Katha 2014: Lesson Study Part 2

Minutes of the workshop transcribed. Speaker Dr. Allan Canonigo

 KATHA 2014: Day 5 

Revisiting Lesson Study

Mr. Allan Canonigo

NISMED, UP Diliman

August 9, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

1. Review. The speaker reviewed the teacher-participants on their understanding of the Lesson Study based on the previous lectures and some raised the definition of Lesson Study as a strategy to improve research teaching, doing research on one lesson/objective, and where observers or experts would be invited for the evaluation of their respective lesson studies. In conclusion, the speaker clarified that Lesson Study is a systemic cycle towards improvement of teaching.

2. Discussion of Lesson Study Misconceptions. The speaker also clarified some points raised by the participants. 1) Lesson study is not a teaching strategy technique. He pointed out that we can never make Math easy for the students. However it becomes more difficult when teachers can’t think of ways on how to improve the student performance on math. Teachers should not say that why their students do cannot get the formula or the problem right because it would provide more stigma to the students on math. 

3. Ways on Studying Math using Own Content. The true meaning of lesson study lies in the will power of the teachers to become better one where its effect and application would be long-term. 

3.1. Research in Lesson Study. Lesson study involves studying and planning together the teachers’ respective lesson studies for a particular strategy to implement and improve on. This is to improve the student performance which should be learner-centered. Teachers should be anticipating how students are learning and not how to teach the study/topic; that is, they should improve the thinking skills of the students.

3.2. Student-thinking. Why do these certain solutions work for some of the students? This should be anticipated and appreciated and considered by the teachers; that is, they should not limit the students to one solution only.

3.3. Observer Invitation. The trick in this strategy is to observe the teacher, not dictate what he or she should do. Learning from one another should be done as equals, not as bosses or subordinates; otherwise it would not be an effective lesson study. They should work together and try to change the culture of the Filipinos where ego is implemented every time there is a teacher invitation because of unpreparedness.

3.4. Preparedness. The teachers should encourage the students to think critically. There is this teacher culture where the fear of the teacher to explain the many solutions generated by the students overpowers the catalyst for better critical thinking of the students. They should help the students out for the lesson study improvement and claim that there is always a room for improvement. After the lesson study implementation, post-learner/discussion, suggestion and recording sessions should be done.

4. Lecture Proper: Activity. The speaker divided the participants into elementary and high school group and by district. He focused on the Understanding by Design (UPD), a part of the K to 12 goals in Math where problem solving involves critical thinking in the students. The speaker related the topic in real life where reality is without any easy solutions or formula. Problems are best solved by looking for answers and struggle is part of the equation. 

4.1. Reflection. The speaker gave three questions to the participants to answer and reflect and discuss them. 1) What kind of lectures at school you want to see implemented in your own class? Provide evidence. The participants said they want the students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, competent and independent and active learners in math. 2) What kind of lectures is implemented at school? Students are dependent, frustrated and stigmatized by math, poor study habits and poor comprehension of the problems. 3) How do you think would you be able to bridge the gap between the aspirations and the reality of this particular dilemma? Efficiency of the lesson study, developing critical questions and applying the 3Es: Explore Experiment and Experience. Some teachers raised issues on the number of students, teacher mood, insignificance of the attendance and zero critical thinking in exams. 

4.2. Teachers learn in lesson study. The teachers should focus on how students learn and observe them in the right path. They have to analyze and observe students and use this information on revising student lesson study and learning.

5. Reasons for Lesson Study. This is for teaching improvement, instructional materials improvement, professional learning community and finally scholarly inquiry due to research.

5.1. Professional Research Study Equipment. The lesson study should be devised based on the words that work best for both the teachers and the students. There should always be someone to evaluate you because it is very hard to evaluate oneself because there are not wider perspectives. The long-term goal was discussed by the speaker based on his experiences in Cabanatuan City workshop. He said that sample teaching for problem solving or content is important, where you first teach the problem, solve it in different ways and use the problem critique.

6. Professional Development. The speaker started with a chart differentiating the traditional and research based lesson studies: traditional approaches include getting the answer, expert observation, trainer-teachers and hierarchical way of teaching, while research based studies include posing the question first, engaging the participants, implementing the teacher training and a reciprocal way of teaching method. 

6.1. Differences. There are differences in lesson planning, curriculum planning, demonstration where a different fate lies: reinvention learning, learning centers, continuous improvement and usefulness loop.

6.2. Research Lesson Planning Questions. The teachers should first decide the topic, today’s lesson, the plan, the activities, and the fact on how the students would understand the topic on hand. It is important that the teachers should know the knowledge of the children beforehand they teach the lesson because there might be miscommunication of sequence of the lessons.

6.3. Problems. Problems posed by the teachers include the explain ability of the lessons, no cooperation from other teachers, sustainability, government support, fund for books and other resources, funding for the experts and incentives for the students. Most of all the problem lies in the time for the teachers to work together. Questions were also raised on the teaching competency of the teachers, the spiral loop concept where teachers build on by activating previous knowledge on prior topics in math. The topics should also be connected and finally researchers helped by teachers can be done by etic realizations and suggestions.