Monday, May 16, 2011

FLDOE’s Lesson Study Guide

A Guide for Implementation in Florida's Public Schools

Lesson study is a form of long-term professional development in which teams of teachers systematically and collaboratively conduct research closely tied to lessons, and then use what they learn about student thinking to become more effective instructors.        - Research for Better Schools (www.rbs.org)

Within a school's multi-tiered system of student supports the lesson study cycle involves a group of teachers collaboratively planning a standards-based lesson to support a school identified research theme; implementing the lesson in a classroom; collecting observation data, based on the students' responses to the instruction; reflecting upon, analyzing, and discussing this data; and defining next steps based upon what they have learned. Lesson study empowers teams of teachers to engage in data-based problem-solving to accelerate student leaning.

  1. Form a lesson study team which includes an external expert(s) in content and/or pedagogy.
  2. Schedule a common planning time.
  3. (Problem Identification and Analysis) Identify a common research theme (sometimes a school-wide theme) based upon student performance data and the Teacher Evaluation Model adopted by the school district.
  4. (Develop a Plan) Collaboratively plan a standards-based lesson that clearly defines the expected outcomes in terms of student learning and addresses common student misconceptions.
  5. (Implement the Plan) Teach and observe the lesson being sure to record data pertaining to what students were thinking and doing throughout the lesson.
  6. (Evaluate the Effectiveness) Reflect upon, analyze, and discuss the lesson and student data that has been collected; then synthesize your findings.
  7. Define the next steps based upon what the team has learned.
  8. Repeat the process using a new or revised lesson plan with the same research theme.