Lesson Study

Recently many countries have reported improved teaching and learning through the implementation of the Lesson Study approach. Through Lesson Study, teachers improve by collaboratively planning, teaching, observing and using thoughtful reflections of live research lessons.

Lesson Study (LS) has its origins in Japan. It was perhaps Japan's unintentional best kept secret of its best practices particularly of its Mathematics teachers until the 1990's.

I had the opportunity to go for a day course on this last year and carried it out with other English teachers who are teaching the same form. That time, it was only English, Science and Mathematics subjects were involved. Subject teachers were persuaded to set-up their Lesson Study group in school and pursue this project twice a year to the Form 2 students only. This year, to disseminate and popularize Lesson Study, this methodology has to be carried out by all subject teachers in school to all forms twice (that's what we've been told and ordered to do).

This is how it works :

Subject teachers will have to sit down together and discuss/decide on a topic/subject matter that they want to focus. Then, together they will come up with a suitable lesson plan and Teacher A will carry it out in her class while being observed by the other 2 teachers.

After the lesson, the 3 teachers will get together to discuss and analyse the lesson and teaching techniques, and make revision of the lesson plan, activities and materials. Some parts, materials or teaching techniques will need to be adopted or adapted according to students' proficiency.The revised lesson plan will then be carried out by Teacher B in her class (of different proficiency level) and the others will observe her. Observations will be discussed during the second meeting and adjustments will be done to the lesson plan and materials as well as teaching techniques.

Teacher C will then carry out the newly revised lesson plan in her class and will be observed by the other teachers. Once it's done, all teachers will sit down together again and reflect on the whole approach and analyse the strengths and weaknesses.

So what do I think of this?

Frankly, I had significant reservations even before the process started. The first thing that came to mind was the time issue. Our group had to find a really suitable time when everyone is free to sit down and discuss. It did not help that the school is continuously having all sorts of programs that we had a hard time finding a day to slot in our Lesson Study.

Then it was the issue of sitting together; teachers who have never worked together in terms of teaching now have to sit and work towards a common goal. It was very unlikely to me. However, as we slowly worked we were getting to know each other and somehow we all shared the same frustrations and dreams for our students despite our differences.

Eventually all that was sorted out and last year, our Lesson Study Group (form 2) was the pioneer in our school. It was indeed a very refreshing experience and personally I kinda like it.

Personally, our execution is better this year as we are more well-informed of this and we know better of what to do. Similarly, we stick to the topic of SVA (Subject-Verb Agreement) as that is an area which most of our students have problems with. And students seem to enjoy it too as most parts of the lesson are student-centred. The fact that there are another 2 teachers in the class with them helped them to focus.

I am actually very happy and delighted to be part of this Lesson Study project as I learnt a lot from observing. It made me think deeper of my own methodology and ways to improve them. Overall, it promoted a collaborative culture that enhances our professional collegial bonds with our colleagues; and it allowed and encouraged us to prepare better student based activities. Of course, having said all that this will not be successful if every teacher is not sporting or open enough to listen to comments and accept helpful suggestions. And most importantly, teachers must be ready to embrace this methodology and be involved.

Quoting a teacher's words :

"Clearly, the value of lesson study is primarily in its process, the creating, the professional dialogue and in looking at a broader picture of what we do as teachers"

Indeed.