by Tom | Jan 8, 2016 | classroom practice
What?? you might be thinking. What else could the teacher’s job be but to teach? The teacher’s job is to ensure that students learn – all of them, we hope, though we know we will usually fall short. In Japan, most (elementary) math lessons are designed as...
by Tom | Nov 11, 2015 | classroom practice, lessons, math topics
I am looking at a lesson research proposal for grade 5 on division of decimal values by a whole number. The problem the team plans to use is 4.26 ÷ 3, and their goal is for students to discover that the same processes they use to model division with whole numbers...
by Tom | Oct 5, 2015 | News
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...
by Tom | Sep 18, 2015 | math topics
How do we want students to understand a fraction such as 3/4? Yesterday I had the privilege of working with an elementary team that is starting lesson study for the first time. They decided their theme would be around developing persistence in their students through...
by Tom | Aug 29, 2015 | News
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...
