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Lesson Study Overview PowerPoint

Lesson Study Planning Template
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Pre-Conference Form

Post-Conference Form

Lesson Study Resource Group Home Page

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Project ACT Lesson Study

A Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program ( Grant: 84.206A) to identify and serve underrepresented students of above average A bility , C reativity , and T ask Commitment

A promising model of professional development practice to assure that differentiation really happens is  Lesson Study . At its core Lesson Study is a collegial process to improve teaching and learning.  "Learning at its best,” in the words of Alfie Kohn , “…is a result of sharing information and ideas, challenging someone else's interpretation and having to rethink your own, and working on problems in a climate of mutual support.”

In the Lesson Study process, groups of teachers meet regularly over a period of time ranging from several months to a year to work on the design, implementation, testing , and improvement of “research lessons” (i.e., “differentiation strategies” for gifted students in the regular classroom). Research lessons are actual classroom lessons, taught to one's own students, that are (a) focused on a specific teacher-generated problem, goal, or vision of pedagogical practice, (b) carefully planned, usually in collaboration with one or more colleagues, (c) observed by other teachers, (d) recorded for analysis and reflection, and (e) discussed by lesson study group members and other colleagues (Lewis & Tsuchida, 1998).

The diagram below provides a graphic representation of the GATE Lesson Study process. Teams of teachers, in conjunction with CSUS and DJUSD facilitators, work together to design various lessons using differentiated instruction, then focus on one or two lessons in particular – not because they are such critical lessons that they must be taught and refined and re-taught to make sure the students “get it,” but rather because this will allow the teachers to focus more deeply on aspects they could not possibly identify until after trying the lessons out and revisiting them. They generate a set of goals related to gifted and talented instruction that they as a study team want to find out about. Now one teacher takes the lead and teaches a lesson while the others focus their attention on student learning and behavior. They meet afterwards to analyze how effective the lesson was, and in the process identify what could be done to improve it next time, including using different strategies or accommodations.

In this project, study teams, with the support of the PIs and GATE facilitators, will identify specific Lesson Study goals in gifted and talented instruction that focus on understanding student thinking and advanced student learning, especially with underrepresented populations. The study team will collaboratively develop and continually refine a lesson aligned with these goals with input from the facilitators. Then one teacher will teach the standards-based lesson in a real classroom while the other team members observe and note indicators of student learning. Team members then meet to debrief their observations and further refine the lesson. The revised lesson will then be taught to another class by another team member where more evidence is gathered, and more revisions occur. At the conclusion of this process, the team will write an analysis and reflection and shares its results with the rest of the group.

The Lesson Study process is designed in two phases. Phase I consists of professional development with a focus on the lesson study process and differentiated instruction for gifted and talented students in the regular classroom. The lesson design will incorporate California content standards and research-based instructional strategies.

Phase II will focus on instruction, implementation and reflection. Teams will be teaching their lessons in their classrooms with the other members observing and critiquing. After each observation, teachers will meet to debrief and refine the lesson before it is taught by another team member. Four days throughout the academic year will be identified as a time to bring the teams back together for further guided reflection. Between the institutes and follow-up sessions, teams will have the opportunity to converse and interact with each other for ongoing lesson design refinement. Following the fourth guided reflection day in spring, a post survey will be conducted.

The cadre of team members will be leaders at their sites. They will go back to their schools and both formally and informally will be encouraged to facilitate Lesson Study at their sites and to become differentiated instruction coaches.

Click here for a PowerPoint overview of
the Lesson Study process in Davis