Here are Celeste Campbell’s notes On Makoto Yoshida:

Notes:

·                    Global Education Resource – services for learning about lesson study and math instruction (open-ended problem solving approach)

·                    Lesson study = a Japanese approach to improving teaching and learning = a process teachers engage in to continually improve the quality of the experiences they provide their students

·                    10-12 hours over 2-3 weeks (2 hours per week).  Staggered bursts when engaged in intense lesson study work

·                    The observed lesson is taught be 2 different teachers in 2 different classes so new things can be learned from the same lesson

·                    Japanese teachers observe others 10x per year and are observed twice

·                    In Japan, teachers publish more than researchers

·                    Lesson study is based on a shared vision of what good teaching entails

·                    The key to opening students’ minds to new understanding is to hear, talk about, and discuss the ideas of other students

·                    Students must have an opportunity to struggle on their own with a new problem

·                    Paterson PS #2’s story

o       1997-99 – studied math instruction – no change in instruction or learning

o       1999-00 – began lesson study exploration

o       Volunteers only; met Mondays from 1:00-3:00; 2 cycles in 1^st year

o       Collaboration with mentors from Japanese school and researchers from Teachers College

o       2000-01 – no longer collaborating, some assistance from Patsy Wang-Iverson of Research for Better Schools

o       2001-02 – Mandatory participation; grade level clusters; meet 80 min. per week; lesson study promotion committee formed of reps from each group – handles scheduling and concerns; math study club meets with Greenwich teachers on own time

o       What has lesson study contributed to PPS #2?

§         Way to continually improve teaching and learning

§         Way to focus on details of instructional practice

§         An environment that reduces teacher isolation and fosters collaboration

§         A means to reflect on curricular and content knowledge issues

·                    Critical to set group norms

·                    Must translate lesson study to make it ours (US teachers’); don’t try to transplant it or the system will reject it

See handouts with Lesson Study video outline; observing and debriefing guidelines; 2 sample lesson plans

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