Before you start
Before beginning the first lesson-study cycle, it is a good idea to have a preliminary start-up meeting in which the group thinks through the overall process and there is an opportunity for participants to ask any questions that they may have.
A presentation you could use to introduce Lesson Study may be found here:Running a workshop on lesson study
In this meeting, you could address issues including:
It is sensible to set the date of the research lesson as early as possible, so that everyone knows that that is the date that they are working towards. This will need to fit in with school constraints and the availability of the outside expert.
Planning meetingsIt is sensible to schedule about 3 planning meetings, of perhaps 1-1.5 hours each. In between these, participants can email various draft versions of the lesson plan to each other for comments/modifications. Suggestions for what you might do at each meeting are given here: 1, 2 and 3.
Reflection meetingIt can be useful to schedule a reflection meeting after the first cycle and at the end of a year. This gives participants the opportunity to think through what has been learned so far and to consider the future aims of the group.(If there is time, there could also be one in the second term, but this is not essential, and not shown in the timeline below.)
TimelineA typical timeline is shown below. You can start a CLR group at any point during the year, so "Term 1" does not need to be the Autumn term.
A presentation you could use to introduce Lesson Study may be found here:Running a workshop on lesson study
In this meeting, you could address issues including:
- The purpose of the lesson-study process
- Who is participating, in what ways and what commitment is expected
- When planning meetings will be scheduled and who will attend them
- How participants will keep in touch in between meetings (e.g., email, wiki)
- When the first research lesson will be and who will teach it
- Who will be the outside expert and what role they will play
It is sensible to set the date of the research lesson as early as possible, so that everyone knows that that is the date that they are working towards. This will need to fit in with school constraints and the availability of the outside expert.
Planning meetingsIt is sensible to schedule about 3 planning meetings, of perhaps 1-1.5 hours each. In between these, participants can email various draft versions of the lesson plan to each other for comments/modifications. Suggestions for what you might do at each meeting are given here: 1, 2 and 3.
Reflection meetingIt can be useful to schedule a reflection meeting after the first cycle and at the end of a year. This gives participants the opportunity to think through what has been learned so far and to consider the future aims of the group.(If there is time, there could also be one in the second term, but this is not essential, and not shown in the timeline below.)
TimelineA typical timeline is shown below. You can start a CLR group at any point during the year, so "Term 1" does not need to be the Autumn term.
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