A Mathematics Leader's Guide to Lesson Study in Practice

Practiced by teachers all across the U.S. and around the world, lesson study is widely recognized for the dynamic mix of learning opportunities it provides:

• classroom-based feedback on students’ mathematical thinking and understanding
• mathematical knowledge for teaching and enrichment in the teaching craft
• collaborative observation research that addresses local challenges
• development of professional learning community

The steps of the lesson study cycle are simple to follow, but its real power is in ongoing, rich team discussions. Strong leadership fosters a team’s development as a learning community. A Mathematics Leader’s Guide to Lesson Study in Practice helps mathematics leaders, coaches, administrators, and team members alike develop the momentum for deep professional learning.

Jane Gorman, June Mark, and Johannah Nikula share the best practices they’ve learned in leading lesson study teams, training lesson study coaches, and launching lesson study programs in schools. Their Guide offers support for leaders and teams by focusing on three essential elements:

• Deepening your understanding of the goals, themes, and principles of lesson study and honing your capacity to apply that understanding
• Developing skills in the processes of the lesson study cycle
• Strengthening the connections of your work with the work of school, district, and the teaching profession in support of your growth and effectiveness as a professional.

Readers will find a mix of practical advice, detailed guides to each phase of the cycle, stories of team practice, strategies for facilitation, and much more. They’ll read first-hand how teams have moved from novices to mentors in lesson study, changing the professional culture in their schools.

The Mathematics Leader’s Guide is ideal for book study for teams who want to enrich their participation in lesson study. Taking teams beyond understanding how to get started, the Guide provides a resource to use across many cycles and years to continually deepen lesson study practice.

Jane Gorman is a Senior Project Director in the Learning and Teaching Division at EDC. She has been a leader in lesson study for nearly a decade, helping leaders and schools design and implement lesson study programs. She has also coached both experienced and new lesson study teams to develop enriching professional development in mathematics. She is coauthor of Lesson Study in Practice: A Mathematics Staff Development Course (2010), and A Mathematics Leaders Guide to Lesson Study in Practice (2010) from Heinemann.

June Mark brings over twenty years of experience in research and development related to mathematics instructional materials, curriculum implementation, and mathematics teacher professional development. June received her BS (Mathematics) and BSE from the University of Pennsylvania and her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has been involved in a numerous mathematics education projects, many centering on bringing high quality mathematics to underserved populations. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family including her kids, Michael and Lena. June Mark is the coauthor of four Heinemann titles: Lesson Study in Practice: A Mathematics Staff Development Course (2010), A Mathematics Leaders Guide to Lesson Study in Practice (2010), The Fostering Geometric Thinking Toolkit (2008), Choosing a Standards-Based Mathematics Curriculum (2000) and Transition to Algebra: Make Algebra Make Sense (2014).

Johannah Nikula is a coauthor of a number of Heinemann professional development books and staff development materials. Her most recent are Lesson Study in Practice: A Mathematics Staff Development Course (2010) and the companion, A Mathematics Leaders Guide to Lesson Study in Practice (2010). She also coauthored Fostering Geometric Thinking (2007) and its professional development companion, the Fostering Geometric Thinking Toolkit (2008), both published by Heinemann. Her work has focused on professional development for middle and high school mathematics teachers that is grounded in the work of teaching through analysis of artifacts that reveal students' mathematical thinking and through the Japanese lesson-study process.