Why Lesson Study?
"Knowledge for teaching is embodied in instruction and is spread and refined as teachers watch and discuss practice"
- Lewis & Hurtd, 2011
Lesson study allows teachers to look at student work and discuss teaching practices. Lesson study begins with a question where content is driven by inquiry and teaching is practice.
Research Question & Theory of Action
Research Question - How might we use language to support and empower all learners in CGI math lessons?
Theory of Action - If we, as teachers, implement routines and teach strategies within our 3rd grade classroom to strengthen students’ abilities to visualize and verbalize CGI math word stories, then students will be able to conceptualize the story, justify/explain their thinking, help their peers by teaching and not telling, use a variety of strategies to share their thinking, utilize specific, developmentally appropriate academic vocabulary and vocabulary in their native languages,
resulting in the support and empowerment in deeper math conceptual understanding and stronger math reasoning skills.
ResearchContent & Equity Goals
Content Goal - Students will visualize and verbalize the math word problem in small group setting by creating their own narrative that correlates to the story problem while retraining the key elements of the problem.
Equity Goal - Students will share their mathematical thinking without fear of being incorrect or judged by their peers by listening to, valuing, and building off each others' ideas in mathematical discourse.
Focus Students
As the host teacher, I chose three different math students. These students were chosen because I felt they were the best three to represent the class as a whole. Please click the link below to read about the focus students, their current mathematical abilities, and the research team's goals for them.
Anticipatory Planning
As a research team we thought about and anticipated how our focus students would approach, solve, and talk about the problem. Click the links below to look at our anticipatory plan and lesson plan.
Anticipatory Plan
Research Lesson & Observation
Launch:
In the launch the teacher reads the problem, three students repeat the problem, and then students are asked a comprehension question. When/if there is a disagreement during the comprehension questions students discuss their reasoning without telling how they will solve the problem. The teacher closes the launch by saying, "I cannot wait to see how you solve this problem".
Explore:
Students work independently grappling with the problem. Students have Unifix cubes, a hundreds chart, and tens, ones, and hundreds manipulatives available to them.
Discuss:
Three students are chose to present their strategies to the class. Students explain what they did and why they did it. The class responds but saying what they notice and questions they might have. The discussion is concluded by looking at similarities and differences between the strategies.
"Knowledge for teaching is embodied in instruction and is spread and refined as teachers watch and discuss practice"
- Lewis & Hurtd, 2011
Lesson study allows teachers to look at student work and discuss teaching practices. Lesson study begins with a question where content is driven by inquiry and teaching is practice.
Research Question & Theory of Action
Research Question - How might we use language to support and empower all learners in CGI math lessons?
Theory of Action - If we, as teachers, implement routines and teach strategies within our 3rd grade classroom to strengthen students’ abilities to visualize and verbalize CGI math word stories, then students will be able to conceptualize the story, justify/explain their thinking, help their peers by teaching and not telling, use a variety of strategies to share their thinking, utilize specific, developmentally appropriate academic vocabulary and vocabulary in their native languages,
resulting in the support and empowerment in deeper math conceptual understanding and stronger math reasoning skills.
ResearchContent & Equity Goals
Content Goal - Students will visualize and verbalize the math word problem in small group setting by creating their own narrative that correlates to the story problem while retraining the key elements of the problem.
Equity Goal - Students will share their mathematical thinking without fear of being incorrect or judged by their peers by listening to, valuing, and building off each others' ideas in mathematical discourse.
Focus Students
As the host teacher, I chose three different math students. These students were chosen because I felt they were the best three to represent the class as a whole. Please click the link below to read about the focus students, their current mathematical abilities, and the research team's goals for them.
Anticipatory Planning
As a research team we thought about and anticipated how our focus students would approach, solve, and talk about the problem. Click the links below to look at our anticipatory plan and lesson plan.
Anticipatory Plan
Research Lesson & Observation
Launch:
In the launch the teacher reads the problem, three students repeat the problem, and then students are asked a comprehension question. When/if there is a disagreement during the comprehension questions students discuss their reasoning without telling how they will solve the problem. The teacher closes the launch by saying, "I cannot wait to see how you solve this problem".
Explore:
Students work independently grappling with the problem. Students have Unifix cubes, a hundreds chart, and tens, ones, and hundreds manipulatives available to them.
Discuss:
Three students are chose to present their strategies to the class. Students explain what they did and why they did it. The class responds but saying what they notice and questions they might have. The discussion is concluded by looking at similarities and differences between the strategies.
The Debrief
The research team met after the lesson to discuss what they learned about their research question and theory of action.
Michelle's Reflection:
I believe the lesson went well. There were many variables being in a new digital world that seemed out of my control, but were they? How can I further student engagement and participation when I am not present with students? Overall, my focus students were both able to get to a workable strategy and turn in their work on an online platform. Additionally, both focus students were engaged and participated during the lesson, which is a huge success!
Carrie's Reflection:
Carrie watched focus student one and was intrigued by the way he opened up during our visualizing time. She was happy about how happy and engaged the focus student was throughout the lesson. This lesson seemed to be perfectly designed for him!
Melina's Reflection:
Melina was responsible for watching focus student two. She shared that although he didn't engage much with the discourse due to distractions in the home, the teacher was able to call him in during the conversation to have him re-engage and participate with the group discussion.
Key Learnings
The team identified two big takeaways from the lesson:
1. The importance of a creating opportunities for student success through keeping students engaged and helping to "fill the gaps" where students may be struggling.
2. Consistently built in structures for students to visualizing mathematics (comprehension question, visualizing/verbalizing techniques, and vocabulary) are essential in effective discourse.
The research team met after the lesson to discuss what they learned about their research question and theory of action.
Michelle's Reflection:
I believe the lesson went well. There were many variables being in a new digital world that seemed out of my control, but were they? How can I further student engagement and participation when I am not present with students? Overall, my focus students were both able to get to a workable strategy and turn in their work on an online platform. Additionally, both focus students were engaged and participated during the lesson, which is a huge success!
Carrie's Reflection:
Carrie watched focus student one and was intrigued by the way he opened up during our visualizing time. She was happy about how happy and engaged the focus student was throughout the lesson. This lesson seemed to be perfectly designed for him!
Melina's Reflection:
Melina was responsible for watching focus student two. She shared that although he didn't engage much with the discourse due to distractions in the home, the teacher was able to call him in during the conversation to have him re-engage and participate with the group discussion.
Key Learnings
The team identified two big takeaways from the lesson:
1. The importance of a creating opportunities for student success through keeping students engaged and helping to "fill the gaps" where students may be struggling.
2. Consistently built in structures for students to visualizing mathematics (comprehension question, visualizing/verbalizing techniques, and vocabulary) are essential in effective discourse.