This school year, Marcellus teachers and students have been involved in something called “lesson study.” Lesson study is a professional development model in which teachers collaborate, study, and design a lesson around a particular topic. A lesson study cycle includes a research component where teachers consult experts and conduct research on the topic they are studying based on learning standards. Collaboratively, teachers design a lesson addressing that standard. While one teacher implements the lesson, the other teachers observe the lesson and take notes on their observations. Afterwards, the team meets to discuss their notes and the lesson is revised based on the feedback about student learning. The lesson is then taught a second time to a new group of students and student learning is observed once again. The purpose of lesson study is to allow teachers to collaboratively work together to improve their teaching and to ultimately improve student learning.
At Marcellus, a team of K-12 teachers and one administrator (Heidi Busa, Katie Cook, Katrina Ercole, Mary Jo Hoeft, Sue Tavolacci, and Jill Zoccolillo) began a lesson study cycle in August with the guidance of Kevin Moquin, a doctoral student from Syracuse University School of Education, and Dr. Sharon Dotger, an expert in the field of lesson study and science education, also from Syracuse University. Team members met weekly to participate in a lesson study cycle focused on implementing a new science standard for sixth graders revolving around the Sun-Earth-Moon system and phases of the moon through the use of models.
This lesson study cycle culminated in delivery of the lesson at a regional conference on November 8th, hosted by OCM BOCES under the direction of Jessica Hehl, Science Center Coordinator, and Syracuse University’s School of Education’s Science Education Department. The lesson, called an open research lesson, was a live lesson in which Sue Tavolacci taught Marcellus sixth graders while approximately 80 teachers from the region observed student learning.
The conference, called “It’s Go Time: Seeing the Future Through the NEW NYS Science Standards,” is the first of its kind to combine lesson study cycles focused on science instruction. Typically, lesson study cycles are focused on mathematics instruction. Our Marcellus teachers and students were part of a group that is the first in the world to do this. Heidi Busa, Katie Cook, Katrina Ercole, Mary Jo Hoeft, Sue Tavolacci, and Jill Zoccolillo have taken on a leadership position in our region through their participation in this conference as this event has allowed their regional colleagues to see how lesson study is a useful strategy for gaining an understanding of the coming shifts in science instruction.
