Teacher Development Grant



 2012-2013 Project Summary

F. Kevin Moquin

Willow Field Elementary • Liverpool, NY

Teachers will participate in Lesson Study, which is a collaborative professional development practice that has been used for over 100 years in Japan and for more than 10 years in the US. The focus of this Lesson Study project will be to improve teacher’s science instruction. The team will meet regularly to study and discuss the national, state and local standards and review educational research regarding the content and development of a lesson. In Lesson Study, this is termed the “research lesson” and is carefully planned by the whole group. One team member will teach the lesson, while the other members will be in the classroom collecting data in the form of observational notes specifically targeted to capture what students are doing and saying in response to the instruction. Following the first teaching of the lesson, the team will discuss the data collected and use that data to inform any changes to be made to the lesson. The lesson will then be taught to other classes of students and data will again be collected to direct continuous improvement. After the lesson has been taught and revised, it will be taught publicly to a new group of students. Other teachers and administrators will be invited to observe, gather data, and discuss the lesson. Finally, a detailed research report will be written to include all of the details of the lesson and outlining the decisions made during the Lesson Study process.

In the news

• Lesson Study: Improving Science at Willow Field Elementary School, May 2014.
• Lesson Study Improves Science Instruction, February 2015.

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