Learning Journey to Japan 13-23 June 2011 (Updated 8 Dec 2011)

This was unfortunately cancelled because of the earthquake situation in Japan.

Makoto Yoshida, Akihiko Takahashi and Tad Watanabe, three Japanese professors teaching in US universities and experts in lesson study are going to conduct a lesson study institute that will start in Singapore and continue in Japan. In Singapore, there will be sessions and workshop on the lesson study process. In Japan, there will be lesson study experience in four schools.

It will take place 13 - 23 June 2011.
If you want a copy of the first announcement, please mail yeapbanhar@gmail.com

The tuition fee for the course does not exceed USD1500.
The exact cost is being worked out. This excludes travel and hotel cost.
A local travel agent will be appointed to make the travel / hotel arrangements.
Details are in the First Announcement.

30 places will be available.

Course by Academy of Singapore Teachers

Previously, under TDD, a course on Lesson Study Overview has been conducted. This intermediate course for participants to experience Lesson Study is scheduled for 20-21 September at Da Qiao Primary School.

Experiencing Lesson Study (Intermediate)

Overview:
This is an intermediate course for teachers who are interested in carrying out Lesson Study in their schools.

Objective:
• To set norms for working in a lesson-study team
• To guide a team through the actual lesson planning
• To draft a lesson plan
• To critique the lesson plan
• To clarify areas of observation during research lesson

Content:
The course comprises the following components:
• Guidelines for planning a good lesson
• Develop a lesson plan using teaching materials
• Identify parts of the lesson plan which will support the research theme
• Identify obstacles which will hinder the development of competencies identified in the research theme
• Research lesson (first cycle)
• Post-lesson discussion

Lesson Study in Japan

In Feb 2010, a group of MOE officers, teachers and master teacher went to Japan to join the APEC Lesson Study Conference which include a chance to observe open research lesson.

In Nov (2-5 November 2010), lesson study specialists from these APEC economies will meet in Chiangmai to discuss the progress in their countries. There will be open research lesson by Thai schools. See http://www.crme.kku.ac.th/APEC/APEC%202010/APECLessonStudy2010_1.pdf

In Feb 2011 (the dates are to be announced), there will be another meeting in Japan. You are welcome to join me at the meeting. You just need to inform me and I will ask the organizers to let you join the conference. It is not a public conference in the sense that people can register and attend. It will include visits to Japanese schools to see open research lesson as well as presentations by different APEC countries. You need to pay for your own air ticket, accomodation at the conference venue (they will book for you - it cost less than $100 per night), your meals (typically Y1000 per meal). They usually do not charge anything for the conference itself. You can estimate how much it cost per person.

Those who went this year can also advise interested teachers on how much it cost per person.

I am also trying to work with Yoshida Makoto to organise a more in-depth learning experience for Singapore teachers. This will include a pre-trip workshop in Singapore followed by a week of lesson study experience in Japan. I am asking makoto to work out an estimate of how much this will cost. If you are keen please email me at yeapbanhar@gmail.com . It is likely to be a year end thing as June is not a good time for Japanese schools.

Bukit View Primary School Primary 5 Team

This is the Lesson Study in Primary Mathematics: Implementation course. BVPS Team 1 (Upper Primary)has completed their lesson-planning stage with one of the sessions facilitated by me. They have selected as a research theme to develop confidence in problem solving.

The research lesson and post-lesson discussion was on 24 May 2010.

The team found that the manipulative and group setting made students more confident and they participated more. There were questions about if this also led to learning. This is one of the focus of the second cycle research lesson.

It was also found that students had difficulties cutting up the bar model after drawing them. In the lesson revision meeting, teacher were led to see that there are different categories of this skill - cutting 2 bars into 4, cutting 2 into 10 and cutting 2 into 5. The team will work out if they have included all situations in the lesson and the order in which the tasks will be used.

I look forward to the second cycle lesson on 30 August 2010.

Princess Elizabeth Primary School

The research lesson was on the topic of money. The research theme was on curiosity to facilitate the problem-solving process. When I met the team during the lesson planning stage, I asked questions about what tools / strategies had been put into the lesson to evoke the sense of curiosity in the learning / solving process.

Thanks to Joyce, the research teacher, Mee Eng, the facilitator and the kids in the class for the learning experience.

This is what I learnt about curiosity in the learning process. I saw the kids, initially, not curious about their own responses. They were asked to find the number of ways to purchase a $2, $2.50 and $4 items using exactly $20. When they tried 5 of the $2 items and 2 of the $4, they correctly found that they had spent $18. But they did not react to this findings. Why were they not curious how they could use this to generate a possible solution (say, by getting a $2 item)?

However, halfway through a boy wondered aloud if getting another item would help. Then a girl and another boy went to do the same and generated a solution. Another girl did not see what they were on about. But when it was carried out she thought it was a great idea - "You are troublesome but very smart" this girl said to her friend who used the $18 response to get a solution.

The post-lesson disucssion was dominated by ideas about obstacles to the kids being curious about what they did. Among the reasons - lack of understanding of the task, pre-occupation with their groupwork roles, lack of understanding of terminologies such ans 'ways' and 'combinations' and a couple others.

Bukit View Primary School Primary 2 Mathematics

During the meeting, as a facilitator, I focussed on three things. One, the research theme. Two, on the main task. Three, on the practice tasks.

The LS team has selected "to develop pupils' ability to solve two-step word problems". I tried to get the team to see that there research theme was not focussed enough. What is it that you want the students to learn - to solve word problems is too broad? It was the comprehension of word problems that the team wanted to know more about. I probed further. It seems to me that the team wanted to know more about how to develop independent problem solvers and they are interested to study this in the context of two-step word problems.

Thus, the research theme is actually "to develop independent problem solvers". It so happens that in this LS the team is studying this using two-step addition and subtraction word problems. What the team learn from this should be useful in helping students with other types of word problems including those involving miltiplication and division or for that matter any combinations of operations.

The team has the view that (a) it is better to teach 'consistent' word problem (the operation is + when the word more is included) first before a second lesson on the 'inconsistent' version (the operation is - when the word more is included), and (b) it is better to teach one type of word problem and get them to pratise this type before proceeding to other types.

I tried to get the team to think on two issues: (a) Is it good to use a problem that reinforce misconception (+ when the word more is included)? (b) Is it fruitful to teach problems one type at a time? Can teachers finish all the combinations (even for to-step ones, the combinations are numerous add/add, add/subtract, subtract/add, subtract/subtract, add/multiply, subtract/multiple, you get the idea!

The team has decided to use the model method to help students visualize the situation, to teach the students to picture the situation as they read the problem, and to not focus on keywords but the entire sentence.

There was also an interesting point raised which is does visualization leads to comprehension or it is actually the reverse. And if comprehension preceeds visualization then what leads to comprehension.

I ended the meeting by urging the team to decide the main teaching task and the practice tasks. I also attempt to prepare the team of the possible things they may observe during the research lesson.

Open Research Lesson

A group of tecahers have formed a LS Network and they will be hosting an open reserach lesson in one of the primary schools in August. I will provide the details once I have them.

http://lessonstudy2010.blogspot.com/

New Courses by TDD/MOE

The photo shows a research lesson in action with teachers observing students. This is a Grade 2 class in Keys Grade School, Manila.


Ministry of Education (TDD) is organising a three-session lesson study training in July, one for primary and one for secondary schools.

9 July 2010
Session 1 : An Overview of LS

27 July (Primary) & 29 July (Secondary)
Session 2 : LS focussing on lesson planning with actual/ live demonstration of how to facilitate planning. Group discussion based on participants observation & summary of explicit learning by Dr Yeap. Only for participants already /embarking on LS . (half day).

28 July (Primary) & 30 July (Secondary)
Session 3: A follow-up of Session 2. A live demonstration of research lesson in action with participants observing. Group discussion based on lesson observation & lesson revision. (half day)

These sessions are for participnats to learn about the lesson study process and how to facilitate teacher learning across subject areas.

I believe you register via TRAISI.

A Course in Indonesia

This is by Marsigit, Indonesia.

Course of Developing Lesson Study in Mathematics Education For South East Asian Countries Senior High School Mathematics Teachers


By. SEAMEO QITEP Center of Mathematics Education, Yogyakarta, Indonesia,
5 - 30 April 2010
Reported by Marsigit, Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia


Recently, we have conducted the Course of Developing Lesson Study in Mathematics Education For South East Asian Countries Senior High School Mathematics Teachers. The course was carried out by SEAMEO QITEP Center of Mathematics Education, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 5 - 30 April 2010. The programs consisted of the Background of Lesson Study, Theory and Philosophy of Lesson Study, Preparation of Conducting Lesson Study Activities, Implementation of Lesson Study Activities, Observation and Reflection, and Follow Up the Lesson Study Programs. Following were the detail programs:
1.Policy of the Government Of Indonesia on Establishing and Empowering QITEP in
2.Understanding SEAMEO Countries Culture
3.Philosopical & Theoretical Ground of Mathematics Education
4.Empirical Evidence & Current Trends of Mathematics Teaching
5.Concept of Lesson Study and How to Implement it
6.Supporting Factors of Lesson Study
7.Establishing System for the Proposed Lesson Study
8.Instructional Design for Lesson Study
9.The Use of Computer in Lesson Study
10.Preparation for Lesson Study (Open House of Lesson Study)
11.Sustaining the Programme of Lesson Study
12.References for Teaching Material for Lesson Study
13.Producing Material for Lesson Study
14.Presenting and Refining Material for Lesson Study
15.Monitoring and Evaluation
16.Programme Design for Lesson Study
17.Implementation of the Lesson Study & Observation Activity
18.Reflection of Lesson Study Activities
19.Publishing the Report
20.Designing the following program


The participants were 24 Senior High School Mathematics teachers came from Thailand, Cambodia. Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, East Timor, and Brunei Daressalam. The participants seemed very enthusiastic to follow the programs until it was finished. The implementation and observation of Lesson Study were conducted in some International Senior High Schools and in collaboration with the school teachers. Good atmosphere of schooling and understanding of decision makers i.e. supervisors, head teachers and society were the supporting factors for the success of the programs. While, the competencies of participants in communicating in English was still the significant constraint. In this program we have a fortunate to have Prof. Isoda Masami from Japan as Key Note speaker and gave lecturer about Lasson Study. Hope that Indonesian and South East Asian community of education are to en-culture and sustain Lesson Study to improve the quality of education.


Marsigit,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia, May, 18, 2010.

Lesson Study Learning Journey in December 2010?

I met with Yoshida Makoto (he coined the term lesson study and did his doctoral work in this professional development tool) and Takahashi Akihiko (he has been to Singapore several times) recently and we discussed the idea of such a learning journey for Singapore teachers.

The idea is that they will come to Singapore and run a few days' seminar on lesson study (with a focus on mathematics because we are all mathematics educators). This is to be followed by a trip to Japan where we will get to school how schools do lesson study - not the open lesson type of lesson study but the day-to-day lesson study that is more typical.

We will designed the learning journey in such a way that we will get into schools and see lesson planning, research lesson and lesson revision (with simultaneous translation into English language) followed by discussion with the professors.

When you come back here, the conversation will continue.

Once we get the organizer to work out the tuition fee (to include accommodation plus fee for the instructors as well as organizers who will hunt down schools for us to visit) I will let you know the details. We are thinking of a 10-day thing with about a week in Japan. The classes are likely to be Grade 1 to 8 Mathematics and perhaps Science.

If your school is interested please drop me aline so that we will keep you in the loop.

Share Your LS Journey at International Conferences

The trolley at San Diego where NCSM and NCTM events are hel this year.

Does your team want to present at international conferences?

Why do you want to do it? Preparing for these conferences is a learning journey in itself. Also, there are so many things to learn at these conferences. Plus, you get to see a bit of the place yo are presenting.

Do you need to be an expert to present?

Absolutely not. People are interested how Singapore teachers develop themselves professionally. It beats nothing to hear it from you directly. I am happy to coach any school who is keen to prepare for a conference.

This is a selection of 2011 conferences I think will provide opportunities for learning. Deadlines for proposal are approaching but there is plenty of time to prepare the actual presentation. If you need ideas for proposal contact me.

General Education
2011 ASCD Annual Conference San Francisco CA
What you will learn at this conference?
UbD, DI, PLC especially action research, MI. Key authors of these concepts like Carol Tomlinson (DI) and the others are often at this conference.

http://www.ascd.org/conferences.aspx

Mathematics Education
2011 NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition Indianapolis IN
What you you learn at this conference?
There is a mind boggling-number of sessions from dawn to dusk. There is a fantastic expo with manipulatives, books and so on. I come every year and I still get excited each time I attend this. If you are also interested in leadership in mathematics education e.g. HoDs, senior teachers and lead teachers, there is a NCSM Annual Conference that preceeds that.

NCTM: http://nctm.org/conferences/default.aspx?id=52

NCSM: http://www.mathedleadership.org/events/index.html

Nearer to Singapore WALS2010 Conference is hosted by Brunei in December
See http://www.ubd.edu.bn/conference/wals2010/paper.htm for details

Changing Face of Professional Development in Singapore

Among the 30 000 teachers in over 300 schools, 75% of Singapore teachers have a first degree and 10% have graduate degree(Ng 2009). Half the teachers in primary schools have a first degree. Essentially all secondary teachers are university graduates. In a few years, MOE will only recruit only university graduates or students who qualify for degree programmes into the teaching force. Eventually, there will be only university graduates teaching in Singapore schools.

Singapore mathematics teachers are found to have good content and pedagogical content knowledge when they leave the NIE (see TEDS-M) - together with Taiwanese teacher, they are on top of the table among the 16 countries in the study.

Workshop-style inservice has become the norm. Most inservice courses offered at NIE are workshop style courses.

There are various possibilities under the umbrella of Teachers Network TN, Professional Development Leave PDL and Teacher Work Attachment TWA. For example, a HoD spent her PDL with me to develop hands-on learning activities for lower primary students. She researched the literature, pilot tested the activities in several school. Other teachers shadowed me as part of TWA. In fact, four teachers went to Cambodia in December 2009 to try their hands in teacher training as part of their TWA. More teachers will do this in June 2010. But these involve a small number of already motivated teachers. How about the average teacher in the system? They also, especially, need professional development.

Research has indicated the limitations of workshop-style professional development. The demand on teachers are higher. With the recommendations of PERI, tecahers are expected to engage students better. The curriculum and national examination (PSLE)also expects teachers to help average students become good in problem solving. Teachers have been doing well - typically 40% to 45% of a cohort are capable of solving challenging mathematics problems. But the demands for teacher to help more students acquire the ability to handle complexities is becoming more urgent.

The setting up of the PLC is in the right direction. About 50 schools pilotted PLC in 2009. More are on board this year. By 2012 all schools will have formal PLCs.

PLCs allows teacher to engage in a wider range of professional development including those which are authentic and on site such as lesson study. I think this is in the right direction to help teacher acquire the necessary knowledge to deal with the complexities of teaching and the demands of the system to prepare students well for the global technological economy.

Many schools are making good start in forming and kick-starting PLCs. Many teachers are enthusiatic as the learn to do lesson study and as the actually carry out lesson study.

Later this year, TN will morph into TDC which will coordinate all PLC activities. And I am excited about thinking of a 'curriculum' for inservice teachers.

This is probably our best bet in making an average teacher an expert one.

Lesson Study at NCSM Annual Conference

There is a networking session facilitated by Jane Gorman in Randle B Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel on Wednesday 2:45 p.m.

At the opening keynote session Mike Schmoker spoke on the importance of "authentic team-based PLCs". Although he did not use the term lesson study, he emphasized the importance of collaborative planning, teaching, assessing impact of a lesson and adjusting the lesson which is essentially the four stages in a lesson study cycle.

Lisa Lavelle and Claire Gates spoke on three forms of professional learning - video study group, classroom coaching and lesson study and a team from Las Vegas presnted their experience in doing lesson study to focus on communication and problem solving.

The next NCSM Annual Conference is April 11 -13 2011 to be nosted by Indianapolis IN. Deadline for proposal submission June 7 2011. See mathedleadership.org

This conference is focussed on mathematics with an emphasis on leadership and professional development - suitable for HoDs. This conference is followed by NCTM, a much bigger conference on mathematics teaching and learning.

Question on Lesson Study

I am a teacher in a primary school in Singapore, currently carrying out Lesson Study in our school. I would like to seek your advice on Research Themes.

I gather that to come up with the Research Theme, the team needs to look at the Ideal Profile of Students and the Actual Situation of Students. This, with the School's and Department's Vision and Mision, the team will construct the Research Theme or Research Focus. My question is once this is firmed up, it will form the basis of all future Research Lessons for Lesson Studies, is that right?

Do we need to come up with a different Research Theme for each cycle of Lesson Study or will the Research Theme be the one that all Lesson Studies be based on. For example, my team has discussed and came up with a Research Theme for Mathematics. Will another Research Theme need to be constructed for a different cycle for Mathematics or can we use this Research Theme we have decided on for all Research Lessons for Mathematics.

Ban Har writes: Based on the school's vision, focus of the curriculum and your students' profile, the research theme is constructed. You are on the right track. You will stick with the same reasearch theme for a while until your team feel that there are new areas that need attention.

Lesson Study at Yangzheng Primary School

In the second-cycle research lesson, four parallel research lessons using the same lesson was conducted on an angle property in trapeziums.

This is an interesting format where there is more than one research lessons and participants would have seen different classes in action. This should make the post-lesson discussion more lively.

In an MOE course ran by RECSAM in Princess Elizabeth Primary School in 2009, two research lessons were conducted to alleviate the problems of a large number of participants squeezing into one class.

Lesson Study & Graduate Programmes in Japan

For teachers who are interested to observe lesson study in Japan, there are several options. At the start of each calendar year, the APEC HRD Lesson Study group meets in Japan and this meeting includes opportunities to see lesson study. In 2010, a group of Singapore teachers were with me when we attended the APEC event. There were also many teachers from Thailand and MOE officials from Brunei who came with their respective country specialists.

Another option is to join a study group organised by Global Resources (US-based agency). There was one such previous visit and another one this July. It targets primarily US teachers. It is led by two or three Japanese professors who are based in the US (Yoshida Makoto, Akihiko Takahashi and Tad Watanabe - all big names in lesson study and mathematics education). I am speaking to Makoto about the possibility having one for Singapore teachers in December 2010 or June 2011.

This year's EARCOME is in Japan and the programme includes lesson study.

Those who intend to study for masters or doctoral degree in Japan may consider Hiroshima University or Tsukuba University. These universities have been offering doctoral programmes in maths education for many years. More recently another group of universities which include the famed Tokyo University has also started to offer Ph.D. in maths education. If you are keen on studying in Japan you may look up their websites.

Inservice Course on Lesson Study

IME4511 started on 24 February 2010. The last session was on 31 March. This is a 12-hour course to introduce lesson study to primary mathematics teachers. There were 35 partcipants. They should refer to www.mmepdpm.pbworks.com

Those who want to conduct one cycle of lesson study should sign up for IME4512. The entire course is on participants doing lesson study - that means you must have some background (IME4511 or other such training) to do this course. Participants should sign up as a team of 3 to 6 people. This course should run in April - May 2010 although I know some teams want to extend theirs to July, after the June vacation.

The course includes an introduction to the lesson study cycle as comprising of setting the research theme, lesson planning, research lesson, post-lesson discussion and lesson plan revision. The second cycle, which is optional, happens when the team decides to teach this research lesson again. Instead of a single lesson, lesson study can also be done on a unit of lessons.

The class is introduced to the idea of research theme and had opprotunities to write their research theme. It is emphasized that reserach theme can be linked to school's vision, curriculum goals and pupil profile.

By stating the ideal and actual characteristics of pupils, a gap becomes evident. Lesson study then becomes an endeavour to increase teachers' knowledge in order to close the gap.

It is emphasized that lesson study is aimed at increasing teachers' competency which will result in better pupil achievement.

One lesson study cycle may not result in increased pupil achievement. But teachers learn a fair bit during this cycle. If the tecahers apply their knowledge in carrying out lessons for the rest of the year, this should result in increased pupil achievement.

There is also a session on lesson planning and one that includes a research lesson and post-lesson discussion. The photograph shows teachers observing the students during a research lesson on primary six speed.

Graduate Students Investigating Lesson Study

I am currently enrolled in our school's postgraduate program and will be giving a report on Lesson Study. I am asking for your help in providing me with any research material that may aid me in adding substance to my report.

Patrick, The Philippines

For lesson study in Singapore, I document my work with schools as well as lesson study efforts that I know of at www.lessonstudyinsingapore.blogspot.com
I can also grant you access to my e-learning portal which has a section on lesson study

Finally and most importantly, the work of a group of people from the APEC economies is invaluable http://hrd.apec.org/index.php/Lesson_Study

I am keen to see more graduate students research into this professional development tool.

APEC-Tsukuba University Conference in Tokyo (18-21 Feb 2010)

This is an excellent opportunity to experience lesson study in Japan first hand. This APEC HRD project has been around since 2006 and I have had many chances to see first hand how the Japanese schools do their research lessons and post-lesson discussion.

This time we will get to see one science research lessona and two mathematics ones. Exciting. A team from MOE including people from TN and TDD as well as a CPDD colleague and a master teacher joined teachers from Da Qiao Primary School, Woodlands Ring Primary School and North Vista Primary School for a four-day lesson study conference among the lesson study specialists from many APEC countries.

The two-day lesson study was actually the largest lesson study event in Japan. Apparently 5000 Japanese teachers were at the event which comprised an all morning research lessons - there were so many to choose from across subjects and levels. We only get to see the ones with English translation. The last two days were set aside for the actual conference itself.

The next conference is in Chiangmai in November 2010.

Lesson Study in Da Qiao Primary School

Da Qiao Primary will be using the same model as Woodlands Ring Primary to train their LS facilitators.

On 9 February 2010, I will be conducting a session to introduce lesson study to all the teachers in the school.

Lesson Study in Woodlands Ring Primary School

After a meting with the principal before the school year 2010 begins, I conducted a session to give a group of teachers in the school an overview of what lesson study is all about.

Subsequently, various lesson study teams were formed. Using the school's vision as an overarching research theme, the different LS teams are in the process of crafting their research themes. I have reminded them that all the research themes, while appear to be different, should be in tandem with the school's overarching research theme. This is important because all the LS teams should be heading in the same general direction.

I have briefed the group leaders on their roles in the different lesson-study stages.

Lesson Study in North Vista Primary School

Two heads of department from North Vista Primary School has formed a lesson study team in their school. Their research team is reasoning and communication in mathematics learning. The research lesson was conducted on 13 April 2010. This lesson study cycle was also used to train LS facilitators (focussing on facilitating post-lesson discussion).

The lesson study team has concluded the lesson planning stage. In the final lesson planning meeting, I gave the team a structure to deepen their professional learning in helping students develop reasoning and communication in mathematics. The structure I used is to ask the team to consider (1) the strategy (2) the task(s) (3) the key questions (4) the assessment tools and (5) the obstacles in the lesson plan.

The photograph shows the research lesson which was followed by the post-lesson discussion which also double up as training to facilitate post-lesson discussion.

The lesson plan revision meeting focused on what-if questions. What if the lesson is conducted with a similar group of students? What if it was for older students? Weaker students? As an enrichment? In the computer lab? Using technology for recording of what they did? How would the level and quality of reasoning and communication be increased for the students?

The discussion revolved around changes to the problems (simplifying it or with more scaffolding), as well as the processes in each of the problem-solving stages (understanding, planning, doing, looking back).

What if they were given more time to understand the problem? What if the doing was changed - from doing the beading to just using drawing or recording on a netbook? What if the look back involved more group? What if the typical presentation was tweaked? What if the communication moved from descriptive to evaluative?

One of the members asked about how professional learning can be heightened. The documentation part can consolidate the group's professional learning.

Training in Lesson Study

Singapore teachers, please refer to TRAISI for inservice courses on lesson study in primary mathematics. IME4511 is an introductory course and is designed for beginners to lesson study. It will be held on Wednesdays, in March 2010. IME4512 is for you to implement the stages in lesson study - that means you will carry out lesson study in your school under the guidance of the facilitator (me) as the inservice. You must sign up as a team of 3 to 6 for this course. The lesson study should be completed in April or May 2010. These are the only ones on lesson study that I will conduct this year.

Lesson Study (Primary Education) Conference in Singapore

A lesson study conference with a focus on primary education in all subject areas coming your way on 26 May. An exciting programme with Keynote Lecture, Case Sharing, Research Lessons in English Language, Chinese Language, Mathematics and Science, as well as a Plenary Panel. An opportunity to share your school's work in lesson study. A chance to contribute to a Handbook on Lesson Study in Primary Schools. Case Sharing is a platform to share your research lesson as well as an analysis of the benefits and challenges of lesson study.

Watch this space for announcements.

Lesson Study (Mathematics) Conference in Chicago

This is from my friend Prof Akihiko Takahashi in Chicago

The Second Announcement is available at http://www.lessonstudygroup.net/index.html

The Chicago Lesson Study Group
2010 Ninth Annual Lesson Study Conference
Chicago, IL, USA

Are We Doing Lesson Study Right? Looking Back and Looking Ahead

April 29 – 30, 2010
Preconference dinner, Wednesday, April 28

Sponsored by:
· Chicago Lesson Study Group
· Asia-Pacific Mathematics and Science Collaborative
· McDougal Family Foundation

The Chicago Lesson Study Group invites you to its ninth lesson study conference. For nearly a decade, this conference has been one of the major lesson study conferences in the world, examining lesson study from a global perspective.

Facilitators:
Thomas McDougal, Asia-Pacific Mathematics and Science Collaborative, DePaul University, Illinois
Akihiko Takahashi, Department of Teacher Education, DePaul University, Illinois
Tad Watanabe, Department of Mathematics, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
Makoto Yoshida, Director of the Center for Lesson Study, William Paterson University, New Jersey

Featured Presentations:
What does it mean to do Lesson Study right? A theory of action for lesson study.
Catherine Lewis Ph.D., Mills College Lesson Study Group, CA

Moving from the Algorithms to the Practice of Lesson Study
Patsy Wang-Iverson, Ph.D., Gabriella and Paul Rosenbaum Foundation, PA

Are we doing Lesson Study right? Major roles of knowledgeable others.
Tad Watanabe, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics, Kennesaw State University, GA

Are we doing Lesson Study right? What should do or should not do as a facilitator.
Makoto Yoshida, Ph.D., Center for Lesson Study, William Paterson University, NJ

Research Lessons:
There will be two live research lessons, one Thursday and, one Friday.

Pre Conference Dinner: Introduction to Lesson Study
For those who are new to Lesson Study, this is an excellent opportunity to learn about lesson study from one of the founders of lesson study in the North America, Makoto Yoshida. He will introduce lesson study by highlighting what is lesson study and how could you start lesson study with your colleagues.

Registration
Registration will be open at late January.
The registration information and the second announcement will be available here.

What is Lesson Study?
Lesson study, widely viewed in Japan as the primary form of professional development, has been the critical systemic feature that enabled Japanese elementary teachers to improve classroom instruction. In lesson study, teachers work collaboratively to: 1) formulate long-term goals for student learning and development, 2) plan, conduct, and observe a ‘research lesson’ designed to bring these long-term goals to life as well as to teach a particular academic content, 3) carefully observe student learning, engagement, and behavior during the lesson, and 4) discuss and revise the lesson and the approach to instruction based on these observations. The research lesson is taught in a regular classroom with students, and participants observe as the lesson unfolds in the actual teaching-learning context. Discussion following the lesson is developed around the student-learning data collected during the observation. Through the process, teachers are given opportunities to reflect on their teaching and student learning.
Lesson study has become increasingly visible in state, national, and international conferences, open houses, high-profile policy reports, and special journal issues in recent years in the United States. Moreover, some school districts in the United States have attempted to use it to change their practice and impact student.

Chicago Lesson Study Group
The Chicago Lesson Study Group was launched in November of 2002 with several volunteer teachers in Chicago area. Since its inception, this informal study group has met regularly to discuss issues in mathematics teaching and learning and to develop research lesson plans. As part of the lesson study cycle, the group hosts an annual lesson study conference with public research lessons.