TEAM 4
TuÄŸçe, Çisem, Tunahan, Türkan, Alex (2016-2017 Spring)
I’m Türkan. I am a graduate of English Language and Literature. I have been teaching English for 9 years and this will be my 5th year at UTAA. Though I have had both my BA and MA in English Literature, I am currently doing my PhD in Adult Education at Ankara University. As we are the 3rd group doing Lesson Study, we are luckier enough to have more guidance and support both from our team leaders and colleagues who have already experienced this study. I am pretty sure that it will help me widen my teaching skills and broaden my knowledge on ELT terminology with the help of all discussions we have at our meetings and I will also have a better view of how students learn with the observations we will have. Though the results of our research may be the same as we expect, it will be a great chance for us as teachers to get an inside look at students’ learning problems and how they try to overcome these obstacles. Let’s see what we will experience during our voyage of discovery!
I graduated from Gazi University, ELT Department in 2011 and began my MA degree in Hacettepe University, ELT Department in 2012. I had worked in Ted College for 2,5 years, and I have been working in UTAA for 3 years. I am eager to improve myself professionally and to do so, now, I have been studying for my PHD degree in Hacettepe University. Moreover, within the scope of CPD, this is the first time I have been conducting a lesson study. When I heard about what it is, I thought it would be a great opportunity for improving my teaching, learning students’ tendencies, identifying their needs, adapting new techniques or making adaptations in the curriculum according to the needs of the students, etc. Now I am a part of this huge project and I am very enthusiastic about it. Then let’s lesson study!
I’m Alex. I am a graduate from Manchester University with a Masters degree in TEFL. For over three years I have worked at THKU. Although I have heard previously of Lesson Study as a means of professional development this is the first opportunity I have had to participate in such a project. It has been interesting and educational to work and share ideas with other members of the Lesson Study group. Additionally Lesson Study has allowed me to cognitively examine my approach to teaching that otherwise may not have occured.
Hi! I have been working as an English teacher in tertiary level since I graduated in 2012. I’m also working on my MA degree in Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language. Currently I’m working as an instructor at UTAA. I first heard about about Lesson Study during ELT Fusion Day, a conference held at UTAA in 2016. I’m interested in trying out Lesson Study in my lessons so that I could be more effective while teaching.
TUÄžÇE
ALEX
TUNAHAN
TÜRKAN
Lesson study is a platform in which I have an opportunity to see a jointly-planned lesson we have prepared with the team from the eyes of our students, which enables me to adapt the lessons according to the learner needs. Moreover, lesson study is a process in which everybody works collaboratively despite the personal differences which show different perspectives and make it fun.
What does Lesson Study mean to me?
What does Lesson Study mean to me?
To be honest, it did not seem to be something totally new at the beginning of our study because it was a method basically used in Maths and we, as language teachers have already been using similar methods for ages so it did not stir my blood at first sight and I had some concerns due to the heavily loaded procedure. As we spent more time on the lesson study as a group, I realized that I both enjoyed the process and the collaboration we had throughout our study. Due to the different perspectives originating from different personalities in the group, we had some hard times but the pain was worth the gain in the end and it was precious.
Lesson Study is a collaborative action taking process with an aim to understand student needs and perspectives, to improve lesson-planning skills and to develop professionally. In this process, one gets to see how other teachers handle the same lesson plan with their group of students as well as discuss with colleagues to uncover their thoughts on the implementation of the lesson, which in return offers learning from other teachers. Thus, what lesson study means to me is scrutinizing the details of a lesson plan to understand students' as well as colleagues' take on what seems to be a good lesson plan to me.