Kenichi Kikuchi and Shin Nagai
Teachers from the Greenwich Japanese School (GJS) offer insight into lesson study as part of a wider, whole-school research model that they use as part of a yearly cycle. This process begins with a whole-school research theme and culminates with a research summary book. Examples from the 2002 GJS school year provide a detailed account of how lesson study is part of the subject-area research and professional development that grows out of the research theme. Schools may find it helpful to use the one-page template for the GJS calendar year as a model in planning out the entire year’s schedule in advance.
Lesson study is gaining a foothold in the United States, starting with small groups of teachers in schools scattered across the country. It is being touted as a tool for professional development that is directed by teachers. Feedback from teachers and administrators indicates that lesson study helps to shift teachers’ focus from what is being taught to how students learn. Teachers are learning to be researchers right in their own school buildings. They are moving from reviewing student work simply to provide a grade to developing an understanding of what students are or are not learning in class through careful observation of lessons.
As teachers in the U.S. come to realize the benefits of lesson study, we must ask, what is the larger vision for lesson study? What does lesson study look like at the whole school level? How can it contribute to improved student achievement?
At this lesson study conference, the staff at Greenwich Japanese School (GJS) offered some of their experiences in response to these questions. GJS approaches lesson study as a whole school and uses lesson study as the major component in its larger effort: whole-school research. Its whole-school research model can serve as a framework for U.S. schools that wish to use research-driven reform.
The whole-school research model at GJS works on a yearly cycle, starting, most importantly, with establishing a whole-school research theme and culminating in compiling a research summary book. The chief components of each year’s research are:
Please note that the months in this paper have been adapted to a U.S. school year so that U.S. readers can better understand the schedule of activities. At GJS, the school year and the research cycle runs from April to March.
In September, a research committee (or “lesson study promotion committee”) organizes a whole-staff meeting to define a research theme and establish a schedule for the year. Research themes generally center on broad-based qualitative goals for students. Teachers discuss the qualities of an ideal student, listing them in one column, and then discuss the actual qualities of the school’s students. What needs to be done to move the students toward the ideal? That is the heart of the research theme.
The GJS’s research theme for 2002 was threefold:
After writing the whole-school research theme, staff break into subgroups and refine the theme for expectations of the lower, middle, and upper grades.
Once in place, the research theme guides the four components of the whole-school research: subject area research and professional development through lesson study, visits to other schools, research lecture, and research summary book. At the first staff meeting, these components are scheduled into the school year so that the entire school year’s research activities are planned out from the beginning; the schedule is adhered to strictly.
To make the whole-school research model manageable and effective, the staff breaks into subject area groups. Between September and April,* the work of each subject area group entails:
In the above list, lesson study is the main vehicle that drives the research and professional development toward the theme. How does it do this? One of the hallmarks of lesson study is “teachers as researchers.” The observation and debriefing components of lesson study encourage teachers to step out of their roles of teaching and into the roles of researchers. As researchers, they observe students working, collect data on student learning, and share observations and conclusions with a larger group.
Likewise, lesson study drives the school’s professional development by providing a forum for looking at student responses to lessons, examining where teaching and learning do or do not meet the subject theme, deepening content understanding, and learning from collaboration with peers and knowledgeable others.
Conducting lesson study around the research theme provides the data, analysis, and conclusions that inform the final research summary book each year. Conclusions drawn from lesson study are often the stepping stones for instructional improvements in subsequent years.
As an example of one group’s experience, the GJS mathematics group selected the theme “to promote the capability to think logically and mathematically.” They reasoned that to communicate effectively (bullet two of the research theme), students need to be able to think logically. Based on this theme, a team wrote a lesson for lesson study, conducted the lesson for the entire group, and held a debriefing in which they shared individually collected data on student learning, which were compiled as part of the summary report.
One common component of research programs in Japanese schools is visiting other schools to observe teaching and learning. Most teachers visit other schools about once or twice a year. “Learning about how other schools educate their students provides one way for teachers to learn about new ideas and to reflect on their own educational practices,” said Makoto Yoshida, who has helped to coordinate collaboration between GJS and Paterson Public School No. 2. “Japanese teachers love to observe classes. They believe that you can’t learn ideas for new teaching practices if you don’t have a chance to see them in action,” he continued.
In the 2002 school year, GJS visited Central Middle School in Greenwich and observed students’ exit presentations. Visiting other schools to learn about a particular issue of importance to GJS further underscores the importance of concrete experiences. Both lesson study and school visitations help teachers develop research skills. Observing a lesson or viewing another school’s students is a more concrete experience than, for instance, teachers talking about what they do in the classroom or sitting around a table talking about an issue.
In addition to research through lesson study, Japanese schools invite a guest lecturer as part of the whole-school research project. The aim is to bring in outside perspectives and to broaden teachers’ thinking on the research theme.
In 2002, Central Middle School vice-principal Dr. Jo Frame was the guest speaker at an all-staff meeting at GJS. Dr. Frame spoke about how Central Middle School is organized and run, discussed the school’s programs and events, and described student life and teacher life at Central Middle School. The purpose of the lecture was for the GJS teachers to learn about research skills, delivery skills, and assessment. Learning about different systems can help staff learn new ideas and reflect on their own practice. Through a program exchange with Central Middle School, the teachers and students at both schools learned something about the other school’s program, and also reflected on the successes and challenges at their own schools.
GJS began a cross-cultural component to their whole-school research plan in 1999. Since 1999, mathematics teachers at GJS have been collaborating with Paterson Public School No. 2 to focus on student-centered instruction in mathematics. The partnership began with a videotape of GJS teachers teaching a mathematics lesson. Together, the two schools discussed the lesson and how Japanese teaching tends to focus on student learning, which is a central goal of lesson study.
Throughout 2000–2002, GJS worked with a volunteer group of School 2 teachers to begin joint planning of research lessons. The two groups created lesson plans for research lessons together and taught them in their respective schools, observing the impact the lessons had on student learning.
By November 2002, GJS and School 2 were working in full partnership to host a lesson study conference together (the event described in these Proceedings). In January 2003, School 2 held its own open house where its teachers conducted public lessons. Collaborating with School 2 teachers in this way has been an important component of GJS’s research project. It has helped GJS strengthen its attention to student learning and refine its own lesson study process.
“Many GJS teachers said they learned a lot about American education, teachers, and students through the joint lesson study. Learning about students at School 2 and thinking about their state of understanding and strategies to support their learning helps GJS staff grow as professionals,” said Yoshida.
In April and May, the whole staff reconvenes for subject-area groups to report on their year’s findings. A written report from each group is included in the research summary book. In addition, the lesson plans, notes from the school visitation, and notes from the guest lecture can also be included in the book. In Japan, research summary books are provided to school’s important guests as well as to certain education-related government offices to showcase what the school has achieved.
Research summary books also help teachers keep records of activities. Writing and recording what was done throughout the year allow teachers to reflect on what they actually accomplished. In future years, past research summary books can be used for planning and research. GJS teachers admit that while it takes a lot of time to produce such reports, the process of making the book adds value to their professional development.
In June, the whole staff meets a final time to review the overall research theme, discuss how the research summary book addresses the theme, and prepare tasks for the next year’s research cycle. Teachers begin by looking at the research theme and determining if their research achieved the goal they set at the beginning of the year. If not, they identify what they did not achieve and think about ways to improve in the following year. From there, they can modify the research theme or set smaller goals with specific targets for improvement.
Whole-school research, with lesson study as its main research and professional development component, is an ongoing process at GJS that builds upon itself each year. In addition to the ongoing research within the school building, GJS has also benefited from cross-cultural research. By taking advantage of its location in the U.S., GJS has been able to broaden its perspective and share information across cultures by developing collaborative relationships with School 2 and Central Middle School.
This paper was originally published online in August 2003.
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