Lesson Study Alliance
Lesson Study Alliance is dedicated to enriching the professional lives of teachers and the academic lives of students by supporting the effective use of Lesson Study, especially in mathematics. Lesson Study Alliance is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation based in Chicago.
(Virtual) Lesson Study Summer Institute
This year’s Lesson Study Summer Institute, which focuses on teaching through problem solving, will be held virtually, with synchronous activities taking place August 3 – 7. CPS Office of STEM is offering to pay 1/2 of the registration price for Chicago Public School teams. Read more here.
About Lesson Study
Lesson Study is a structured process for teachers to work together to discover solutions to common teaching-learning challenges. Read “What is Lesson Study? A Primer”.
The members of Lesson Study Alliance help teachers and schools implement an especially powerful form of Lesson Study called Collaborative Lesson Research, or CLR.
We are a coalition of educators dedicated to helping each other and others learn about lesson study and use the process to improve teaching and learning. The most important work is done by the hard-working teachers who design and teach public research lessons, assist with the annual conference or summer workshops, and more. Backing them up are Tom McDougal, who handles the day-to-day business of Lesson Study Alliance and supports teachers through the lesson study process, and Dr. Akihiko Takahashi of DePaul, who contributes his expertise by giving talks and serving as a knowledgeable other.
Our activities include:
- hosting the international Chicago Lesson Study Conference
- hosting smaller conferences and training sessions for teams of teachers;
- facilitating and giving final comments for research lessons;
- providing site-based professional development, including knowledgeable other services; and
- supporting and distributing LessonNote, a free iPad application used in classroom observation and discussion.
Contact us at info@LSAlliance.org or 773-888-3404.
News & Events
Read the documentary on Lesson Study
For anyone who found it difficult to find time to listen to the terrific radio documentary by American RadioWorks, you can read the segment about Lesson Study here. Some of my favorite quotes: "We need to shift from thinking about how to improve teachers to thinking...
Radio documentary on Lesson Study
American Radioworks just came out with a wonderful documentary, "Teaching Teachers", which focuses on Lesson Study. Well, it's not just about Lesson Study – roughly the first third is a very interesting look at teacher preparation – but the remainder, starting around...
Blog
Fractions as numbers vs. fractions as ratios
A grade 4 team was recently considering the following task for a lesson in which they hoped to have students make a connection between fractions and decimals: What would you say about this? I wrote them two emails about it. First email: What would be the purpose of...
Learning goals should describe cognitive change
A surprisingly difficult but critically important part of designing a lesson is establishing the learning goals. Many teachers write learning goals in the form of behavioral outcomes: “Students will be able to…” Frequently this is what their administrators want, and...
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Chicago, Illinois