Meeting #1

Meeting #1: ESP Lesson Study Launch

Outcomes

• Understand the Lesson Study process and how it applies to your context
• Create a culture of collaboration and reflection by establishing norms
• Choose English Learner case study students
• Consider your context for the application of lesson study

Agenda (2.5 hours)

1. Introduction to the Lesson Study process (40 minutes)
2. Create a culture of collaboration (30 minutes)
3. Consider Your Context (30 minutes)
4. Explore English Learners in Science (30 minutes)
5. Coordinate Observation Day: (10 minutes)
6. Reflections and Next Steps (10 minutes)

1. Introduction to the Lesson Study Process (40 minutes)

• Quickwrite: What is lesson study? What are your previous experiences with lesson study or working in professional learning communities?
• CA Classroom Science: NGSS Lesson Study: Both Teachers and Students Make Thinking Visible
• Read: What is Lesson Study? How is this process similar or different to what you think about lesson study?
• Orientation to Google Drive and ESP Website

2. Create a Culture of Collaboration (30 minutes)

1. Add your Team Folder in our Google Drive. Each folder has already been created: "[Team Code] [District Abbreviation] [Optional]" (example: 3A SLUSD Milkweed Bugs)
2. Select one person to make a copy of this document: Lesson Study Meeting Minutes/Reflections and add it to your team Google Folder.
3. Journal: Consider your experiences with professional collaboration. What were your greatest challenges working in a professional team? Think to yourself:
   • Equity of voice- Were some voices heard more than others?
   • Distribution of workload- Did you share the work evenly?
   • Attendance- Were all members present at each meeting?
   • Pacing of process- Did you follow the agenda timing? Were the meetings too short? Too long? Too frequent? Not frequent enough?
   • Preparation for meetings- Did all team members arrive prepared for each meeting?
   • Being present- Were all team members concentrating on the task at hand or working on something else?
   • Team conversations focused on lesson- Were team conversations usually moving the process forward or were there a large number of "squirrel moments"? Did you spend time discussing problems outside the scope of the lesson?
   • Grain size- Did the team often become mired in minor details of a lesson (e.g. wordsmithing lesson materials as a team, discussing specific students rather than the whole group)?
   • Safe vs. Brave space - did you experience safety in the conversations and did you feel welcome? Did you feel that the space was too "safe" and you wanted to have deeper conversations?
4. Think to yourself:
   • If you could choose a norm based on your experience in the past, what would it be?
   • Imagine at least one positive strategy for reminding your team of this norm when you are not following it.
5. As a team, share and discuss the ideas generated by each member.
   • Take particular care to identify and discuss any possible contradictions.
   • For example, if one team member asks for “safe” and another for “challenging my thinking” talk about how both can be honored.
6. Record your group norms on your Lesson Study Meeting Minutes/Reflections document.
7. Discuss the Example Norms of Collaboration. These are suggested prompts for the group conversations to be focused on teaching and learning.
8. Remember, the purpose of norms is not to always have complete agreement and for everyone to get along, but to professionally discuss/debate each other’s thinking and understanding around student learning.
9. Choose who will be the facilitator, timekeeper, recorder, and norms monitor for all of the next six meetings.

The following roles are encouraged to keep the meetings running smoothly. We recommend that each member will rotate through each role. Record this in your Lesson Study Meeting Minutes/Reflections document.

• Norms Monitor: Reviews norms at beginning, reminds team of focus norm, helps team choose focus norm for next meeting.
• Recorder: Charts and/or updates group documents during meetings.
• Timekeeper: Monitors time
• Facilitator: Facilitates discussions, ensuring that the conversations stay on topic and focused and that the team accomplishes goals for meeting.

3. Consider Your Context (30 minutes)

1. Each person on your team will make a copy of this document Consider Your Context and add it to your team Google Folder, renaming the document with your last name and first name and "Consider Your Context: (example: O'Connor, Dawn Consider Your Context)
2. Individual Reflection: Each member individually responds to the questions below in their designated space on the document.
   • What are the demographics of your class community?
   • What classroom and school resources are available to assist you in teaching science, and conversely, what classroom and school limitations detract from your ability to teach science?
   • What key factors will influence your planning and science teaching?
3. Team Share: Each member is allotted 2 minutes to describe their answers to the above questions. As you listen to other group members share their context, what similarities and differences do you notice? What stands out? What are some key takeaways from your team? Add this to your Consider Your Context document.
4. Refer to the example answers and consider whether you would like to add any other information to your chart. (Lewis & Hurd, 2011)
   • What classroom and school resources are available to assist you in teaching science, and conversely, what classroom and school limitations detract from your ability to teach science?
     • Examples of resources include things such as: student lab tables, a school computer lab, physical space to post student work, science equipment, an EL aide, an administrator supportive of science instruction, etc. Examples of limitations include things like: a crowded classroom in which you can’t easily talk with individual students, a lack of flat tables for lab activities, no available computer labs, a lack of science equipment, etc.
   • What are the demographics of the community?
     • Demographics could include things such as: the geographic location and population of the school’s community, the socio-economic profile, race or ethnic background, and other factors that could either challenge or support your teaching and the students’ learning. What community resources can be tapped into?
   • What key factors will influence your planning and science teaching?
     • You may want to include: things you think your students can do as well as what they are still learning to do, information about their academic development, language development, social development, and/or their socio-economic and cultural context.

4. Explore English Learners in Science (30 minutes)

1. Choose 1-2 English Learners. Think of students that have typically not achieved academically.
2. Use the same document Consider Your Context and scroll down to the page titled, "English Learner Case Study Students "

Answer the questions for each Case Study Student

• What was this student’s lived story?
• What strengths did this student bring with her/him?
• What challenges did the student have with accessing content?
• What opportunities/challenges do you think this language learner would have had with the learning sequences you experienced during Summer Institute?
• What strategies and supports are available for your case study student with respect to: 1) academic learning 2) behavioral learning 3) social-and emotional learning

5. Coordinate Observation Day (10 minutes)

1. Click on the form above and decide who will be teaching the lesson
2. Decide when ALL TEAM MEMBERS are available ALL DAY to teach/observe the lesson
   • Choose multiple dates so that you have options.
   • *Note all team members will be requesting a substitute teacher on this day.
   • Fill out the form above for the date that you have chosen. If someone has your date, choose your alternate date.

6. Reflection and Next Steps (10 minutes)

At the end of each meeting, you will record your individual reflections on your Meeting Minutes/Reflections shared Google document.

Next Steps:

• Review all of the content you learned from the Summer Institute at Cal State East Bay
• Revise and add to your "Consider Your Context" document and add any pertinent information that you discover.