> > ...before we move on to chapter six! > . One person noted that perhaps > lesson study has not taken off in the US because teachers are uncomfortable > making mistakes in front of colleagues. I am wondering if this is part of > the US culture that is holding us back in education.
I wonder the same thing. We are a culture that does not seem to appreciate the mistake-making that must occur along the path of learning. It makes me think of many teachers that do all the set up for their young charges because it is cleaner and neater that way--not realizing they are stifling student growth and responsibility. A short story, jennifer. I went to a Japanese School in Connecticut to see lesson study in action--lesson followed by teacher observation-discussion. One teacher had taught a lesson on angles where students came up and picked different angles to use to make a triangle. Then, once they started to see the pattern of which angles would work--she showed them how all the angles of a triangle add up to a line. Then she passed out paper triangles for the students to "cut" the corners and line up the angles to see the line.... After the lesson I went up and asked why she did not have the students rip the corners off the triangles ( as we in the US are wont to do). I explained to her we do this because then the students recognize which of the three angles needed to be lined up. Her response? She said the Japanese teachers had discussed this and realized that if they taught the students that way, it would indeed be easier, but then the students would not learn how to take responsibility for tracking the angles themselves. The teachers felt that would be an important responsibility to practice. So instead, they made lots of paper triangles so the students could try again and again until they figured it out. Bam! That felt like such a learning moment for me. These teachers stop to consider the amount of learning responsibility they were releasing to the students! That would be a huge change in teacher thinking here, I think....no? I have more thoughts to share on chapter five too, but I am off to a conference with teachers from all over the world! Very excited! Talk more later. Bonita _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
