- Would you want to be a part of a cohort in mathematics that tried Lesson Study?
- I would love to be part of a lesson study cohort specifically in math. I wish I had the confidence to suggest this to my coworkers. As the second youngest and newest teacher on staff I don’t always feel ready to suggest something like this to my highly experienced, master teacher colleagues. I would love to suggest this to my grade group team as a start, I think the three of us would be successful. Currently our group co plans much of our language arts, science, and social studies, adding a lesson study approach feels like a natural extension of what we are already doing in our grade group. I would like the opportunity to collaborate on an even deeper level with my grade group or others who were interested. Even the process of designing a lesson or unit together is a wonderful learning experience and I have learned a lot and grown a lot through co-planning with my grade group. Adding the step of observing each other teaching the lesson, tweaking it, and trying it a second or third time in other classes would only add more depth and meaning to this process.
- Would you feel comfortable teaching math in front of colleagues for feedback?
- I have been having my VP join us for the last month for some problem solving using some of the ideas presented by Liljedahl and that is working well, and we have been able to have some great informal conversations about what is going on in those lessons and in my room. I would be okay teaching a lesson in front of people I have a relationship with and trust. For me having this cycle of feedback would be helpful if it is people, I already have a relationship with, having someone I don’t know as well would make me nervous and would change how I approach a lesson. I have noticed that when a co-worker’s student teacher is in my room to observe my style does change, I am not as relaxed with my students, I’m not as playful and I find my self censoring my personality. I would like to start building my confidence by picking who watches me teach at first and as I get more confident being observed for feedback bringing in people I don’t know as well. I grew up as a competitive dancer and danced in front of judges and examiners for feedback hundreds of times over my dance career, but what was different in that situation is that with competition judges I couldn’t see them, under the stage lights the audience is too dark to make out faces and, in a ballet, or highland exam I knew I wouldn’t see the examiner again. For me the hesitation comes from feeling judged by my colleagues, I work with many master teachers who have been teaching a long time and I know are fountains of knowledge, but I would fear being judged or looked down on for mistakes, I know this is highly unlikely, but the slightly irrational fear is there.
- Could you see this approach implemented in your school or district?
- I think this might work slowly in my school but may be difficult to support across the district. In my school new things seem to roll out by having a grade group or a small group approach a topic or inquiry and see how it goes then spread from there. I would like to try a Lesson Study inquiry at my school with my grade group first. We are a choice program and completely full at every grade level, so we don’t have split classes, this leads to our grade groups of 3-4 classes being very close knit and developing tight bonds.
- Do your district fund inquiry projects that give release time from your classroom to try new approaches?
- My district does have some TTOC days available through joint ProD that can be taken to observe another classroom or provide release time for workshops. I think that this would be something the days could be used for if our team completed the application. My administration would also be open to taking working with 2/3 grade 4 classes to allow us to observe each other if we scheduled it during or VPs office time. I think that a challenge will be finding time to both plan and review the lesson and have the discussions around it.
