MC2-LIFT Lesson Study Final Report

7/30/2019 MC2-LIFT Lesson Study Final Report

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The 2013 high school lesson study took place at Alma darte charter high school on April 9, 2013. It took place in two

algebra 2 classes. The first teach was during the first period of the day, the second teach was the third period. Each class

period was an 85 minute block length class; the schedule is a modified alternating A/B style meeting all year.

Students at Alma are demographically similar to the general population of the surrounding community. Most of

students are Latino (59 percent) , the largest part of the remaining students (38 percent) are Caucasian with a few percent of

Native American (2 percent) and African American (1 percent). Males and females are split fairly evenly with only a few more

girls than boys overall.

Alma is an art school, and so many students are not all that interested in mathematics, or at least they think it has little

to do with their lives in general. Students of the arts are not necessarily worse at math than other students; they just seem to

like it less. This primarily is why we attempted to make a lesson that students would find applicable to some aspect of their

lives. Money is something that everyone needs to deal with, artist included.

Our lesson study topic involved a lesson on exponential growth; specifically we focused on investments and retirement

savings. As our overarching goal we wanted to Grasp their enthusiasm for real life connection and use it to develop their

problem solving ability and reason to think abstractly. The lesson connects to the goal in several ways. First of all, it is a real

life problem. All students will someday retire, and a look at retirement savings can be an eye opener. Students armed with the

knowledge that compound interest can make the job easier will be better able to make good decisions about savings


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opportunities. Furthermore, young people dont often think about the need to save money for retirement because it is so far

away and they are only now considering their career paths. The next part of the goal was fulfilled because the students had to

make decisions about different ways to save money and justify mathematically which was better for them. We really wanted

to make them realize when saving money exponential models are superior over time to linear models

To do this lesson we used graphing calculators extensively. These allowed a great deal of exploration to be done in a

short period of time which was essential to the success of the lesson.

Students had been introduced to exponential functions and in particular they had been working with a formula for

compound interest prior to the lesson study. Students showed proficiency during the lesson in being able to utilize the

formula for different interest rates and principle amounts.

Throughout the lesson students exhibited a clear understanding of the behavior of linear functions and could really

conceptualize them related to saving money. Observing the lesson, students seemed to really benefit using the graphing

calculator as a tool. It deepened the knowledge and understanding of the content. Students also learned from each other.

They participated in rich conversations about the behavior of the exponential functions and learned from listening to each

other and paraphrasing each others comments and ideas. This lesson involved a standard from Algebra 1, yet the content of

the lesson can serve as review and deeper understanding of exponential functions. The lesson could serve as an introduction

to solving exponential functions using logarithms which is an Algebra 2 standard. It can serve as a way for students to


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understand the need to have an efficient strategy for solving exponential functions. This is an extension to the lesson that

could serve as a great next step.

Throughout the lesson students exhibited a misconception about the graphs of exponential functions. They seemed to

forget that x0 is 1, so when asked to pick a graph that matched the function A= P(1.15)x they picked one with a y-intercept of 0.

Students also seemed to struggle with the conceptual interpretation of exponential functions. They were able to understand

that the input was time, but did not seem to make a connection of practicality of saving money using an interest model. This

misconception could have been made due to the time constraint. A modification that could have been made for next time

would be to use questions and probing to allow the students to develop ideas about exponential functions in ways other than

simply comparing time.

Since one of the goals of the lesson was for students to compare investments and retirement savings, we engineered the

lesson so that we could routinely monitor what the students were taking away from their mathematic exploration. We wanted

students to make decisions about two different investment scenarios, and we paid particular attention to the reasoning behind

those decisions. While the lesson was progressing, we used questioning to push student learning forward. These interactions

helped us monitor how the students were progressing in their understanding of the material. Additionally, we routinely

referred back to our learning targets and our criterion for success; surveying the students to see if these targets were being

met. The exit slip served as a good reinforcement of what the students took away from their learning.


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As a result of the lesson, it is evident that students see a function as a continuous set of points. We anticipated several

misconceptions, many of which manifested throughout the lesson. In particular, we noticed that many students have trouble

with the viewing window on the graphing calculator. It is possible that this is due to students not making connections to the

magnitude of the numerical values in a function. For example, starting with an initial investment of $1000 requires a window

where the y values can be examined at or around $1000, plus much extra.

It was very evident that students had a deep understanding of the meaning of the intersection of two functions. Every

group that presented identified the intersection point(s) as values of time where both the functions were monetarily

equivalent. We pushed students to consider personal investment within each scenario, but students were never able to reach

this conclusion on their own. For example, suppose that after a number of years, two investments were equal. The first

investment was saving $100 each month, every month. The second investment was investing $1,500 at 4% interest. Although

the linear investment might arrive at a desired money amount quicker, every dollar of that money came from the investor;

whereas only $1,500 came from the investor in the exponential investment. This is an important aspect to consider, and

unfortunately, very few students did.

In general, it was very powerful to see students engaging in the mathematics behind the lesson. Seeing students

interested in the money aspect of the lesson reinforced the idea that when math is relevant, students can more easily access

and engage in math learning.


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In designing the lesson and collaborating with other members of the group, we were able to discuss possible

misconceptions. Discussing these allowed us to explore the math on a deeper level. The planning process helped us insure

that we were all prepared for the math content that we would be teaching.

All students in two different classes were actively involved in the learning of mathematics. They were able to discuss

mathematics with the teacher and with each other as a group. The teacher sets the tone of the classroom by ensuring that all

who speak will be treated respectfully and their suggestions will be taken seriously. Students were to take intellectual risks,

and convey that everyone can learn from their mistakes, specifically when they did the math problems and the exit ticket

problem (an excellent formative assessment tool that provided us feedback as to what students did not understand). While it

is sometimes difficult for each student to participate in whole-class discussions, when students work in groups on

mathematical tasks, they can all be active participants, each sharing in the discussions. To help develop students abilities to

work cooperatively with the other students, the teacher created regular opportunities for students to work in groups on math

tasks, which included quiet thinking time, making sure that the students paused routinely, and emphasis on paraphrasing,

when they had opportunity to articulate their understanding of a concept and their strategy for solving problem.

The group activities were structured appropriately- sharing in the discussions, listening to each other, responding to

each others suggestions with respect, and reflecting on each others suggestions for completing the task. Through posing a

problem, increasing the ambiguity of lesson increases cognitive demand, and allows for multiple entry points to access the


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problem. Resist the impulse to give an answer or an explanation when a student is confused; student has the opportunity to

think in a different way about the situation by asking related questions to push them forward to think.

The Lesson Study process demands a great deal of personal reflection and fosters this attitude in preparing and

revising the lesson. In the first lesson some of the students did not have enough time to answer the guided questions that were

provided for them in the explorer activity and the exit ticket problem. After reflection, we made changes so that in the second

lesson, adjustments of time in each task were made. Consequently, students successfully met the learning target and criteria

for success for this lesson. Additionally, using the entrance slips (interest slips) as a hook and increasing the ambiguity of the

lesson increases cognitive demand.

The lesson was designed with the students interest in mind. We tried to create humorous scenarios that were still

filled with relevance to student learning. As the facilitator of the lesson I engaged students learning by asking questions to

focus this new knowledge into connections to prior knowledge. The lesson began with an opening of comparing linear and

exponential equations, graphs, and scenarios. The students displayed interest in the scenarios and were able to draw

connections to the elements of linear functions (e.g., y-intercept, x-intercept, slope, etc) and note connections to the

exponential function in relation to the interest rate, principal, and time. This led into the sharing that made the students

communicate their understandings in the comparisons of the two given scenarios. In the later lesson the changes that made a

major difference in the communication among students was the paraphrasing that was introduced on a continual basis by the


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second facilitator. In the second lesson, the students were readily available to contribute, whereas the first lesson the

communication among students was mostly among their individual groups.

The collaboration that did surface in the lesson was evident among individual groups. There was some group to group

interaction that was able to help with the technical problems that arose as groups began to use the graphing calculators.

Groups were encouraged to interact with each other since the scenarios, excluding one, were unique to each group. In order to

access students understanding in the lesson, students shared their findings with the class through a document camera and

graphing calculator. The closure of the lesson was through an exit slip that assessed students learning in relation to our

lessons learning targets and criteria for success. The students were able to the draw upon their work and vocabulary sheet to

guide their responses and help them make decisions based on their comparisons. The facilitators recapped the learning

targets and criteria for success with the students before ending the lesson.

The takeaway that came from this lesson was the increase in the level of the cognitive demand of the lesson with very

subtle and large changes. The subtle changes that created an environment that promoted a higher level of cognitive demand

included the paraphrasing that was made from students. The random list of names that were created ahead of time also kept

the students accountable for their answers and work. The major changes that made faster gains in the learning that happened

were an entrance slip and generalizing the student task. The impact of utilizing accessibility strategies and being aware of the

misconceptions prior to the lesson helped the students entry into the material that was being taught. Using strategies such as


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checking in on groups, building on ideas, and sharing out within the lesson was able to provide more than one access point to

the knowledge of exponential functions, interest formula, and linear equations. As a result of my involvement with the lesson I

am able to see the benefits of debriefing after a lesson is taught. It was amazing what insights were brought to the table about

the conversations that the students were having while working through the launch and explore of the lesson. The learning

that developed from this lesson is reason enough to advocate for such practice within a school or district. The lesson was not

perfect but it evolved into a lesson that was relevant to the students interests and related to real-world applications.


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Description of the Research Lesson (Lesson Plan)

Launch:

1. (15 min) Building a context for the lesson (Connecting to meaningful things or previous lesson):Give groups of three students 4 scenarios and 4 equations and ask them to match with the given 4 graphsand explain their answers (cards). Graphs (pre-made) posted and groups match and post the equations and

scenarios to them. Randomly select students to explain their reasoning.

Scenario 1:

Tom is putting aside the same amount of money every year in his mattress.

Provided resources: multiple graphs of equations (no number on the axes) and an general equation of

Scenario 2:

Kate is putting away money in her savings account to let the interest accrue the principal amount. Theprincipal amount that she put away ______ was and the annual interest rate is 11.5%.


Essential

Vocabulary

-linear equation

-exponential

function

-exponential

growth

-principal

-investment

-interest rate


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Scenario 3:

Putting money into stock and letting it grow at an average rate of 6% interest rate.


Questions to ask the students to think about before the explore:

What does it mean for the lines to intersect?

What does the slope tell us about the growth of the principal?

2. Laying the framework for the learning experience (Introduce research lesson to students):Learning targets:

1. Students can compare linear and exponential functions and make decisions based on them.

Criteria for success:

1. Students will model linear and exponential functions for given scenarios.2. Justify their choice of a savings plan mathematically.

Possible Student Questions or Misconceptions Possible Teacher Questions/ Strategies/ ResponsesWhat do students need to know/be doing to

successfully engage in this part of the lesson?Observed Lesson Data


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1. Students will want to believe that thelarger the principal amount of the

ending balance will grow faster than asmaller amount would.

2.

Mismatch equations with graphs.3. Does this have anything to do with whatwe have been learning the past fewclasses?

1. Where does the graph of your equationintersect the y-axis?

2. What does y-intercept tell us about ourinitial amount?

Have students test x=0 for their equationsand revisit graphs.

3. Perhaps, what do you think?

Students should have background knowledge that

the rate of change is constant in a linear equation

and the rate of change is constantly changing in an

exponential equation.

Students should be discussing what the y-

intercept tells them about their equation and test

various points on the graph.

Explore: Engaging students with concepts (Exploring, Investigating, Problem Solving):

Students will be given two or more scenarios to try to model with regard to saving money and to compare them. The linear one

will be the same for each group, and the exponential will be unique for the group. All work will be done on ti 84s. Tell students

they will need to have this information to share with class, yes, they should write down results and sketch graphs.

1. Compare the graphs of both a linear and exponential function.2. Compare the tables of values of all investments.3. At what point(s) in time will the investments be the same?4. What do the intersection point(s) represent?5. If my goal is to save $20,000, which investment should I choose? Why?6. Give 2 specific scenarios to compare (1 linear and 1 exponential). Students will then explore by altering the parameters

of each function (within reason).

Explore Scenarios for Lesson Study

(For your window, use the settings xmin = 0, xmax = 100, ymin=0, ymax= 80000)

Situation 1:


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You save $500 per year and stuff it in your mattress.

Notes: There can be two different functions depending on how you interpret it. 500x + 500, where you put $500 in right away at

year zero. 500x, where you save up during year zero your $500 and put it in at year 1.

Situation 2:

You are investing in a company which promises it 5% interest compounded annually. The investor is asking for a one-time payment

of $5000.

Y= 5000(1.05)x

Situation 3:

You are investing in a bank which yields 5% interest compounded annually. The principle amount is $500.

Y = 500(1.05)x

Situation 4:

You are investing in a company which promises it yields 5% interest compounded annually. The investor is asking for a one-time

payment of $3000.

Y = 3000(1.05)x

Situation 5:

You are investing in company which promises it yields 6% interest compounded annually. The investor is asking for a one-time

payment of $4000.

Y = 4000(1.06)x


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Situation 6:

You invest in a bank which yields 10% interest compounded annually. The principle amount is $400.

Y = 400(1.10)

x

Situation 7:

You are investing in a bank which yields 3% interest compounded annually. The principle amount is $6000.

Y = 6000(1.03)x

Situation 8:

You are investing in a company which promises it will yield 7% interest compounded annually. They are asking for a one-time

payment of $1000.

Y = 1000(1.07)x

Additional Notes:

If a group is finishing with both the linear and the first exponential, have them move on to creating their own exponential s ituation.

This is a rough draft. We can decide to change the scenarios to all stocks or banks or companies. I just thought we could jazz it up


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by making up funny new companies like a company that has a new robot product that does your hair! (Etc)

Everyone will use situation 1, then groups will draw situation 2. Then for situation 3 if they have time they can make up a new

function where they are trying to save $40,000 (just an example) in 20 years.

The situations can be made on visually pleasing card stock cards.



An investment with ahigher principal will

always be a better

investment.

An exponential and linearfunction can have at most 1

solution. Students do not attend to

precision when

determining the number of

years when an investment

reaches a value.

Students perceive 12.7years as 12 years and 7

Explore graph, expandwindow, plug various

values for time into each

function. Examine the

difference between the

investments as time

increases.

Adjust the window/tableof values.

Do we always count byyears (whole numbers)?

Can we count by a

fraction of year?

If you were given 12.5years, is that 12 years and

How to manipulatefunctions

Calculator knowledge(graph, calculate table,

find intersection, adjust

window, use evaluate

function, trace)

Sketch a graphaccurately

Identify what the initialvalue of a function is

and/or what the percent

interest of a function is.


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months.

Students may struggle withsketching a graphaccurately.

Students may struggle withmanipulating functions

(interchanging principal

amounts and/or interest

rates)

Calculator error

the 5 month (May). Is

May halfway through the

year?

Is your graph showingwhat the y-interceptrepresents? Rate of

change?

Compare table ofvalues/graph of your

function. Does this make

sense?

Teacher should need tocheck the display or

redirect

Sharing ideas/solutions (Whole group, small group, written):

Small share-out after the launch(Few minutes). During explorer, after 15 mins. group share out. Building idea strategy



During the building ideasstrategy the students may

not really building ideas.

Teacher will encourageeach group to build on

idea of the other group

Teacher will explain andwhat to happen during

share out (building

strategy)

Summarizing (Gathering EvidenceHow will you know students met the learning goal?):


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Extension/Challenge for students: Finance Application on TI-84 and the function for annuity. Exit slip: It is recommended that to retire, you should have at least $200,000 saved. You want to retire in 30 years.

Which of the following situations would you choose to most efficiently reach this goal? Explain your reasoning with

graphs or numbers.

a. A linear model (Explain how much you would have to save annually)b. An exponential model (At 5% interest, what would your initial deposit be?)c. If you will not choose either a or b create your own mathematics for your retirement plan.



1. Making the jump fromhaving an equation

provided to making their

own.

1. Use trial and error withthe graphing calculator.

1. Students will findrelevance in the lesson to

real life, to get them

engaged in the activities.

2. The strategy that will beused is to check in

frequently with students

to help them share out

their progress and

findings of their work tohelp retain knowledge of

the lesson. This will also

help students pay

attention to their

classmates and to what is

happening during the

lesson.


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Exponential Functions

Spring 2013

Name: ____________________________________________ Period: _____ Date: _________

Exit Slip:

It is recommended that to retire, you should have at least $200,000 saved. You want to retire in 30 years. Which of the

following situations would you choose to most efficiently reach this goal? Explain your reasoning with graphs or

numbers.

d. A linear model and explain how much you would have to save annually?e. An exponential model and at 5% interest what would your initial deposit be?f. If you will not choose either aor bcreate your own mathematics for your retirement plan.


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MC2LIFT Research Lesson Template

Grade Level: 11 Date: APRIL

Instructor: # of Students: 20ishClass Time: 830-945?, 1230-2:00? Class Type (check one):

Location: Regular SPED Bilingual/ESL Other

School, Room #, Address

Context: (Describe social/ cultural context of school)

I. Goals:

A. Overarching Goal: (What kind of people do you want your students tobe?)

Grasp their enthusiasm for real life connections and use it to develop their problem solving

ability and reason abstractly.


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B. Mathematics Process Goal: (What kind of mathematical thinkers do you want your students to be?)

Reason abstractly and quantitatively

Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning?

C. Math Content Goals: (Whatare your math goals for your students as a result of doing this unit?)

F.LE.1: Distinguish between situations that can be modeled with linear functions and exponential functions

F.LE.4: For exponential models, express as a logarithm the solution abct = d where a,c, and d are numbers and the base b is 2, 10,or e; evaluate

the logarithm using technology.

D. Research Lesson Goal: (How does this research lesson fit with the other goals? What do you want to learn about yourstudents from this research lesson?)

Would like to have the classroom dynamics change a little bit. Create a lesson where all the learners can share out their successesin different ways. When creating a lesson with functions most classrooms end up having a setting where the accelerated students

get it and share out and the other students end up getting the information from the same students over and over. This lesson

goal is designed to fit into our equity theme for the semester.

II. Description of math content learning goal: (1 to 2 sentences)


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Students can begin the lesson by asking them which method is better for saving money? Putting in a certain about like $50 per

month for twenty years into a savings account, or putting in $40 into a savings account which gains interest. If you started with a

larger sum to begin with, when will the sum double? Students will explore a linear model of saving and then try to develop a wayto show it exponentially.

B. What evidence will you collect to assess students learning of the target?

Lesson Focus

Comparing exponential and

Lesson Strand

Pose question: have

students pick which

savings account to

Develop the

linear model

Develop the

exponential model

and compare

Discuss the two and talk

about how exponential

functions are used in our

Close lesson with next

step? Summary?

Questions?


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BrandonAs a mathematics team, how has your involvement in the Lesson Study process impacted the way you work with other teachers at yourschool?

The lesson study has shown me how a collection of teachers can and should collaborate effectively. I wish that all lessons could be created

and modified with the benefit of the collaboration of other teachers. It was a group effort; however it encouraged me to become a better

individual teacher. In the past, my collaboration with my PLC members has been restricted. Group planning time for individual lessons

doesnt happen nearly as often as I would like. When they do happen, it feels like we are going over the structure of the lesson, rather than

whats most important such as the math practices, the types of questions well ask, the misconceptions we anticipate, etc. What I hope to

take back to my colleagues is an attitude of looking at the smaller (yet simultaneously bigger) picture when discussing individual lessons.

Personally, how did Lesson Study support your growth as a teacher?Primarily, seeing other teachers teach a lesson that I helped plan was a very enlightening experience. Where I would have gone one waywith a question, they might have gone another. It was very helpful to see how two teachers could have different approaches to the same

lesson. I appreciated the chance to examine how the other teachers look at math practices and how they incorporate those into the

classroom. As a teacher, I feel like Im constantly trying to improve my individual practice. Im trying to be better at facilitating

discussions, being a better classroom manager, etc. The lesson study has given me more tools to put into my ever growing teacher tool

bag.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Lesson Study process? In what general ways can the Lesson Study process be improved? Howcan the Lesson Study process be adapted to better fit within your school context?I fell that the biggest strength of the Lesson Study process is the chance to collaborate with a variety of teachers. Shooting ideas off ofanother teacher is something that doesnt happen often enough in schools, and that time was very valuable. The issues for me were the

meetings. We participated in online Goto meetings, and there were often time where I felt like these meetings were not nearly as

productive as face to face meetings would have been.

Within my school, there can be adaptations of lesson studies; the logistics of it are not that difficult. Having common planning time for

some of the teachers is the first and the most important step. Suppose for the month of February, we set aside 1 day of our common

planning each week for the first three weeks, and then conduct the lesson study on the fourth week. The time issues are non-existent; we

took 3 planning periods away and one school day away. Thats a small price to pay for a very valuable experience.


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JanetteAs a mathematics team, how has your involvement in the Lesson Study process impacted the way you work with other teachers at yourschool?The lesson study offers an environment of professional development providing purposeful guidance for us teachers about how tocritically examining our own practice, specifically within a lesson. Peer input was extremely valuable throughout the process. In the pastPLC, my collaboration with my colleagues has been restricted. Lesson planning within our PLC doesnt happen as often as I would likewith all the time constraints and the meetings already planned for us. It would be great to be able to design a lesson with them, get theexperience as a PLC and develop this Lesson Study. I am hopeful that we are moving into this direction.

Personally, how did Lesson Study support your growth as a teacher?The lesson study approach has supported my efforts as a teacher in that I have become more effective about what I do. It was very helpfulto see how two teachers have different instructional strategies to the same lesson. It was a great opportunity for me to examine how the

other teachers look at math practices and how they apply those in the classroom. I personally considered self-reflection to be essential inour profession. I just did not have a structured way to do it. I have always thought of my practice and methods as a purposeful, however,today, I find myself wanting to improve on these purposeful methods even more. I have also realized how important it is plan lessonscarefully and to be inclusive of the most important elements that are bound to add meaning and depth to student learning. There is muchmore that I need to learn to understand and embrace this approach. I believed that this lesson study helped me become a better teacher,and that it is the effective way to continue my professional development.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Lesson Study process? In what general ways can the Lesson Study process be improved? Howcan the Lesson Study process be adapted to better fit within your school context?

For me the biggest strength of the Lesson Study process is the opportunity to work and collaborate with other expert teachers. One greatimplication of this process is going through the steps in building successful Lesson Study efforts: establishing authentic professional

community able to address conflicting ideas and build teachers knowledge; focusing on student thinking; taking initiative to draw on

external knowledge sources; and realizing that the shared research lesson can be a solid basis for collaborative reflection about students

progress toward instructional goal. I think time was the major challenge for us during the Lesson Study process. Lesson study can be

adapted into our school PLCs by utilizing our planning period and then conduct the public lesson within our time frame.


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JuanitaAs a mathematics team, how has your involvement in the Lesson Study process impacted the way you work with other teachers at your school?The impact of the lesson study for me was the planning and the revising of the lesson. It was interesting seeing how the lesson was started to emergefrom the input that was given by the individual teachers that worked together. This lesson was created with the goal of engaging students interest. Iobserved that the students were engaged by the humorous scenarios which also provided a way for students to start talking about the mathematics thatwas involved. This made me reflecton my own practice in getting students engaged in a lesson. I love to make learning math fun and engaging, but itshard to find ways that provide this and keep the mathematics relevant. This lesson was able to display this combination with finesse while keeping upthe cognitive demand.

Personally, how did Lesson Study support your growth as a teacher?The lesson study supported my growth as a teacher by being able to see the changes that occurred in the students learning wi th the collaborativeefforts that was made by all the teachers that participated. It would be great to have a system or practice in place at my school that is able to supportthis type of professional development. The lesson study was able to show the importance of how each part of a lesson is essential in the planning andpresentation. There are times that I have quickly chosen a launch activity without truly aligning it to the same learning targets as the exploring and

summarizing activities for the lesson. I now see that the launch is the breakfast of the lesson, an analogy that means its important to the start of thelesson. I feel this knowledge will help me to become a better teacher in providing students with lessons that are intriguing and activities that arealigned throughout the lesson.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Lesson Study process? In what general ways can the Lesson Study process be improved? How can theLesson Study process be adapted to better fit within your school context?The strengths that I observed within the lesson study process were the collaboration among teachers, strategies to improve student learning, and waysto enhance teacher practice. The weakness that I felt that occurred within this lesson study was the meetings that were held on the application, Go ToMeeting. There was a lot of collaboration and conversations that happened within the meetings, but there were times that nobody talked, speaker gaveout, or other technicalities. I think we could have gotten the amount of work done quicker if we had face to face meetings.

A colleague that worked on the lesson study mentioned that there once was a panel of teachers that reviewed the lesson and then followed throughwith questions or suggestions. I think if this is not currently a section of the lesson study it would be a great addition to the process, since the lessonwill be accessible to teachers to use in their classrooms.The school that I work at has class sizes between 10 18 students with a math department of four math teachers. This would be a great way to shareideas that promote student learning that is consistent throughout a school.


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DaveAs a mathematics team, how has your involvement in the Lesson Study process impacted the way you work with other teachers at yourschool?The lesson study process is amazing. The opportunity to work closely with multiple colleagues to design and implement a lesson thenevaluate and change it is not anything that happens in most day to day school settings. We spent a lot of time prior to teaching the lesson,considering many points about it, from the mathematics to the delivery to the possible misconceptions of students. The lesson wasthoroughly examined. The lesson was then observed by multiple professionals and changes were agreed on before we returned to try thelesson a second time. This allowed us to make multiple observations of student interactions with the lesson. Seven sets of ears picking upmuch of what was said and done by the students. The insights and analysis from those other teachers allowed us to give the students agreat lesson. It was truly an amazing process.How this process changes the way I work with teachers from my school is the way I approach them for help and insight. The process hasshown me that every teacher looks at lessons from their own unique perspective and they bring with them special insights and ideas that Imay never have thought of alone. It reminds me that together we can do so much more than we can by ourselves. We may not have theability to break down each lesson, but we certainly can exchange ideas and share experience to make the whole school better.

Personally, how did Lesson Study support your growth as a teacher?Lesson study really allowed me to look at my practice and moves I make as a teacher. I was lucky enough to be selected to do the secondteach of the lesson and it allowed me to see what worked for the kids and what didnt. We had the opportunity to rethink and strengthenportions of the lesson that were weak and to improve the cognitive demand of the lesson. I was also able to observe myself and mymannerisms through the video.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Lesson Study process? In what general ways can the Lesson Study process be improved? Howcan the Lesson Study process be adapted to better fit within your school context?I have primarily described the strengths of the process, but I didnt mention that throughout the process I felt valued as an educator.

Todays political climate often seems anti-educator. Many in our profession feel that we are being set up to take the blame for any student

failures especially where standardized tests are concerned. Lesson study empowers us to be the professionals we are, to better ourselves

and make mistakes without fear of retribution. It was quite refreshing.


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The downside of lesson study is first it is a very artificial environment. Kids react differently with lots of adults in the room looking at

their every move. Second, it doesnt occur often enough. This experience was powerful, but I have done it only twice in 20+ years of

teaching. Third, it does not include enough teachers to spread the learning. I know many teachers who could benefit from lesson study

like I did. Many of my colleagues had little idea what lesson study was before we did this at our school. Last, lesson study finds and film

are not widely available nor is the time to look at different lesson studies. I think that most lesson studies are archived and are primarilygathering dust, not from lack of interest, but lack of time and availability for most teachers.

Date post:	14-Apr-2018
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MC2-LIFT Lesson Study Final Report

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