I planned the lesson. I taught the lesson. I examined student work resulting from the lesson. I evaluated the effectiveness of the lesson. I taught similar lessons in similar ways. I taught this lesson again the next year.
Almost anything we purchase today has a consumer rating or a list of consumer reviews. These inform us of how the item of interest compares to quality standards and of the satisfaction, praises and complaints of other purchasers. Homemade things do not have these ratings and reviews. A teacher’s lesson plan is a homemade product. So, how do we understand the quality of a lesson plan?
Self-reflection and self-evaluation are components of professional work. These are built into a teacher’s mindset as she progresses through a teacher preparation program albeit as an abstract application. Once in a classroom assignment, the daily process of constant and continuous lesson planning and teaching day after day can move self-reflection and self-evaluation to the “back burner” of daily demands. Reflection and evaluation give way to the demands of the next lesson.
At some point in a loop of lesson planning, teaching and lesson review, objectivity is obscured by all of the “I”s. When a person’s professional perspective is formed by looking in the mirror and confirming “I look fine. I am fine. My work is fine”, a person should wonder “How do others see me and my work.”
(Disclaimer – this is not the professional evaluation of Educator Effectiveness or a demonstration of Frameworks for Teaching (Danielson). This writing is pointed at daily lesson work and how a teacher professionally improves her lesson planning.)
It is clear to say that no teacher designs a lesson plan for the purpose of failed teaching and learning. Lesson plans are created with every good intention and design for causing children to learn. Given every good intention, how does a teacher add perspective to the improvement of her lesson plans?
Lesson studies are not a new concept. Japanese Lesson Studies were introduced when Japan undertook a national initiative to improve its international ranking in educational performance assessments (TIMSS). I will use the term “Lesson Studies” to refer to a variety of models for peer teachers to review and critique lesson designs.
Lesson studies are a teacher-centered and teacher-led process for teachers to share lesson/unit plans with a small group of colleagues for the purpose of peer critiquing. Three to five teachers form a study group and take turns presenting a lesson plan for peer review. Principals and administrators do not participate in lesson studies.
A model for lesson study process looks like this.
Background – A teacher gives the peer group a contextual background for the lesson. Peers must know the grade level or course the teacher is teaching and where in a unit of instruction the lesson fits. Information includes a background of the students and prior lessons leading up the lesson of interest. Data may indicate base line pre-unit assessments. Information also may include any special considerations for children, classroom conditions, school life or other externals that affected her lesson design.
The Lesson – The teacher presents the lesson in the format of the school’s lesson design format. Using a common format gives peers a common language and scheme for understanding presented lessons and decreases time needed to conceptualize how the presented lesson is formatted. If the school does not subscribe to a common lesson planning format, the presenting teacher explains her preferred format. The presentation is a brief, yet detailed description of lesson objectives and teacher planned actions, in-lesson decisions, and responses to students as the lesson unfolded. It is important for the peers to understand all the intentional teaching acts made by the teacher, planned and unplanned.
Clarifying Questions – The peers ask questions to fill in their understanding of the lesson. The questions deal only with the lesson. Questions such as “Why did you…? and “How did you…?” are common. It is easy to pile on questions, so peers keep questions to those which illuminate teacher behaviors and decisions.
Student Outcomes – The teacher lays out examples of student work, performances, and assessments completed during and as a result of the lesson. These artifacts connect the objectives, lesson design, and teaching acts and decisions to the outcomes of the lesson. Samples are pre-chosen to reflect a range of successful to unsuccessful student work.
Consideration – The peers take several minutes to individually consider the presentation and artifacts and construct comments and feedback they will give the the teacher.
Feedback – Peers take turns with their commentary. Each peer is required to make a comment and provide feedback. Comments are to be critical yet not criticizing. Peers should consider pedagogical technique, theory into practice designs, clarity of teacher talk and input to students, and how the lesson produced its desired outcomes. Peers recognize that some outcomes will not be known until subsequent lessons are taught.
Commentary and feedback are the heart of the lesson study. Trust is a big deal. The teacher group trusts that all comments are designed for improvement. Additionally, what is said in the study stays in the study.
Although it is easy for peers to say “I would have…”, how a peer would have taught the lesson is not a subject of the study. Peers are neutral and objective reviewers of the lesson presented.
Teacher Reflection – The presenting teacher summarizes the comments and feedback she received. Presenting teachers should take notes as they listen to peer feedback to assure that they have a record of the comments and feedback. Peers listen to the reflective summary to assure that the teacher has properly understood the feedback. Needed clarification is given to assure a fidelity of what was said and what was heard.
Debriefing – Before disbanding, the teacher and peers review the purpose and design of their lesson study and reflect upon how this study complied with those. They also set the time, place and presenter of the next lesson study.
A lesson study requires 50-60 minutes of group time. It is essential that enough time is allocated so that teacher reflection, the last and perhaps most important component of the study, is conducted without interference from the clock. Early practitioners of lesson studies want to present lessons they confidently believe caused positive student outcomes. Experienced practitioners present lessons that are essential for student learning in meeting grade level and course standards. They choose these lessons to improve the lesson’s success for all children.
Once lesson study groups are formed and working, they schedule weekly lesson studies. If the study group includes four to five members, weekly meetings allow each member to present seven to eight lessons per school year. Eight lesson studies combined with self-reflection and self-evaluation of lesson plans provide a teacher with balanced insights into the effectiveness of her lesson planning skills.
The following links point to resources that can assist a teacher in creating a collegial and collaborative lesson study process.
https://www.uwlax.edu/sotl/lsp/guide/planstudy.htm
https://schoolreforminitiative.org/doc/tuning.pdf
https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2016/04/using_japanese_lesso
https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/435/13%20%20TTLP.pdf