussions of difficult issues.”

This course is designed to explore the foundations of lesson study and analyze the practice in a school-setting. Participants will be expected to collaborate with one another in designing, observing, and discussing lessons. The primary goal of this course is to provide a structured, meaningful process by which effective collaboration and thus effective professional development can occur.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. Introduce students to the features and process of Lesson Study.
2. Examine the research and examples of Lesson Study and analyze implications in United States.
3. Examine components of effective Lesson Planning.
4. Analyze the cultural aspects present in Japan that support Lesson Study; compare specific aspects to Western culture in an effort to determine how Lesson Study could work in the United States.
5. Explore activities that promote collaboration and reflection. Analyze how the activities can promote Lesson Study.

REQUIRED TEXTS

BOOK
Lewis, C. (2002). Lesson study: A handbook of teacher-led instructional change. Philadelphia: Research for Better Schools.

ARTICLES (available in course reader)

OPTIONAL TEXTS

Stigler, J. Stevenson (1992). The Learning Gap. New York: Touchstone.

Stigler, J. & Hiebert, J. (1999). The Teaching Gap. New York: Free Press.

Expectations:

• Complete required readings for each class session.
• For each class session you will have a reading reflection to complete. These will be given to you prior to class. The writing will take place during class session or as homework. You will e-mail your writings to instructor or post them in online discussion forum.
• Participate in all class discussions and activities. If you are not going to be at class, please email us in advance. If you miss class more than twice your grade will be lowered.
• Participate in threaded online discussions.
• Complete a final project (to be distributed on November 17) by December 15.

Assignments/Projects:

1. Participation in class discussion and activities. (20 pts.)
2. Complete journal response of weekly reading and email to instructors by next class meeting. (40 pts.)
3. Develop an annotated bibliography reviewing 3 current Lesson Study research sources outside of the course materials. (40 pts.)
4. Contribute a minimum of 2 postings (1 each listserv) to the threaded online Lesson Study Research forum. (50 pts.)
• http://www.tc.columbia.edu/lessonstudy/ (click on “Join Lesson Study List Serve”)
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lessonstudy/

5. Develop a Lesson Study plan - for 1 Cycles of Lesson Study. (60 pts.)
6. Conduct a series of Lesson Study sessions; record reflections in a journal and present Lesson Study findings to the class (10-15 min presentation). (40 pts.)

GRADING SCALE

You will accumulate up to 250 points during the semester. At the end of the semester, those points will be used to assign a transcript grade according to the following criteria:

90% or above A (100-96% = A; 95-90% = A-)

80%-89% B (89-87% = B+; 86-84% = B; 83-80% = B-)

70%-79% C (79-77% = C+; 77-74%= C; 73-70% = C-)

60%-69% D

59% or lower F

The total range of possibilities is provided in order to present a complete picture. There is no expectation that anyone will fall into the bottom 3/5ths of the scale

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

* Class dates designated for Lesson Study group planning

Class Meeting Dates	Assignments	Journal Response Questions
9/15/03	· Journal response #1 · Reading: Chapter 1 & 2 - Catherine Lewis (Book)	Question #1 Ideally, what qualities do you want your students to walk away from your class with? Question #2 How can collaboration with fellow teachers facilitate these learning goals?
9/22/03	· Journal response #2 · Reading: Chapter 3 & 4 - Catherine Lewis (Book)	Question #1 Examining Figure 2 (pg 9) in Catherine Lewis’s book: Why is collaboration not as highly valued in the United States Educational System? Question #2 Why is it important to view your teaching through the eyes of your colleagues and students?
9/29/03	· Journal response #3 · Reading: Chapter 5 & 6 - Catherine Lewis (Book)	Question #1 Given the current time structure at your school site, how do you see lesson study best structured? Question #2 What processes need to occur in your group before research lesson can be effectively observed and debriefed?
10/6/03	· Journal response #4	Question #1 Are teachers honored for their work in the U.S.? Why or why not? How could lesson study promote to the role of the teacher in our overall education system? Question #2 What specifically can you do within your own lesson study group to ensure the learning is purposeful and directed?
10/13/03	· Journal response #5 · Lesson Study Plan : 1^st draft - Due	Question #1 As you begin to plan for your Research Lesson, what are the long-term and short-term goals your group hopes to accomplish/examine? Question #2 As teachers engage in model of “Teacher Led Professional Development,” what are some of the advantages and disadvantages you see as compared to a “Traditional Professional Development Model.”
10/20/03	· Journal response #6	Question #1 Catherine Lewis writes, “What’s important about research lesson is not whether the lesson plan is original, but whether it promotes student learning.” What steps can be taken during the planning of a research lesson to insure that it promotes student learning. Question #2 Catherine Lewis also writes that an often misconception about lesson study is that it’s “writing the perfect lesson to be spread to others.” Is there any such thing as “the perfect lesson?” Why isn’t lesson study about creating the “perfect lesson?” If lesson study isn’t about the perfect lesson, then what’s the purpose of it?
10/27/03	SDSU classes canceled	No Journal Response Due
11/03/03	· Journal response #7 · Lesson Study Plan: 2^nd Draft - Due	James Heibert argues that, “American educators, policy makers, and politicians have a tradition of ruining good ideas for improving teaching and learning in schools.” Wellford Wilms states, “ …teachers and administrators either ignore the mandates or comply minimally, safe in the knowledge that ,in time, the reforms will blow over.” Qustion #1 What can teachers and administrators do to help insure that “teacher led professional development” ideas, such as Lesson Study, make it into the culture of teaching for years to come?
*11/10/03 (CHP Professional Development Lesson Study Day)	· Lesson Study Planning and Group Work	No Journal Response Due
11/17/03	· Journal response #8 · Lesson Study Plan: 2^nd Draft - Due
*11/24/03	· Lesson Study Group Work
12/01/03	· Journal response #9 · Annotated Bibliography - Due
12/08/03	· Journal response #10 · 2 Online postings – Due · Lesson Study Presentations – Group #1
12/15/03	· Final Class Colloquium · Lesson Study Presentations – Group #2 · Lesson Study Reflective Journal – Due	·