Lesson Study In Grade 6

Brian opened up his Grade 6 classroom to several teachers in our family for a lesson study.  The group of teachers each had a clip board and were assigned a group to "watch."  The lesson was done in three part lesson format.  Here is a copy of what the lesson looked like:

For the "action" part of the lesson each group was given a box as their example.  Each person in the group was also given a job card to use which gave them a specific task to complete as part of the whole problem.  Here are some examples of different students working on their part of the problem:

As the groups worked, the teachers made notes and observations about the group they were watching.  They also got to walk around the room and look at other groups work as well.  They all agreed that the hardest part was not talking to the students, but merely observing them and taking note of their thinking.

For the "consolidation" of the lesson each group presented their findings and then justified how they knew they were correct.  The teacher who had observed that group then offered oral descriptive feedback as to how they could improve for next time.  Another teacher would the scribe this feedback down onto the students work.  It was a great opportunity for the students to not only recieve feedback orally, but also was a great chance for a teacher to practise giving feedback.

The student's work was then hung up in the staff room to encourage discussion amongst staff, and to showcase the great work that the students did.

A great morning was had by all!  Thank you Brian for opening up your classroom!