Embedded Files
CLR as professional development
CLR involves a community of teachers working with an outside expert in a sustained way through cycles of inquiry that focus on how teaching practices can better support student problem solving. Each cycle involves five steps as shown in the diagram.
We begin by identifying a research focus. The focus, for example, may be problem solving, so the research questions will relate to the teaching of problem solving processes, rather than content. For example: How can we better enable students to select and use mathematical representations when problem solving?
A detailed lesson plan is then produced by a small planning team, this may include input from outside expert who has been asked to help the team. The intention of the plan is to seek to find some answers to the research question.
At the heart of the plan is the careful anticipation of how students will respond to the task and how the teacher might respond in turn. The plan also anticipates what the teacher will do at vital moments in the lesson to progress learning and help students overcome their difficulties.
3. The lesson is taught by one of the planning team. This lesson is observed carefully by the teachers involved, teachers from other schools in the cluster, the outside expert and student teachers.
4. The research lesson is then analysed in the post-lesson discussion involving the teacher and all the observers. The outside expert may be expected to make a particularly significant contribution to the post-lesson discussion by providing insights informed by research and in-depth knowledge of the research issue.
5. This leads to the collaborative development of a revised version of the lesson plan. The lesson plan and outcomes are disseminated around the group. This learning is then taken account of when the cycle begins again, with a new research question.
Using this process, learning gradually accumulates through collaboration with colleagues in a spirit of mutual professional development.
The benefits of the Lesson Study approach include:
increased collegiality between teachers as a result of collaboration in planning, observing and reflecting on lessons
enhanced personal skills of the teachers and an increased capacity for critical analysis, for creative design, and for linking practice to goals
the opportunity to develop a better picture of what constitutes good teaching from close observation of teaching and learning as it takes place in the classroom
the teacher-led nature of the professional development, which keeps students at the centre in ways that have immediate practical value in teachers’ classrooms.
Finding out more
Japanese Lesson Study: Teacher Professional Development through Communities of Inquiry Brian Doig and Susie Groves
Japanese Lesson Study: Teacher Professional Development through Communities of Inquiry Brian Doig and Susie Groves
Catherine Lewis
© CLR-UK 2023
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse