Pilot Team

Our pilot lesson study team consisted of three teachers –Beyza, Azime and Pelin- who worked together for nearly one and a half month during one lesson study cycle. İlknur worked in coordination with them during all that time both as a researcher and a facilitator. Since this was the piloting phase, the lesson study cycle lasted shorter than it usually does. Below is a step-by-step explanation on how they completed the cycle.

Step 1: Introduction to Lesson Study

In May, 2016, an introductory meeting on what Lesson Study is and how it works was held with the participating teachers. In this informal meeting organized by İlknur, lesson study was briefly discussed and teachers’ questions were answered afterwards. Lesson Study Handbook prepared by Dudley (2014) was distributed to teachers and they were informed that they can refer to it any time they like and/or consult the facilitator – İlknur – any time they want for further clarification.

Click here for the Lesson Study Handbook.

Step 2: Finding a focus

A second meeting was held by the teachers a day after the introductory meeting. They worked on what their research question would be. They tried to find a topic that would be of interest to each of them. After a long meeting with a lot of suggestions, they decided that they would like to work on improving their students’ reading skills. They finished the meeting to be able to specify their research question after sleeping on it for a day or two.

When they gathered a third time, they managed to narrow down their topic to “guessing the meaning of unknown words from context”, and their research question was decided as “How do nonsense words help students understand the meaning of unknown words by using the contextual clues in a context?”

Step 3: Planning the first research lesson

In another meeting, they got together to plan the first research lesson which would be taught by Pelin to her students. They worked on the major details of their lesson plan and agreed on what the introduction, development, practice and closure sections of their lesson would be like. They held additional meetings to deal with the details of the lesson such as the power point presentations to be used, activities to be carried out and exercises to be distributed to students.

Click here for the first lesson plan.

Step 4: Implementing the first research lesson

Pelin informed her students two days before the

implementation of the first research lesson that two

observers –Beyza and Azime—would come to class to

observe the lesson and it would be video recorded by

İlknur. All students gave their consent to the observation

and video recording. During the research lesson,

observers took detailed notes about the students

focusing specifically on three case students. Those case

students were initially chosen by Pelin because they typified

different groups of students in class – students who were making good, average or below average progress in language learning. The research lesson lasted 45 minutes and right after it Pelin held interviews with those case students individually. The interviews were held in her office and were audio recorded. The interviews were about 5 minutes each and done in Turkish.

Click here for the interview questions.

Once the interviews were over, the video recording of the research lesson and the audio recordings of the interviews of three case students were shared with the lesson study group. They decided to meet the other day for reflection and analysis.

Step 5: Reflection

In the evening of the day when the first research lesson was conducted, lesson study group members and the facilitator watched the video recording of the lesson, looked at their observation notes and listened to student interviews at home. In the postlesson reflection meeting the other day, Pelin started to reflect on the lesson first because she was the one who taught it, and Azime’s and Beyza’s comments followed. They talked about how the lesson unfolded, including any surprises or difficulties, and reflected on what was learned in planning and conducting the first research lesson. They also talked about the changes that needed to be made to the second research lesson and started to plan it slowly.

Step 6: Repeating Steps 4 and 5

Once the second research lesson plan was ready to be implemented, Beyza taught it in her class. Pelin and Azime observed it this time including İlknur as well as the facilitator and observer. Beyza had interviews with her case students and asked them the same questions as Pelin did. A postlesson reflection meeting was held again and the lesson plan for the third research lesson was developed.

Click here for the second lesson plan.

When the lesson study group decided that the lesson plan for the

third research lesson was totally ready for implementation, it was

Azime’s turn to conduct it in her class. Pelin, Beyza and İlknur were

there to observe. Upon teaching the lesson, she invited her case

students to her office for the interviews. The group was now ready

for final reflection.

Click here for the third lesson plan.

Step 7: Sharing the results

To finalize the lesson study process and talk more deeply about the findings of the study, they gathered again. In this last meeting, the results of the study were discussed more in detail. Discussions were mainly carried out by referring back to the research question developed at the beginning of the lesson study process “How do nonsense words help students understand the meaning of unknown words by using the contextual clues in a context?”

A continuous professional development event called ELT Fusion 1 was going to be held at UTAA on June 28,29,2016. Pelin, Azime and Beyza thought this was going to be a perfect opportunity for them to share the findings of their pilot lesson study with all the teachers and let everyone know about the lesson study approach in professional development.

Click here for ELT Fusion 1 poster.

They decided to present their pilot lesson study cycle during one of the plenary sessions when all the teachers were to attend and prepared a power point presentation to guide them during their talk. They arranged their time so that everybody in the lesson study group could speak for nearly 10 minutes during the 45-minute presentation. İlknur – the facilitator- talked about lesson study for 5 minutes, then Beyza, Azime and Pelin talked about the lesson study cycle for nearly 10 minutes each. The question and answer session was done in the remaining 10 minutes.

Click here for the final presentation.