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Home > Lesson Study Resources > Intro. Workshop materials > August 2002

Lesson Study Resources

Introductory Workshop
August 26 – 27, 2002

Monday, August 26; Tuesday, August 27

Monday, August 26

8:00 Introduction
We described the key elements of Japanese lesson study and the basic lesson study cycle. We discussed how Lesson Study is currently used in the United States. We showed the overview video of lesson study from the Bellevue Washington website. And we discussed some of the benefits one could gain by doing lesson study

9:30 BREAK

9:40 Focusing the Lesson Study: A conversation about goals
We introduced participants to the concept of goals within lesson study by showing some sample goals from Japanese lesson study groups. We then had individuals and groups reflect on their ideal image of students and the gaps that currently exist between their ideal and actual students. Teams then began to narrow in on a long-term goal for their lesson study process based on these reflections.

10:30 Creating the Lesson, Part I: Text Comparison
We explained that choosing the content of the lesson is a very important part of lesson study. We suggested that looking beyond your own curriculum is an important way to broaden your thinking on any one topic. To this end, we selected a topic that appears in many courses, and represents interesting mathematics: systems of equations. We then gave pairs of participants two different sets of textbooks related to this topic so that they could begin to examine the different ways a specific topic could be presented.

11:30 Participant Survey
For the research component of this project, we administered a survey to all participants to establish a baseline of data on individual and team characteristics.

12 – 1 LUNCH

1:00 Creating the Lesson, Part II: Doing Math
Doing mathematics is an important element of lesson study because it enables you to anticipate student responses more easily and it can often broaden your own understanding of the mathematics. Participants spent this session working on a problem individually and then discussing the mathematics behind the problem as well as the expected responses from students. You can find a copy of the “Beep Me Home” problem participants worked on in the Math Resources section of this website.

2:30 BREAK

2:45 Team Meeting I: Getting Started
Teams met during this time to finish their conversations about goals for students and, if possible, to begin discussing the content topic for their lesson.

3:30 End of Day Evaluation

4:00 ADJOURN

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Tuesday, August 27

8:00 Review of Day’s Agenda


8:15 Panel of Teachers with Lesson Study Experience
Three teachers, Julie Goldberg (Danvers HS), Barbara McEvoy (Watertown MS) and Dan Wulf (Watertown HS) spoke about their experience doing lesson study work as part of the pilot projects run out of EDC.

9:00 Establishing Group Norms
This session was focused on productive ways to work together and make decisions as a group. It was intended to be a start of that work. And, we anticipate that teams would revisit issues related to working collaboratively in their lesson study groups when they meet together at their school. In particular, we asked participants to describe what makes a good group and what drives them crazy in groups. Then teams began to discuss norms they would adopt for their own groups.

10:05 BREAK

10:15 The Japanese Lesson Plan
In this session, participants were introduced to the particular aspects of a Japanese lesson and lesson plan. We emphasized the different ways in which the lesson plan is used, and watched a video of a Japanese lesson. The group discussed how this lesson was different from their lessons, and what the challenges might be in creating such a lesson.

11:30 Business
Teams met briefly to set tentative meetings times for their lesson study groups as well as review general project information such as how to receive PDP’s and the stipend.

12 – 1 LUNCH

1:00 Team Meeting II: Creating the Lesson
Teams met to continue their goal setting conversation from Day 1, and to begin planning their first lesson.

2:30 Final Evaluation

3:00 ADJOURN

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