S17: Blog 5: Lessons from Lesson Study

This past week I participated in a lesson study with two other residents, Sara and Heather, who also teach 5th grade at my school. Our lesson study was focused on the lesson we all would be teaching for our mathematics coaching cycle. This lesson was based off the standard MAFS.5.NF.2.6. which states that students will “solve real world problems involving multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers…”

During our pre-conference with our mathematics coach, we focused on the fraction part of the standard, choosing to plan a lesson that focused on having students multiply fractions using models. Sara, Heather, and I, with the help and support of our CTs, planned a lesson where students would be using concrete and visual models to solve word problems where fractions needed to be multiplied. The concrete model would have students folding and coloring paper to represent the problem. The visual model would look the same, but be drawn using our whiteboard desks and markers.

Our plan included beginning with a word problem that we would present to the whole class. We would discuss what the problem is asking us to do, and then work through the problem together, using the paper folding as a concrete model. After this first problem, we planned to break students into groups based on their levels, to work on differentiated word problems that would allow them more time to explore and practice the concept of multiplying fractions. This is something that was made possible by the fact that there would be so many teachers in the room for the lesson. Two of us, our coach, and my CT would all be present at my lesson, allowing students to be broken up into 4 different groups, ensuring that they would get more individual support and more opportunities to ask questions, and be asked questions, to support their learning. These groups were made prior to the lesson, based on how we knew students were doing with this unit’s material, ensuring that students of the same ability level would be working together during this lesson.

The purpose of lesson study is that the same lesson is taught several times in several different classrooms. This lesson would be taught 3 times: by me, by Sara, and by Heather. As my math block falls first thing in the morning, I taught first. I was more than a little anxious, as I often am when doing something outside of “the norm” but I was also excited to see how the lesson would go!

When reflecting on my lesson, which I did through discussion with Sara and Heather and through watching a video of the lesson, I noticed that I talked A LOT during the whole-group instruction. I wish that I had given students more opportunities to talk and share their thinking about the problem, rather than feeling like I had to guide them exactly where I wanted them to go. While this is something I would change, there are other pieces of the lesson I liked. I think that having the students participate in creating a model by having them fold and color paper, allowed them to better visualize what the problem was asking them to find, because it was sitting right in front of them. I also liked how, when we broke into small groups, each group could work at the pace of the students in the group, helping to maximize student learning and understanding.

Sara’s lesson was up next, later that same day. Because we noticed how much leading I had done during my lesson, this was something Sara was able to adjust for her lesson.

Heather’s lesson took place the following day. After Sara’s lesson, we again took the time to reflect together and all found ourselves wishing for a way to show students how to model one of the fractions in the problem, model the other fraction in the problem, and then put those two models together; rather than immediately modeling the two fractions together. We were able to come up with a solution to this issue, which Heather used in her lesson. She had her students model one of the fractions by folding and shading paper. She then had them model the second fraction on a sheet protector, using a whiteboard marker. The students were then able to place their first model (the paper) inside the sheet protector and see how the two models fit together!

Getting to work closely with Sara, Heather, and their students was definitely the highlight of my week! I feel that I learn so much from getting to watch my friends and classmates teach. I see things that I admire in them that I want to bring back to my classroom, like Sara’s confidence and Heather’s management skills. I also am now more firmly convinced than ever of the benefits of lesson study. None of our lessons were perfect, however, we worked together to adjust our original lesson based on what we were seeing as it was taught and the needs of our individual students. By working together, we were all able to collect data about our students and where they were in their understanding of the concept of multiplying fractions. This allowed us to see where we needed to go with our instruction for the rest of the week, as we work towards a unit test at the end of this coming week. When I looked at data from my lesson, I noticed that most students were able to successfully draw the models, but had a hard time knowing then how to find the answer. This was something I was able to address the next day, before moving on to more abstract problem-solving.

I hope that there will be more opportunities for the three of us to participate in lesson study as we continue working together and learning from each other this year!

FEAPS: 1a: Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor

1c: Designs instruction for students to achieve mastery

1e: Uses diagnostic student data to plan lessons

2a: Organizes and manages the resources of time and space to support student learning

2d: Respects students’ differing needs and diversity

3a: Delivers challenging and engaging lessons

3d: Modifies instruction to respond to student needs

3g: Teaches for student understanding using varied and appropriate strategies and resources

3h: Differentiates instruction based on assessment of differing needs and diversity of students

3i: Encourages and provides immediate and specific feedback to promote student achievement

4c: Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to drive the learning process

5c: Reviews data with colleagues to evaluate learning outcomes and plan effective lessons