QUALITY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR SECONDARY TEACHERS THROUGH LESSON STUDY

DR. DWIGHT MCHAZLETT

MEDINA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

IDEAL: QUALITY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Coherent with district & Campus Goals

• Collaborative

• Content-specific

• Connected to practice

• Ongoing

ACTUAL: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Discursive

• Implemented in isolation

• Generalized for the masses (One-Size-Fits all)

• Sit & Get

• Short-term

WHAT IS LESSON STUDY

• Participants collaboratively:

• Choose a lesson theme

• Design a lesson steeped in research-based best practices

• Present the lesson while being observed by peers

• Collectively critique the lesson

• Revise the lesson

• Re-teach the lesson

• Summarize lessons learned about student thinking & learning

WHAT LESSON STUDY IS NOT

• Lesson Study is not a short-term quick-fix drill & kill approach to increasing state assessment scores.• LS is a long-term clinical approach to improving instruction.

• Lesson Study does not focus on teacher evaluation• LS focuses on the lesson and how students think

• Lesson Study is not a one-size-fits-all PD model• LS can be adapted to fit the needs within the local contextual environment

DEVELOPING GROUP NORMS (BEFORE SCHOOL BEGINS)

• How are we going to treat each other?

• Roles:

• Facilitator: Tour guide, time-keeper, member advocate, norms monitor (instructional leader)

• Recorder: Documents all notes / lesson designs / edits in the lesson study template

DEVELOPING GROUP NORMS (BEFORE SCHOOL BEGINS)

• Roles:

• Member: Participates in all activities (other teachers in a department)

• Teachers:• 1st Teach:

• 2nd Teach:

• Observer(s): Content specialist, administration, guests (teachers, PD specialists, professors)

CHOOSING A RESEARCH THEME

• Current attributes of the Learners• Dependent upon the teacher, apathetic, passive, withdrawn

• Ideal attributes of the learners• Independent thinkers and learners, inquisitive, active, collaborative

CHOOSING A RESEARCH THEME

• Develop a theme that bridges the gap between these attributes.• “For students to develop critical thinking skills through active engagement

in cooperative learning environments that support content-driven student discourse”.

• This drives your future planning

LESSON RATIONALE

• What topics are persistently difficult or disliked by students?

• What topics do teachers find most difficult to teach?

• In what subject areas do we see new curricula, frameworks, or standards that teachers want to learn / master?

• (e.g. Data Analysis, Curriculum Hot Spots, professional development, existing lessons)

CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

• How does students understanding of the topic develop?

• How does the lesson fit within a unit?

• How does it fit within students experiences in prior and subsequent grades?

• Unit overview in the IFD

VERTICAL ALIGNMENT DOCUMENTS

INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS DOCUMENT

RELATIONSHIP OF THE LESSON TO STATE STANDARDS: TEKS (IFD)

• IFD’s are used to ensure teachers are staying within the lanes of the prescribed curriculum.

• Where are the potential misconceptions in this lesson?

INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS DOCUMENT

INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS DOCUMENT

INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS DOCUMENT

LESSON DESIGN (LESSON PLAN)

• Lesson Transitions (3): Warm-up, lesson, closing

• Timing

• Anticipated Student Responses (misconceptions) and

Teacher Response (proactive planning)

• Points to Notice (evaluation)

DATA COLLECTION POINTS FOR THE LESSON OBSERVATION (BEFORE SCHOOL BEGINS).

• Observations for content experts (lesson frame/goals, anticipated student misconceptions…)• Teachers• Special Education Co-Teachers• Curriculum Specialists

DATA COLLECTION POINTS FOR THE LESSON OBSERVATION (BEFORE SCHOOL BEGINS).

• Observations for Outside observers (student progress, lesson transitions, pacing, lesson flow)• Administrators• Guests

FIRST LESSON OBSERVATION (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 1: AM SESSION)

• Lesson Run-through led by the first-teach facilitator.• Participants assign themselves to cooperative

learning groups (observers remain silent).• Participants observe from the student perspective

(Revisiting lesson objectives & potential misconceptions).

FIRST LESSON OBSERVATION (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 1: AM SESSION)

• Data Collection sheets• Time (lesson transition)• Observation • Significance

• Note: Typically performed during a mid-morning class period followed by an extended lunch break.

POST LESSON DISCUSSION (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 1 PM SESSION)

• Instructor’s reflections

• Goals

• Difficulties

POST LESSON DISCUSSION (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 1 PM SESSION)

• Team members report data (reflections are made by each member for each phase of the lesson: Review student products)

• Have student products in hand

• Make notes on your observation documents (including the lesson plan) for potential edits to the lesson

LESSON EDITS FOR SECOND TEACH (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 1: PM & AFTER SCHOOL SESSION)

• Modify the lessons based on specific observations:

• Worksheets

• Materials / Manipulatives

• Strategies / Grouping

SECOND LESSON OBSERVATION (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 2 AM SESSION)

• A second teacher delivers the lesson to a new group or population of students.

• Once again Content experts & outside observers collect lesson data, from the students perspective, focused on:

• Lesson objectives

• Potential misconceptions and teacher responses

• Lesson edits from the first teach

FINAL REFLECTION REPORT (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 2: PM SESSION)

• After the second post-lesson discussion, team members write a concise final reflection report on what they learned about teaching revising re-teaching the lesson.

FINAL REFLECTION REPORT (INSTRUCTIONAL DAY- 2: PM SESSION)

• The report includes: • Recorded changes to the lesson

• Answers: What did we learn from revising the lesson?

• Recorders take notes on final reflections for the record.• What best to help students to learn the targeted objective?

LESSON STUDY IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE

• Before school begins (planning days):• Lesson Study Orientation: includes established group norms

(Day-1)

• Data analysis & lesson resource collections (Day-2)

• Lesson Study template completion (Day-3)

LESSON STUDY IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE

• After school begins (instructional days):• Lesson run-through (Day-1 am)

• First teach (Day-1 am)

• Post lesson discussion (Day-1 am)

• Lesson revision (Day-1 am)

LESSON STUDY IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE

• After school begins (instructional days):

• Second Teach (Day-2 am)

• 2nd Post lesson discussion (Day-2 pm)

• Final lesson reflection report (Day-2 pm)

CONTACT INFORMATION

•Dr. Dwight McHazlett

•Medina Valley High School Principal

•dwight.mchazlett@mvisd.org

•830-931-2243 ext 1126