Broadwater and Bozeman (B&B Project)

Lesson Study Comes to MontanaJennie LuebeckBeth BurroughsMontana State University-Bozeman

Montana Mathematics Education ForumHelena, MontanaSeptember 21-22, 2009

Overview

What is lesson study? What is the B&B Project? The lesson study experience Involving pre-service teachers Professional growth evidence Expanding and sustaining

What Is Lesson Study?

Lesson study is… A professional development model used

in Japan A support structure for an ongoing

mathematics learning community A means to engage a team of teachers

in collaborative planning

What Is Lesson Study?

Lesson study requires focus Broad goalContent goalLesson goals

Lesson study requires research Mathematical contentPedagogical approachesPrior knowledge and misconceptions

What Is Lesson Study?

Lesson study is a cyclical activity Analyze Plan Teach Observe Debrief (Re-teach)

A Look at Lesson Study

View the video (Segment 1):

“How Many Seats?”Excerpts from a Lesson Study Cycle

© Catherine Lewis 2005Mills College Lesson Study Group

Overview

What is lesson study?

What is the B&B Project? The lesson study experience Involving pre-service teachers Professional growth evidence Expanding and sustaining

B&B Project Objectives

Teachers will strengthen their understanding of worthwhile mathematics content through (a) focused lesson study and (b) a review of curriculum and alignment to standards.

Teachers will (a) identify and develop opportunities for inquiry within existing lessons and units and (b) enhance lessons and units by building in additional inquiry-based instruction.

Teachers will strengthen school-based mathematics learning communities through lesson study, clinical observation, curriculum analysis, and standards alignment.

Pre-service and in-service teachers will build a “professional bridge” between MSU and the partner schools as they collaborate on lesson study, classroom observation, and analysis of student thinking.

B&B Teachers

“Graduates” of Gallatin to Glacier Project 18 months with 3 weeks of summer

institute Coaching and site visits during academic

year Focus on inquiry-based mathematics

Selected to extend and deepen learning of mathematics in their districts Added a lesson study component Comparing small vs. large district

B&B Teachers - Townsend

All middle grades mathematics teachers Grade 5:

Aubra Allison Kim

Grade 6: Ginny

Grades 7-8: Gary

B&B Teachers - Bozeman

Subset of M.S. teachers from 2 schools: Grade 6:

Rick (new) Grade 7:

LeAnne Grade 8:

Anne Doug Kevin (new)

Overview

What is lesson study? What is the B&B Project?

The lesson study experience

Involving pre-service teachers Professional growth evidence Expanding and sustaining

B&B Project Activities (Year 1)August 2008: Initial two-day workshop First two phases of the lesson study cycle Support from the Education Development Center in

Newton, MA

Fall 2008: First lesson study cycle Two teams of five teachers (grades 5-8) Facilitated by teacher coordinators from each district and

attended by project staff

November 2008: One-day workshop, Cross-district debriefing and reflection Preparation for spring activities with pre-service teachers

Fall 2008 Lesson Study CycleBozeman Broad goal: Creating independent problem-solvers Content goal: Concepts/applications of slope

Townsend Broad goal: Respect for students’ own learning and

that of their classmates Content goal: Multiplicative and area models

Each team developed goals at a summer workshop, then continued the lesson study cycle in-district.

Townsend: Goal-Setting Process

A Look at Lesson Study

View the video:

“Lesson Debrief”Townsend, Fall 2008

© B&B Project

B&B Project Activities (Year 1)Spring 2009: Second lesson study cycle

Spring 2009: Pre-service teachers join the group 23 students (mixed elementary and secondary) Participate in Bozeman lesson study (observe, research,

critique) Conduct classroom research observations in both districts

April 2009: Half-day workshop for pre-service and in-service Complete the spring lesson study cycle Summarize the partnership activities

Overview

What is lesson study? Who are the B&B teachers? The lesson study experience

Involving pre-service teachers

Professional growth evidence Expanding and sustaining

Involving Pre-service Teachers

“Lesson study is a new concept for teachers entering the profession. If undergraduate methods courses were restructured to introduce students to collaboratively planning and testing lessons, new teachers would be ready to assume leadership roles more quickly.” (The Teaching Gap, p. 395)

Spring Lesson Study with PSTs PSTs observed (fishbowl-style) as ISTs met to

revisit their goals and determine the content goal of the lesson study (parallel and perpendicular)

PSTs conducted independent mathematical research and presented to ISTs

ISTs independently planned the lesson PSTs watched the lesson and debriefing on video PSTs suggested modifications to the lesson plan

and discussed with ISTs ISTs retaught the lesson

Things We Can’t Teach:Short-Range Lesson Planning

“Focus on the one thing you want [students] to do in the lesson.”

“Even though students’ struggles were discussed previously, strategies were not discussed to prepare for such struggles.”

“What will happen if they don’t achieve the necessary discoveries in the warm up?”

“Can students identify perpendicularity just by looking at the calculator screens?”

Things We Can’t Teach:Long-Range Lesson Planning

“Do students have a deeper understanding of slope now?”

“We lost sight of our overarching goal and became too focused on the topic alone. I thought we needed to stop and consider how the activities were promoting ‘confident, independent problem solvers’….”

Knowledge Needed for Teaching Mathematics

What are common student misconceptions about slope and y-intercept?

What can go wrong if students see y-intercept as the “starting point”?

How do linear functions illustrate proportional relationships?

“I had [incorrectly] assumed these teachers knew and had considered all we had to offer”

Knowledge Needed for Teaching Mathematics

Your turn!

Two perpendicular lines have slopes that are opposite reciprocals (m1 = -1/m2)

Give an acceptable justification of “why”

A Look at Lesson Study

View the video:

“Debrief and Revise” Bozeman, Spring 2009

© Catherine Lewis 2005Mills College Lesson Study Group

Kevin

Being part of the lesson study group has proven to be one of the most influential experiences of my teaching career. Learning to be observed in my classroom, where the focus was not me, forced me to take a closer look at my teaching….

Discussing with colleagues a lesson freshly taught that was improved and then retaught moments later gave me a new perspective on the importance of precisely what is said and presented in shaping the understanding of an idea….Targeting a specific change to elicit a different and more desirable response, and then seeing if the change had the desired effect, felt professionally scientific.

I have not felt as compelling a passion to investigate the art of teaching as strongly as I do now….Lesson study has reinvigorated a passion for learning and being the best I can be.

Overview

What is lesson study? What is the B&B project? The lesson study experience Involving pre-service teachers

Professional growth evidence

Expanding and sustaining

Broad Findings

Each district team successfully completed two full lesson study cycles

Pre-service teachers (PSTs) were able to engage in and contribute significantly to the lesson study process.

Both ISTs and PSTs showed evidence of changes in perception and practice regarding successful teaching of mathematics.

Both ISTs and PSTs developed a deeper understanding of the mathematics surrounding specific lessons.

Pre-Service Teacher Findings Evidence of PST ability to conceptualize

and plan lessons, assess prior student knowledge, and anticipate student responses

Evidence of PST misunderstandings of the role of technology

Evidence of PST ability to contribute as researchers, cross-grades collaborators, critical colleagues, and reflective practitioners

Mathematical Findings

In-service teachers created and tried increased opportunities for inquiry with their students.

Real-world data used to justify the meaning of slope

Calculator-supported inquiry used to explore slopes of parallel and perpendicular lines

Manipulatives used to support a concrete introduction to array multiplication

Real-life data used to investigate proportion.

Knowledge Acquired

Carrying out a mathematics lesson study cycle Norm-setting and other professional learning

community behaviors Deepening mathematical content knowledge (e.g.,

slope, perpendicular and parallel relationships, array models of multiplication, proportional reasoning)

Locating and synthesizing resources (e.g., standards, curriculum materials, student work, and outside resources)

Analyzing teacher and student behavior; examining student work

Reflecting on practice (“encouraged” by notes, forms, and lesson plans as well as informal reflection on the results of each session)

Partnerships Formed

Pre-service teachers highly value the experience of working directly with teachers in practice to improve student learning, both through targeted observations and through lesson study.

In-service teachers highly value the presence and

perspective of observers in their classrooms.

School administrators are fully supportive of the project and cognizant of its positive outcomes for teachers.

Administrator

….I am very excited about the continued--and expanded--work of this group.  Thank you for your involvement and the support you have provided my staff.  The teachers that have been participating--LeAnne, Kevin and Doug--always return from workshops or their half-day lesson study sessions enthused and inspired.  It has been one of, if not the, most significant learning experience they have encountered.  Their enthusiasm has spread to other members of our staff and I'm thrilled that we now have seven teachers planning to participate.  I  know that our students will be the beneficiaries of their new learnings.

Gordon Grissom (Principal, Sacajawea Middle School, Bozeman)

Overview

What is lesson study? What is the B&B project? The lesson study experience Involving pre-service teachers Professional growth evidence

Expanding and sustaining

Lesson Study Challenges

Overcoming “teacher prior knowledge” Researching the mathematics Lesson planning vs. lesson study

Allowing time for reflection between sessions

Scheduling meetings/observation time Is re-teaching important?

MSU Support

MSU-Bozeman has designated the methods course as a “research core” course satisfying a major undergraduate requirement

EDSD 471 provides PSTs with authentic research experiences

EDSD 471 adds hours of targeted and worthwhile mathematics education experiences for PSTs

Bonus: we are inspiring more potential middle school mathematics teachers!

District Support

MSU faculty are in K-8 classrooms and engaging in the work of teaching and learning mathematics

Four principals have attended lesson study sessions Both districts have welcomed pre-service teachers

Three day-long visits by PST teams in Townsend Three class observations by 24 PSTs in Bozeman

Townsend: presented to the school board regarding B&B activities, inquiry-based mathematics, and textbook selection

Bozeman: supt. approved additional time out of the classroom for B&B teachers in Spring 2009

Rick

I approach my colleagues and classroom in a different framework and fashion because of that weekend….I am more mindful and purposeful about what I do. I am always asking, what are the really big ideas here, and how is this activity or lesson tied to what I want students to take with them?

…We had the opportunity to ask and answer as a team: What did I want my students to learn today, and how do I know they learned it? This is profoundly and dramatically different from that other question: What do I need to cover today? To me, this is the heart of the Lesson Study process. It really connects students, teachers, and curriculum in a sort of sacred and inviolable contract.

We are so fragmented and given so little time for genuine focus and inquiry. Ultimately, lesson study has given me an appreciation of what true inquiry can do for students, how difficult it is, but how vital and important it is, as well. I feel like this is just the beginning.

Gary

“Lesson study is spreading like wildfire!”

The number of teachers engaged in lesson study in each district will double in Year

2.

Acknowledgements

This project is funded by an ESEA, Title II Part B Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant through the Montana Office of Public Instruction

Special thanks to all our teacher participants and to Karma Nelson (Bozeman, MT), B&B professional development consultant

Contact: luebeck@math.montana.eduburrough@math.montana.edu