Embracing Change

Persidangan Kebangsaan Guru Cemerlang 2009
Embracing Change in Classroom Practice through Lesson Study

Tan Khan Aun SM Sains Tun Syed Sheh Shahabudin khanaun@gmail.com Lim Chap Sam Universiti Sains Malaysia cslim@usm.my
1.0 Introduction Lesson Study is a common practice in Japanese primary schools. It is a well-structured procedure in the teachers-led development which has brought forth much success to the Japanese education system. It has recently sparked much interest in American schools. In view of its positive outcomes in education, it would be a good idea to bring Lesson Study into practice in Malaysia. Lesson Study demands teachers to work together to achieve the lesson goals. The process involves a sequence of steps starting from (1) setting the Lesson Study goal, (2) planning the lesson as a group effort, (3) teaching the research lesson and the observing the process (by group members), (4) evaluating the research lesson and reflecting on its effects, (5) revising the research lesson, (6) reteaching the revised lesson, (7) re-evaluating and reflecting the process of teaching and learning, and (8) discussing and sharing the results. Lesson Study has proven to be effective in developing good teaching practices. Stigler and Hiebert (1999) asserted that the teacher is the driving force behind the change in the teaching practice and the one to generate possible solutions to the problems faced by students.
2.0 In search of best practices in teaching The first author has been a secondary school teacher for some 28 years. It is his hope that teachers should work together seriously in groups to perform a task just like what the specialist doctors do while performing a major surgery. In the year 2005, the first author was assigned a task to be video-recorded while teaching a mathematics lesson. He had to demonstrate best practices in his teaching. It made him worried for many days over questions like How do I go about preparing a good lesson plan?; What are the best teaching techniques that I should employ?; What is the content that I should teach my pupils?; What are the best strategies and what sort of classroom management do I adopt?; What are the education theories underlying my teaching methods?; Do I need to consult knowledgeable others from the higher institutions to make sure that I make my lesson a real good one?
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3.0 Many heads are better than one The first author had gone through the hardship of thinking of the lesson content and the lesson plan. It was unproductive and stressful doing lesson planning all alone. Finally, he decided that he should have more people to help. Thus, a team comprising 10 excellent teachers of diverse backgrounds was formed to help him do the lesson planning. He had to teach and re-teach the lesson 4 times with his friends observing him teaching closely. Each time of teaching brought forth much understanding and improvement in teaching and learning as compared to the earlier lesson. All of them enjoyed the process of planning, teaching, observing, reflecting, re-teaching and discussing. The teaching session was video-recorded successfully with the joint effort of 10 excellent teachers. The video-recorded teaching session was aired over Malaysian Education TV Programme many times in the year 2006 and thereafter. It can be viewed on the Internet at www.eduwebtv.com. During that time, the team of teachers was not aware that Japanese teachers had practised such a process for the past 40 years and it is named Lesson Study. However, the hardships that they had gone through brought forth much impact to their teaching effectiveness.
4.0 Knowledgeable others were of great help In the year 2006, while the first author went to the Universiti Sains Malaysia searching for new ideas about best practices in teaching, he met the second author, Associate Professor Dr. Lim Chap Sam. He was excited when she shared with him about Lesson Study. He readily adopted the idea because he used to practise peer supervision in his former school. He was keen to be observed because he considered that as the best way to improve his own teaching competency. Moreover, the experience of collaboration with his team members during video recording for the National Educational TV was still fresh in his mind. Lesson Study is more developed than peer supervision and it involves more teachers in discussions. The concept of Lesson Study was very close to his heart. Dr. Lim had in the past few years been doing some researches on Lesson Study. She also supervised a few post graduate students in the area of Lesson Study. She was instrumental in bringing about Lesson Study to a boarding school in Penang. She set up a Lesson Study committee comprising teachers from various schools, lecturers from the teachers training institute and universities. Knowledge about Lesson Study was disseminated through group discussions. She also took the trouble to travel to visit Lesson Study groups in various schools regularly. Her team of knowledgeable others (also known as advisors, external examiner or reactor in Japan) from the universities and
teachers training institute came to schools to attend the Lesson Study meetings. They also did video recordings during the teaching sessions as well as the interview sessions with teachers and pupils. The teachers welcomed their presence and regarded them as advisors as well as motivators.
5.0 Setting up Lesson Study in a boarding school The first author taught in a boarding school with good facilities. It had about 700 students and 70 teachers. His Mathematics Department has 10 teachers under the supervision of a Head of Mathematics Department. It was a common practice for the school to finish the syllabus in seven months in order that the pupils have more time to do their revision prior to their final examination. Throughout the year, the whole school seemed to be caught up in a finish-the-syllabus syndrome. The examination score was always the most important goal of their educational pursuit. Thus the allocated time for every subject was fully utilized in teaching to cover the syllabus. That was to ensure that the best results would be generated. Teachers were busy working individually as far as classroom teaching was concerned. Sharing of lesson plans was out of their minds let alone allowing their classrooms for observation.
A teacher would usually use the same approach of teaching for years since nobody had the chance to correct each other in teaching. Occasionally the principal might drop by, but not much intellectual discourse ensued pertaining to the lesson. Once in a blue moon, the inspector of school might come. This would be a good time where the lucky teacher had the chance to reflect on his own teaching method through the watchful eyes of the inspector of schools. Being observed by others in classroom teaching was viewed as something unpleasant by the teacher. It rarely happened to have teachers inviting their peers to observe their teaching too. The authors were concerned about it because they felt that classroom observations should be done from time to time as warranted by the Ministry of Education. Japanese teachers have about 10 occasions per year to observe research lessons and one or two chances to teach in front of other teachers as part of Lesson Study (Yoshida, 2005). Lesson Study fitted well to overcome the general shortcomings of the schools. All the teachers needed to embrace change in order to see improvement in their schools. Thus setting up of Lesson Study groups in that school was deemed necessary. With the support of the principal and help from a few knowledgeable others, including Dr. Lim Chap Sam, their Lesson Study project was set up successfully.
6.0 Initial stage of implementation The first author was transferred from a rural school to a boarding school as an excellent teacher in the year 2005. He had a mission to help the school improve in the teaching of Mathematics. Being new to the environment and alone, he had the tendency to succumb to the ethos of the school. His appointment as the Head of the Mathematics Department and the coordinator of the school professional development unit gave him the edge to influence his subordinates. He invited Dr. Lim Chap Sam to his school for a professional development seminar. The input served as an eye-opener for the whole school pertaining to Lesson Study. Dr. Lim was a former school teacher and teacher trainer before becoming a lecturer. Her vast experience convinced his colleagues that Lesson Study was a good practice to bring about changes in their classroom practices. Her presentation brought new light to his colleagues and better understanding about Lesson Study. Thus, the teachers were more open to the idea of setting up Lesson Study groups in their school.
7.0 Embarking on a long journey of teacher-led learning They started their project by seeking approval from their school principal by preparing a formal proposal. His principal was very supportive and wanted it to be carried out by all means. However, it was not easy to convince the teachers to form Lesson Study groups. The administrative problem was the main issue. Finding time to meet was difficult due to the tight schedule of the teachers daily workload. Most of them were busy and they were more comfortable with their routine way of doing work. Some of them were not interested in the idea at all. Yet others were unwilling to participate. It was threatening to mention about additional long term projects which would add to the workload of the teachers. However, he had the advantage of being the head of the Mathematics Department, and he instructed all his Mathematics teachers to participate.
They started the project according to schedule with the help of the knowledgeable others. Six upper secondary Mathematics teachers formed one Lesson Study group whereas the other six lower secondary Mathematics teachers set up another Lesson Study group. Among them, two were trainee teachers. They had meetings about once a month. Usually, some of the group members would not turn up for the discussions due to some reasons, for example, attending meetings in the department or having classes at that time. Fortunately, the frequent presence of the external advisors including Dr. Lim Chap Sam, Mr. Chiew Chin Mon and later Dr. Chew Cheng Meng, encouraged the group to
move on. They set good examples to the teachers. They came all the way from the university and teachers training institute to disseminate knowledge to the teachers and made the discussions meaningful. Their collaborative and supportive relationship with the participating teachers made Lesson Study less stressful. They provided technical assistance in terms of the structures of the Lesson Study, facilitating discussions as well as video recordings of the whole Lesson Study project.
8.0 Setting Goal for Lesson Study In view of the usual inactive participation of the pupils in the class, they set their goal of the first research lesson as producing creative pupils who participate actively in the learning process through best practices in Mathematics teaching. The teaching styles of most of his colleagues were almost the same. The teachers taught and the students learned from what the teachers had taught. In order to break away from the mundane classroom practice, their group proposed to have more dynamic classroom activities. It should be more student-centred. Thus they chose cooperative learning - the structural approach as proposed by Spencer Kagan to teach the lesson. They also discussed the topic which was to be taught. Finally they picked the topic set as their research topic. Most of them agreed that some of the students were not good in that topic. Getting a teacher to teach the lesson was not easy. Most of the teachers turned down the offer because they were too shy to be observed. In order not to exert undue stress on his colleagues, he volunteered himself to teach the first research lesson.
9.0 Lesson planning was a thought-provoking process The first author was always fascinated by Spencer Kagans (1997) structural approach of cooperative learning. Other than applying it in his own classroom, he used to conduct workshops on cooperative learning for teachers. Thus, he recommended teaching the topic, set by employing a few simple structures in the lesson. To write the lesson plan in great detail was a real torture! He had to consider so many things as he visualized the whole process of video-taping the lesson. He thought seriously about the different phases of learning as well as various modes of teaching materials. What types of questions should he ask to elicit higher order thinking? How would he activate their prior knowledge? How would he make a powerful summary of the lesson? After having completed his first draft, he circulated the lesson plan to all his teammates for discussion prior to their next meeting. All of them accepted the lesson plan happily. Probably some of them were too busy to go through the lesson plan carefully. After that, he spent long
hours to improve the lesson plan as well as prepare the teaching aids based on the discussion. He cleaned up the Mathematics laboratory and prepared the room for teaching.
On the day of open class teaching observation, four senior teachers and two trainee teachers were there to observe his teaching. He was rather excited teaching a class of 16 pupils. Altogether 6 colleagues and 2 knowledgeable others (Dr. Lim Chap Sam and Mr. Chiew Chin Mon) were observing behind the class. The whole process of teaching was video recorded for reviewing and discussion later. The lesson was taught without any rehearsal. He had to ask questions slowly so that he would not make mistakes. It was rather stressful because he had to think deeply in order to do his best in his class.
10.0 Sharing more new experiences After the lesson was over, they had a discussion session. To his surprise, some of the observers found that cooperative learning was really interesting and outstanding. Even though many teachers had read about cooperative learning in books and journals, only a few of them practised it in their classrooms. The post-teaching discussion was very fruitful. Many of them came out with different opinions, and thus enriched the learning process. One trainee teacher was interested in the cooperative learning structures like mix-and-match, fan-and-pick and think-pair-square. Its catchy names and simple procedures made teaching lively. One of the knowledgeable others raised questions about the content knowledge of set. After some arguments, they finally reached a consensus by referring to a text book to seek clarification.
A senior teacher felt that too many activities going on in one period might be stressful. Most of the constructive and thoughtful ideas to improve the lesson were noted and recorded. As for the first author, it was a great honour to have many people observing his teaching. Their comments served as guidelines for improving the teaching and learning process. The observers were very patient throughout the discussions. They exchanged ideas and had a better relationship after the discussion. Obviously, some of the teachers were more ready to move on to the second phase of Lesson Study. The group had built up good rapport among themselves and so it would be easier to get another teacher to teach in the next lesson. The first phase of Lesson Study cycle ended successfully in the year 2006.
11.0 Joining the bits and pieces for better understanding The Lesson Study group took a break for the year 2007 because Dr Lim was busy with the organization of the Fourth East-Asia Regional Conference On Mathematics Education (EARCOME4) and the first author was also invited to sit in the National Committee as well as present a paper and conduct a workshop in that conference. With the guidance of Dr. Lim, another lesson study practitioner of a primary school, Goh Siew Ching and the first author decided to put their ideas together to present a paper. The process of writing a paper enhanced their knowledge and gave them a better understanding of lesson study. The paper entitled Engaging in Lesson Study group: our experience was presented in a parallel session during the Fourth East Asia Regional Conference on Mathematics Education (EARCOME4) held on 18-22 June 2007 in Penang Island.
The enthusiasm of continuing with their Lesson Study project did not stop there. In the year 2008, they started their Lesson Study project again. They endeavoured to have 2 Lesson Study cycles in that year. Dr Lim managed to secure a research grant to support the project. The journey of lesson study took its second course.
12.0 Second phase of Lesson Study in the year 2008 During the first cycle of the second phase of their Lesson Study, their major focus was on the innovative use of Geometers Sketchpad (GSP) through Lesson Study collaboration. A research goal was outlined as In Search of Best Practices in Teaching Plans and Elevations using different approaches. On April 18, 2008, his colleague, Mr. Mohd Affendi volunteered to teach the lesson by using the Learning By Doing approach. He instructed students to build 3-dimensional models using manila cards with grid. The lesson was well received by the pupils. The first author demonstrated the drawings to the class using the Geometers Sketchpad. The students were then given problems to solve based on what they learned from the teacher. The lesson went on smoothly. Some of the observers felt that the learning process was too teacher-centred. Some suggested that a more student-centred approach should be employed in line with the Lesson Study goal. He was skeptical and reluctant to accept the idea of pupils using the GSP to explore on their own. Since they were bounded by the ground rules of Lesson Study: open to others opinion, he had to accept the suggestion of the majority.
13.0 Re-teaching the revised lesson The first author engrossed in deep thinking after going through the first Lesson Study cycle. It was true that his previous teaching was teacher-centred since the students had no chance to use the computers to solve their problems. His argument was that the pupils might not know how to use GSP to construct 3-D objects. One of his friends, Mr. Lim Yu Teong helped him to prepare a 3-D template which was custom made for learning Plans and Elevations. That GSP sketch helped him tremendously thereafter in his preparation of more GSP sketches for teaching and learning.
During the second cycle of Lesson Study, teaching was conducted in a Problem-based Learning (PBL) setting where students were given problems and they had to take the initiative to explore the solutions using the GSP. To their astonishment, there was a drastic change in the classroom atmosphere where students were very excited about using GSP on their own. The students engaged in learning by constructing their own objects and drawing the plans and elevations using GSP through discussions with their peers. One of their administrators came to observe the lesson. He was amazed with the prowess of the pupils in using GSP. An interview session with the pupils was arranged after the lesson to seek their opinions about the learning process.
Coordinates in 3D
Plan Elev ation X Elev ation Y Reset All
3 cm
3 cm
y
6 cm 3 cm 3 cm
Y
6 cm 6 cm
Figure 1: GSP sketch of a 3-D object
Coordinates in 3D
Plan Elev ation X Elev ation Y Reset All
dash interv al2
5 cm
5 cm E
Y
4 cm B 6 cm A 8 cm
Figure 2: GSP sketch of another 3-D object
14.0 Response from the pupils were overwhelming Most of the pupils found learning geometry using GSP interesting. They would like to recommend learning geometry using GSP to their friends. A student responded GSP is really helpful and it can help students to get the picture of what to learn besides increasing their mathematical imagination. A student from Kubang Pasu who joined the school for a short student exchange program in this school said, I will definitely recommend GSP to my friends in my school. Another student said. Using GSP in learning plans and elevations makes learning interesting. I can understand the topic easier.
15.0 How did the students fare in their tests? Pre-post test results revealed a great improvement in their understanding of plans and elevations as indicated in their test scores. The students reported that they found learning more interesting and more meaningful. It was rather obvious that as the students engaged more senses in their learning by using GSP, it gave more impact to their brains. They constructed 3-D solids, discussed with their friends, thought about the solutions and moved around with enthusiasm. Teachers served as facilitators who provided assistance occasionally. Prior to the lesson on Plans and Elevations, the pupils were given a test. They were expected to draw to full scale the plans and elevations of 4 different solid objects. Each problem was given 12 marks. Thus 48 was the full mark. After the 50-minute lesson using GSP, the same problems were given to the pupils as posttest.
Table 1 below shows the results of the paired-samples t-test. The mean score in the pretest was 13.63 with a standard deviation of 6.95, and the mean score in the posttest
was 28.42 with a standard deviation of 9.14. The difference between means was statistically significant [t (23) = 10.28, p < .05] with a gain of 14.79 points, indicating that learning Plans and Elevations using GSP enhanced the students achievement in their concepts of plans and elevations.
Table 1: Results of the Paired-Samples T-Test Pretest Mean Test Score (Perfect Score=48) 13.63 6.95 28.42 9.14 10.28 23 .00* Standard Deviation Posttest Mean Standard Deviation t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Note: * significant at p < 0.05, N = 24
The high and positive gain score indicated that the pupils have gained much through the lesson. Thus more detailed research should be warranted to see if GSP can have the same impact as on other topics.
16.0 What did the teachers say? A teacher who had taught for 30 years was excited with the lesson. She felt that the lesson was well-planned and every student was actively engaged in the activities. The teacher in the class always praised the pupils to boost their confidence. Above all, the pupils were able to check answers immediately. Another teacher felt that students preferred using computers in solving problems. Thus they found GSP useful and interesting. However, one teacher proposed that GSP should be used for good students but not the low achievers. He suggested that building models to learn about plans and elevation could help the low-achievers better. It was most encouraging that the new principal of the school was rather impressed with the Lesson Study project in the school. He even informed the first author of his intention to participate in his Lesson Study research.
17.0 Forging Ahead On 18th March 2009, the first author conducted a 2-hour Lesson Study workshop for 88 excellent teachers from 54 boarding schools at national level. On 25th March 2009, he conducted another 2-hour workshop and shared his experience in Lesson Study for 40
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inspectors of schools at national level. The response from the participants was very encouraging. He received much support and further encouragement from them.
18.0 Conclusion Even though the implementation of Lesson Study was a great challenge in this boarding school, the process of overcoming various hindrances such as peer pressure, time constraint, teachers cooperation and administrative problems can be viewed as lessons to be learned by those who intend to set up Lesson Study in their schools. The knowledge gained in various domains of teaching through Lesson Study is worth the effort. The collaboration has brought much self improvement to many of their participants. It is the desire of the authors to continually practise and promote Lesson Study to as many schools and education agencies as possible. They hope that Lesson Study would sooner or later become part of the culture in Malaysian schools.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Goh Siew Ching, Tan Khan Aun & Lim Chap Sam (2007). Engaging in Lesson Study group: our experience, Paper presented at the 4th East Asia Regional Conference on Mathematics Education, EARCOME4. (18-22 June 2007) Penang. Kagan, S. (1997). Cooperative Learning. C.A. Kagan Publishing. Kagan, L., Kagan, M., & Kagan, S. (1997). Cooperative Learning Structures for Teambuilding. C.A. Kagan Publishing. Lewis, C. (2002). Lesson Study: A handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change. Philadelphia: Research for Better Schools, Inc. Wang-Iverson, P. & Yoshida, M. (Ed) (2005). Building our Understanding of Lesson Study. Philadelphia: Research For Better Schools, Inc. Yoshida, M. (1999). Lesson Study (Jugyokenkyu) in elementary school mathematics in Japan: A case study. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association (1999 Annual Meeting), Montreal, Canada.
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Persidangan Kebangsaan Guru Cemerlang 2009