As remote learning becomes part of our new reality, it is critical that schools set up rich opportunities for both educators and students to address the challenges and inequities that inevitably occur with online education. To do this now, more than ever, we need systems that support teachers to become students of their students’ thinking.
Teachers need structured collaborative inquiries to test and refine pedagogical practices that center student experiences and meaning-making. Whether in classroom or remote learning contexts, our goal should be to promote engagement, support student learning and affirm and build students’ academic and cultural identities.
If you and your colleagues share these goals, Lesson Study is the solution you’re looking for. Before COVID, lesson study was widely recognized as a strategy that builds teacher leadership and inquiry capacity, develops robust content and pedagogical knowledge and keeps student thinking at the center of instructional decision-making — all skills educators need to develop in our new online environment!
The Mathematical Agency Improvement Community (MAIC) has engaged in lesson study for the past four years. We’ve developed a suite of tools for educators interested in trying lesson study out at their own schools. Whether you are new to lesson study or a lesson study veteran looking to grow your skills, you will find tools to get started on our network website.
Explore lesson study resources:
- An overview of Lesson Study
- Resources for those new to lesson study who want to test out some of the core practices a la carte style during department or PLC meetings
- Coaching resources for engaging in coaching cycles that embed the five core practices from lesson studies. We have found that the five practices can be embedded in daily and/or weekly routines to build capacity for lesson study. The protocols that follow can be used as a coaching tool or a structure within a professional learning community to facilitate learning about student thinking.
- Videos of public lesson study events (for example see our: 3rd Grade Public Lesson, our 6th Grade Public Lessons, and our 9th Grade Public Lesson) as well as video examples from PLC lesson planning sessions.
- Agendas for engaging in a full research lesson study cycle, and blogs documenting our own teams’ experiences with the process.
- Information for Administrators and other educators interested in bringing Lesson Study to their school can be found here and here.
- Hosting a public lesson study is an excellent opportunity to build school-community connections! Check out our tips for planning a public lesson.
Author Daisy Sharrock of High-Tech High Graduate School of Education is a member of the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative where she is currently leading the study “Leveraging the Power of Improvement Networks to Spread Lesson Study.”