Lesson Study

    We have been searching for sustainable development of teaching training to keep teachers updated with all new developments and approaches to education. So here is the great solution: Lesson Study from Japan!

   It is indisputable truth that Japanese students are doing good in international exams. If we have a glance at the related literature, we across this Lesson Study model as the main reason behind their success. Therefore, it is worth to investigate and have a try to implement in Turkey considering the cultural differences. 

   As for the content of Lesson Study, this model enables teachers to work as researchers, professional learners and teachers. 3 to 7 teachers (from the same department and successive levels are prefered) gather to form a professional learning community with the aim of improving students' learning abilities and the quality of instruction. That sounds simple, yet there are huge amount of work for teachers. So the initial characteristics of those mentioned community members are being really eager to work voluntarily, determined and energetic. Here is the circle of lesson study:

What’s Going on Backstage? Revealing the Work of Lesson Study (2009) by Catherine Bruce and Mary Ladky

1. Set goals

As teachers, we have several problems with applying new teaching techniques not just because of the lack of time ,which intensiveness of curricula causes, but also because of the variety of different learners as well as learning and individual differences of them. Therefore, we can set the goal around what we really aim to develop among our students considering the problems and needs. 

2. Plan the lesson

In lesson study team, there are always bright teachers to make brainstorm about the steps and flow of the lesson. The aim is clear so it is time to search for the best ways to reach them. In this phase, teachers work collaboratively and as researchers. They collect data and plan their research lesson.

3. Implement

It is time for action! One teacher who is selected in democratic ways teach the research lesson while the others are observing. The vital thing here is that observer teachers do not judge the teacher but investigate how students think, answer, react, interact. That makes lesson study more special and less competitive. Observer teachers can record the video and jot down details. Besides, they should have the research lesson plan to follow up and make notes in the related parts as well as the sitting plan to examine students after the implementation. Oberserver teachers do not interfere in the class.

4. Discussions and Revize the Plan

Sometimes, plans just do not go how we predict. Lesson study model enables teachers to scrutinize students learning and plan of the lesson. In this phase, it is time to reveal observation notes and video recordings to discuss students learning reactions and how we understand if they learn. Revised plan is ready to implement for the second time. (Even it is optional for lesson study model, it is recommended to do since new student profiles and different teacher characteristics will enrich the data and report of the planning process.) 

Here is the sample videos how to conduct a lesson study with real discussions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tr0ZLxcHBc&list=PL8F2DC1E5AE07092F

Here is the video of Clea Fernandez who conduct a research about lesson study in Columbia University

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv-7xmZDozo

Here is the tools to give a picture of the model in action

http://www.tc.columbia.edu/lessonstudy/tools.html

In Turkey, there are few researchers who work on Lesson Study. You can find the articles here:

Evrim ERBİLGİN

Adnan BAKİ, İsmail ERKAN, Enes DEMiR

İbrahim BUDAK, Ayfer BUDAK, Işıl BOZKURT, Bülent KAYGIN

IGNITE? What is that?

In METU(http://www.metu.edu.tr/), We as Curriculum and Instruction Master Students have the course called 'Theories of Learning'. Even though it sounds like very theoretical and boring, it is inspirational and it does include very contemporary issues. The dynamism never gets down, actually there is no time for that because of work load. The enthusiastic instructor is Evrim BARAN, you can find her website here:http://evrimbaran.com/

One of the assignments was to prepare an ignite presentation when we had clearly no idea about it. Then, we did learn and experience! Ignite is a 5 min presentation within 20 slides and 15 seconds for each. It is pretty dynamic, highly fun and quite intensive. To do that presentation, depending on the subject that you are going to give a speech, summary should be done very effectively and organized. The slides do not wait for you! Here is my ignite which tells you about my adventure of learning in this course: My learning adventure

Here is the link of our ignite show: Ignite show

I guess, the course itself was sort of an ignite since there was very limited time for all comprehensive and attracted topics and we had to do it in effective way. I believe that one of the main purposes of the course is to inspire and enhance prior knowledge for each subject. Here is our agenda:

Personal Learning Theory
Foundations for Learning Sciences
Experts-Novice
Situated Learning
Cognitive and Intelligent Tutors
Motivation and Flow Theory
Case Based Reasoning
Design Based Research
Neuroscience
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning
TPACK (http://www.tpack.org/)
Teacher Education