Lesson Study Cycle 3
“If we don’t seize this moment to transform our fundamental approaches to teaching and learning, we will navel-gaze and boomerang ourselves into the same played out approaches and results: a pedagogy of compliance for children at the margins and “success” for the privileged.” - Safir & Dugan (Street Data, 2021)
As a lesson study group, we dove into the intersection of social justice teaching, the UDL framework, and student led learning. We noticed a problem of practice in our 4th grade classrooms where our students were needing support in whole group discussions due to the effects of distance learning during the pandemic. We are interested in supporting students through any gaps that may have been created during the pandemic. Through empathy interviews and student work samples, we concluded that students require a sense of autonomy and independence in their learning so we set out to begin a lesson study cycle that satisfied both the need for support during whole class discourse and student preference of autonomy in the classroom.
We conducted this lesson study in Jillian Bowman's 4th grade classroom at High Tech Elementary North County. The lesson we designed was rooted in student led learning, whole group meaningful classroom discussions, and social justice teaching.
Part I: Planning
Equity Based
Research Theme
We will provide students access to student-led discussions through multiple modalities of learning using the UDL Framework and social justice teaching to allow students to engage in higher order thinking skills.
Our experience as Elementary educators post pandemic has influenced our ideas of effective teaching and learning. We understood that students needed significant support in whole group discourse after noticing their lack of confidence and willingness to participate in whole class discussions versus their willingness to participate in pair shares or independent thinking. We set out to understand how we could create classroom a successful student led discussion in a 4th grade classroom with careful instructional strategies to support students who may not feel comfortable speaking in front of the entire class. After analyzing the research, our team found multiple instructional strategies that we decided to implement into our research lesson and our practice as Elementary educators. As we grappled with the dilemma of implementing social justice teaching, Universal Designs for Learning, and authentic meaningful discussions, we understood how to methodically sequence lessons so that students could gradually engage in higher stakes content without the need for teacher interference.
Lesson Goals
Goal of the Unit:
To have productive peer led discussions about topics that relate to California’s History.
Goal of the Lesson:
Students will be able to use discussion and active listening skills to participate in a student-led discussion to make connections through a socially-challenging point in California’s history.
Lesson Standard:
(History 4.4.3 Discuss immigration and migration to California between 1850 and 1900, including the diverse composition of those who came; the countries of origin and their relative locations; and conflicts and accords among the diverse groups (e.g., the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act).)
Rationale for Design of Instruction:
As a research team, we noticed that our students needed additional support with whole class discussions in a post-pandemic classroom. After conducting two PDSA lesson study cycles utilizing a peer-led discussion format, we came to understand that this student-centered pedagogy supports students in their autonomy and self-efficacy as active participants in the classroom.
Research Base
Throughout our lesson study planning phase, we conducted research on: social justice teaching, Universal Design for Learning, and peer-led discussions in the classroom. As a lesson study group, we unpacked numerous studies, articles, and methods to implement their main ideas into our research lesson. Check out an annotated bibliography and literature synthesis below for an in depth view of our research base.
The research noted in the column to the right led us to our theory of action which reads as follows:
If, we as teachers, provide a space for student-led discussions, then students will engage in higher order thinking skills through multiple modalities of learning, feel connected to others, know how to talk with others even when they are different or disagree, and make connections to a turning point in California history, resulting in students actively participating and listening to their peers.
Research Informed Lesson Plan
Based on our empathy interviews, student work samples, and PDSA lesson cycles, we implemented the following practices into our research lesson:
-
Co-teaching (UDL)
-
Student created expectations & norms
-
Multiple modalities of learning such as: discourse, visual learning, writing.
-
Student centered and led roles
-
Flexible seating
-
Pair shares
-
Whole group reflection on the equity of the discussion through a discussion map
-
Social justice teaching through student led classroom practices and a critical race theory lens of California History
-
Inquiry based learning
PDSA: A Deep Dive
"Plan, Do, Study, Act"
PDSA 1
"Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?"
Cycle one consisted of a peer-led student discussion where students would act as active participants while the teacher would play a passive role. Our goal was to create a low-stakes student-led discussion using assigned jobs and posing a fun and relevant topic…I mean what better way to get students to talk to each other than about a fun and intriguing topic? Rather than creating norms for the students, 2 students would be given the jobs of facilitator and timekeeper to create the most effective and student-centered discussion. These students were chosen at random. Due to the fact that the goal of our PDSA cycle 1 was to support students in their self-efficacy in regards to whole-group discussions, we elected to implement a low stakes discussion question in hopes of building to discussing higher stakes issues
PDSA 2
"If you could change any school rule, what would it be?
After reflecting and analyzing data from PDSA cycle 1, we were able to see the successful points and the challenges of our lesson plan. After collecting data from student responses, and tracking the student discussion using a conversation web, we noticed that our focal students were still needing support with whole-group discussions. From this PDSA cycle and further research, we understood that additional scaffolds and UDL practices were necessary for our focal students to feel more comfortable discussing in a whole-group setting. We decided to implement a turn and talk (pair share) prior to students sharing their responses aloud in front of their peers as an additional scaffold for students to rehearse their thoughts. In addition, we noticed that many of the same high status students were sharing more than three times and taking a lot of space in the 15-minute time frame. We adjusted our lesson by adding a third student job “the counter” who was responsible for being sure that no student shared more than three times. This aimed to provide additional space in the discussion for students who may not normally participate. Instead of implementing a low stakes question, we implemented a “medium” stakes question which was “if you could change a rule in the school, what would it be and why?”. This question was intentionally related to school to provide access and relativity for all students but not so socially challenging that it would cause students to lose access. While reading a study by Sasson et al.(2020), we came across a UDL practice that had not crossed our mind previously. Sasson et al. emphasizes past research which claims that co-teaching not only has an impact on classroom management but also aids in developing a classroom community including the increased personal attention to students (2020). Their study found a significant correlation between innovative learning spaces and co-teaching which proved the benefits of both UDL practices used simultaneously (Sasson et al. 2020). These findings significantly impacted us as educators and researchers as we began to plan our research lesson. PBL provides more opportunities for co-teaching than most as projects are typically planned and taught at grade level as a team. So we thought, “why not co-teach during our research lesson next?” We hoped we would be able to analyze the benefits of co-teaching along with the UDL practices as we designed instruction centering around student-led discussion and innovative learning spaces. We look forward to analyzing the data that these pedagogical practices provide and utilizing the findings in our own practice as an Elementary educator.
Students launched the lesson with a review of student created norms and agreements for a student led discussion. Roles for the discussion were picked at random (facilitator, timekeeper, and counter). Students then were shown an image to independently think about noticings and wonderings.
Students were then asked to pair share their noticings and wonderings with a partner in the classroom. They listened and shared and even responded to each others' wonderings. Afterwards, they teamed up with another pair of students to share their noticings and wonderings in quads to prepare them for a whole group discussion.
Students discussed their noticings and wonderings in a whole group setting for 15 minutes while the teachers served a passive role. They built upon each others' ideas , asked important, meaningful questions, and made space for connections to self content, and others. Students then reflected as a class upon the equity of the discussion.
Focal Student Observations
The Data
Analysis of Data Collection
Through student observations, student survey data and a discussion web, our team concluded that the pedagogical practices that were implemented through research were successful in that all students were able to access and engage in the discussion. From observations, students were seen engaged in the pair shares, discussion, and reflection process. All focal students were seen participating, raising hands, and remaining engaged for the majority of the lesson. This is not the norm for all three focal students so the research team was pleased to see their participation throughout the discussion. Not all three focal students participated in the whole group discussion, however, they were able to access the lesson through pair shares, quad shares and through a reflection process in exit tickets. Students participated in a healthy discussion given the high stakes topic of California History amidst immigration and forced labor of migrants. Students were asking meaningful questions and discussed race with sensitivity and empathy. Takeaways from the data left us wondering and reflecting upon the purpose of each student role. We saw an upward trajectory in improvement in terms of equitable discussion from PDSA cycle 1 to our research lesson which led us to discuss what a potential next lesson would look like. From our data, we determined that another high stakes student led discussion would benefit from a student created question bank that could be pulled from during the discussion if conversation needed support.
Reflection & Next Steps
My vision for discussions in a fourth grade classroom is for all students to feel supported in high stakes whole group discussions. I want my students to lean into sensitive topics with empathy, engage in inquiry based learning, and feel a sense of autonomy through accessing higher order thinking skills. As an educator, this looks like combining social justice teaching, student led learning, and the UDL framework to create lessons and units that benefit all learners. Students should feel supported by scaffolds put into place during whole group discussions such as independent think time and pair shares so that they may enter a brave space and challenge themselves socially and academically. My biggest takeaway from this lesson study process is the power of implementing student led learning with careful passive facilitation and preparation. This lesson cycle proved that we as educators do not need to be standing at the center of the classroom for deeper learning to occur. Upon reflection with my lesson study team, we understood that this lesson sequence is just the beginning of a routine that can be implemented in any classroom. There are infinite amounts of practices that we could continue to experiment with in hopes of a more productive and beneficial whole group discussion for our particular sets of students. We understand that every year provides a different class of learners and we will be required to understand our students deeply prior to setting up a routine that promotes autonomy and higher order thinking skills while predominantly relying on student facilitation. As a lifelong learner and educator, I will continue to hold myself accountable to being a reflective practitioner and strive for implementing instructional strategies that create space for such learning to occur.