Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

NATE ORTEGA

Working together is a way to improve things, not trying to do it by yourself in your own classroom.

ERENDIRA ALCÁNTARA

It was something that I was looking for, more collaboration with colleagues.

NATE ORTEGA

A lot of times, teachers, we have so much going on during the school day. We're always busy. Getting time to just have teachers meet together, it's something that's not so common practice, I think.

THOMAS MCDOUGAL

I heard about the Chicago Lesson Study Conference, which was organised by Dr. Takahashi at DePaul University. And I went to this conference. And we observed a lesson that had been carefully planned by a team of teachers.

And the lesson ended. And we sat down. We had a very in-depth discussion about that lesson. It was very respectful of the complexity of teaching. The fact that you could watch a 45-minute lesson and then have a one and a half hour discussion about it and maybe still even at that point not be done, I thought, this is what I want to do.

We help create a professional but critical discussion about the lesson, what worked in the lesson, what didn't work, what is our evidence, what did we see students do, what does that tell us about how they're thinking, and what does that tell us about how we need to move forward in future lessons.

JOSHUA LERNER

As these cycles continue, teachers start to build on their skills. It's really built my ability to react in the moment in the classroom to respond to what a student might do or say and to have a sense of where the discussion or where the lesson might lead.

NATE ORTEGA

Lesson study is the way of bettering your practice. I haven't seen any other professional development that has been as effective and impactful in my teaching life and on the learning of my students as lesson study.