Week 6: Lesson Study

When we began the lesson study I never knew how beneficial it would truly be. I knew it would be a great learning experience to teach in front of my peers and also observe them teach. I did not realize how much I would learn from the debriefing and rethinking our lesson though.

            Jordan and I taught the first week of our lesson study. After the lesson, we thought it went well, as did the rest of our team. When we got to the debriefing, it was a slow start and at first we all agreed that all went well. But, by the end of those 45 minutes, we had a whole new idea for our lesson. It would be the same topic and use a few of the same materials, but the activity and objective of our lesson had changed. None of us expected our lesson to change s much as it did. When it was taught for week 2 though, we saw how much better it was! We were all amazed!

            I have taught lessons before and reflected on them, but I have never been given the opportunity to teach a lesson, reflect, make changes, and then get to implement these changes in a class again. I think this is where the most learning takes place. We actually get to see if our new ideas and changes are for the better and how they affect student learning.

            From week two to week three, we did not have to make as many changes as we did the previous week, but we did still make a few improvements that I believe will help the flow of the lesson as well as help transitions in the lesson.

While reading I came across this statement, “In the face of evidence that we would fare better if we exercised more, we often assert that we simply don't have the time. Faced with the need to save for a rainy day, many of us declare that there simply is no margin in our budgets. Presented with evidence that student-focused teaching has multiple benefits for students and teachers, many teachers have a ready and substantial list of "yes, but …" statements.” (Tomlinson &Imbeau) This stood out to m because we may push things that take up time away, but just by taking 45 minutes together we completely transformed a lesson and transformed it to help students be more successful. To me, if it can help benefit the students, it is worth those 45 minutes.

            I am excited to see our lesson change week to week and to see how it turns out in the end. I know it will help us all grow and teachers and learners.