Field Testing Curricula

Status and experiences of
Lesson Study in China
Jiansheng BAO
East China Normal University(China)
[email protected]
Characteristics of teacher
professional development in China
I. Different Stages:
New
teacher
Experience
teacher
Expert
teacher
II. Different Levels:
National Level:
Provincial Level:
City Level:
County Level:
School Level:
University-based teacher professional
development program
TRO(教研室) guided lesson study
TRG(教研组) organized lesson study
I. Different ways on different
professional stages
Expert
teacher
Experience Practice + Reflection
teacher
Research + Communication
New
teacher
Practice + Reflection
Observation + Communication
Teaching skill
Instructional principles
Work experiences
Real problems
Multi-perspectives
Teaching Wisdom
Theoretic thinking
Professional development
activities for new teacher
1. School based 1-1 mentoring (lesson plan,
classroom observation);
2. Attend professional development activities
organized by TRO or school (textbook
analysis, classroom management, teaching
skills, etc);
3. Teaching competition.
Professional development
activities for experience teacher
1. National or provincial level back-bone teacher (骨
干教师)training program (in China mainland,
Educational Ministry spend half billion RMB each
year for national back-bone teacher training);
2. Attend professional development activities
organized by TRO or school (textbook analysis,
teaching reform, etc);
3. Teacher rank promotion (Second, First, Senior,
Professor);
4. Take charge of Lesson Plan Group(LPG, 备课组)
Task of Lesson Plan Group
Lesson planning Groups usually spend 40 minutes
in each week to
– arrange lesson plan of following week,
– determine and evaluate important points,
difficult points and key points of teaching
contents,
– explore solutions of mathematics problems and
exercises
– recommend specific ways of teaching
– Discuss best examples
Talk about lesson plan (说课) is very popular activity
in China Mainland
Becoming a Professor-rank
Teacher
Since 2006, about 100 mathematics teachers
awarded as professor-rank teachers in Jiangsu
Province.
Standards for professor-rank senior
teacher (Jiangsu Province)






Demonstrate a deep theoretical and content knowledge
about their teaching area;
Demonstrate strong teaching abilities, rich experience
and high efficiency in their teaching;
Demonstrate abilities to reform teaching methods
creatively and leadership in the local teaching and
research activities;
Know the newly development in the teaching area around
the world and show high creative teaching ideas and
research abilities;
Demonstrate abilities to use modern information
technologies in their classrooms;
Demonstrate high level professional moral and
responsibilities.
II. Lesson Study at different
levels
Survey: What kind of professional
activities are most welcomed by teachers
36.7
40
A. Pure theoretical guidance with no
real classroom problems
35.7
35
B. Reading and communicating
theoretical materials with colleagues
21.6
C. Lesson study with curriculum experts
and experience teachers
30
25
20
15
10
3.2
2.8
A
B
5
0
C
D
E
D. Lesson plan with the guidance by
experience teachers
E. Discussion on real classroom problem
with colleagues
Gu, L. & Yang, Y. (2003). School-based active training on teacher
professional development. Educational Development Research. Vol. 6
Survey: What kind of lesson study is most
helpful to teachers’ professional development
Classroom observation between
colleagues with no guidance
0.7
5.9
24.6
11.1
Classroom observed and assessed
by experts and master teachers
Attending “open lesson” given by excellent
teacher and assessed by experts.
Working with experts and master teachers
to plan, observe, discuss and improve lesson
design and teaching skills
Case study based on teachers’ own
teaching practice.
57.7
Gu, L. & Yang, Y. (2003). School-based active training on teacher
professional development. Educational Development Research. Vol. 6
The above survey shows:
Lesson study with the guidance of experts
and master teachers is most helpful and
effective to teachers’ professional
development.
Here experts include university professors,
Teaching-researchers(TR), authors of
textbooks. Among them, TR play a very
important role in teachers professional
development.
Most popular way of Lesson study in
Mainland China: Teaching-research
Activity (教研活动)
System of TRO in China Mainland
Province-level TRO
City-level TRO
County-level TRO
Theoretic model: Three stages, two reflection
Existing action:
Focusing on
previous personal
experiences
New design:
Focusing on the
new design of
the lesson
Updating ideas
Reflection 1:Finding the gap
between existing ideas and
innovative ones
New action:
Focusing on the
new classroom
Improving action
Reflection 2:Finding the
gap between innovative
design and implementation
(Gu & Wang, 2004)
Main activities of TRO
– Organizing, observing and evaluating open
lessons
– Selecting and spreading good teaching
strategies and experiences,
– Organizing the assessment of teacher rank
promotion;
– Constructing mathematics problems and test
sheets, and
– planning monthly teaching schedule
– ……
All Teaching Researchers (TR) were experience teachers.
What topics do TRs and teachers often
talk about during lesson study
___based on observation of lesson study
1. mathematics content knowledge: prior knowledge,
concept system, mathematics theory, etc;
2. Curriculum standards: Changes, new perspectives and
ideas, samples, etc;
3. Textbooks: Arrange of math topics and tasks, differences
between different version or series textbooks;
4. Students’ preparation: What prior knowledge should be
reviewed before the lesson? What is and how to deal with
the difficult point in this lesson?
5. Mathematical methods and thinking: Are there any
important math methods or thinking in this lesson? What
tasks are suitable for students to learn these methods
and thinking?
What topics do TRs and teachers often
talk about during lesson study
6. Teaching and learning theories related to this
lesson;
7. Good math problems or tasks maybe used in this
lesson;
8. Different design of this lesson;
9. Assessment on teaching and learning before,
during and after the lesson;
10.Resources: papers, books, internets, math
history, etc.
A theoretic framework of interaction between
TR and teachers during lesson study
(Gu,2012)
General guidance
Teaching Strategies
Foresee problems may
appear in this lesson
Students learning reality
Task design
Improve of teaching
behavior
Formative assessment
Solve problems posed
by teachers
Discuss new design or
problem with teachers
equally
Levels of interaction
Content of interaction
Mathematics content
Another way of Lesson Study:
Video-based lesson study
Teacher education should focus classroom
Traditional ways for lesson study
Classroom
observation
Videotape
analysis
(Text) Case
study
Video-based lesson study
Lesson
Clips
Video case study
Cases
studies
Video
play
Related
database
Case
question
Thank You!