What is lesson study?

1. What is lesson study? • Lesson study is a professional development process that Japanese teachers engage in to systematically examine their practice, with the goal of becoming more effective. • This examination centers on teachers working collaboratively on a small number of "study lessons".

2. What is lesson study? • Lesson study is a teaching improvement activity in which instructors jointly develop, teach, observe, analyze and revise lessons for their courses. Lesson study teams build knowledge about how students learn in their discipline, produce a lesson that can be used by others, and create manuscripts for possible publication, presentation, and inclusion in teaching portfolios.

3. What is a lesson study? • Lesson study merupakan kegiatan peningkatan kualitas pembelajaran dalam suasana kesejawatan (kolegalitas). Dalam lesson study, sejumlah guru bidang studi dan pakar pendidikan bersama-sama me­neliti aktivitas pembelajaran yang sedang berlangsung di suatu kelas. Kegiatan ini terdiri dari tiga tahap utama, yaitu perencanaan (planning), pelaksanaan (do/action) dan evaluasi (see/reflection).

4. Process of Lesson Study • Working on these study lessons involves planning, teaching, observing, and critiquing the lessons. To provide focus and direction to this work, the teachers select an overarching goal and related research question that they want to explore. This research question then serves to guide their work on all the study lessons.

5. Process of Lesson Study • While working on a study lesson, teachers jointly draw up a detailed plan for the lesson, which one of the teachers uses to teach the lesson in a real classroom (as other group members observe the lesson). • The group then comes together to discuss their observations of the lesson. Often, the group revises the lesson, and another teacher implements it in a second classroom, while group members again look on. The group will come together again to discuss the observed instruction. • Finally, the teachers produce a report of what their study lessons have taught them, particularly with respect to their research question.

6. lesson study goals • Teachers choose lesson study goals that focus on skills or dispositions that they want to foster in all students, across all grades, and in a particular content area (e.g., fostering autonomous thinking in students when they do mathematics). Teachers then generate research questions, which have to do with exploring how to develop these skills or dispositions in children. In addition, specific content goals are also articulated for each study lesson.

7. Implementation of lesson study • Lesson study is practiced in every content area from language arts, to math, and even gym. Lesson study provides a process for teachers to examine their practice in order to answer questions about how they can serve their students more effectively, and this can be done in all subject and grade levels.

8. Participants in Lesson Study • Lesson study is practiced as a school-based activity as well as in groups that come together across schools. Teachers from different schools learn about each other's lesson study activities through attending lesson study open houses or by procuring published lesson study materials. In a single school, lesson study often brings together teachers from all grade levels and different areas of interest. This diversity of participants is seen as providing a rich perspective to lesson study activities.

9. Length of a Given Study Lesson • The exact amount of time devoted per study lesson varies significantly from group to group. On average, a group will devote a 2-4 week period to working on a standard study lesson. Groups of 4 to 6 teachers will work on an average of 2-3 lessons a year. Often, each of these lessons will be taught twice in the process of being developed. In most schools, there will be at least a few subgroups that work on study lessons, which yields many opportunities for teachers to teach, observe, and discuss publicly taught lessons.

10. Nonteacher participants • Generally, the principal and vice principal remain well informed about a school's lesson study activities; they also often participate in lesson study. An "outside advisor" is often invited to come observe the study lessons and provide insights for a group's lesson study process.

11. 1. Tahap perencanaan. • Pada tahap ini dilakukan identifikasi masalah yang ada pada proses pembelajaran dan menentukan alternatif solusi pemecahannya. Fokus permasalahan berkaitan dengan karakteristik pokok bahasan, jadwal pelajaran, karakteristik siswa dan suasana kelas, metode/pendekatan pembelajaran, media, alat peraga, serta evaluasi proses dan hasil belajar. Solusi yang telah dipilih selanjutnya diaplikasikan ke dalam suatu perangkat pembelajaran yang terdiri dari:

12. Perangkat Pembelajaran • a. Skenario pembelajaran • b. Rencana pelajaran • c. Petunjuk mengajar guru • d. Lembar kerja siswa • e. Media atau alat peraga pembelajaran • f. Lembar penilaian proses dan hasil pembelajaran

13. 2. Tahap implementasi dan observasi • Pada tahap ini seorang guru mengimplementasikan rencana pembelajaran yang telah disusun guru itu sendiri dan atau oleh tim pengajar mata pelajaran sejenis. Ketika implementasi berlangsung, para guru lain, kepala sekolah, dan pakar pembelajaran meneliti proses pembelajaran melalui observasi. Selain diobservasi, aktivitas pembelajaran juga direkam melalui perekam video, gunanya agar guru pelaksana pembelajaran bersama-sama kepala sekolah dan guru lain dapat menilai proses pembelajaran yang telah berlangsung.

14. 3. Tahap refleksi • Pada tahap ini guru yang telah melakukan pembelajaran diberi kesempatan untuk menyatakan kesan-kesannya selama melaksanakan pembelajaran, baik terhadap dirinya maupun terhadap para siswa yang dihadapinya. Selanjutnya para observer (guru lain dan pakar) menyampaikan komentar, saran dan pertanyaan me­nyangkut semua aspek kegiatan pembelajaran yang telah berlangsung. Pada tahap ini kepala sekolah dan pakar pembelajaran memberikan penghargaan (reward) dan masukan-masukan kepada guru. Hal yang penting pada tahap ini adalah guru pelaksana pembelajaran mendapatkan masukan-masukan untuk perbaikan pembelajaran berikutnya. Sedangkan guru yang menjadi observer dapat mencobakan model pembelajaran yang telah dicontohkan oleh guru pelaksana pembelajaran.

15. Keberhasilan Lesson Study • Kegiatan lesson study ini akan berhasil meningkatkan kualitas pembelajaran apabila didukung oleh berbagai pihak terkait, terutama kepala sekolah dan organisasi profesi yaitu MGMP, baik di tingkat sekolah maupun di tingkat wilayah dan kota/kabupaten. Melalui lesson study dapat diciptakan budaya mutu dalam konteks pembelajaran melalui aktivitas kesejawatan.

16. Variation of lesson study • Lesson Study - New Mexico Style incorporates the principles of Japanese Lesson Study, a form of professional development that breaks a tradition of isolation in education to bring teachers together as a professional community to improve teacher practice.

17. New Mexico Style • It's based on... • Maintaining a constant focus on student learning goals where the goal of improving teaching is to improve student learning. • Reflecting on the practice of teaching as a community of professionals with the belief that long-term improvement of teaching depends on the development of effective teaching methods. • Encouraging teachers to keep track of changes in practice so that their learning can be shared with the broader teaching community. • Providing support within the context of school because improvements in teaching will be most successful if they are developed in classrooms where teachers teach and students learn. • Valuing teachers as the driving force behind school improvement because teachers are the only ones who can ensure that students' learning improves in the classroom.