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Sarah Pereira
September 29, 2015
LS 4000
Lesson Study Essay
This past lesson study our class had the opportunity to observe at an independent school
with a second grade classroom. This was only the fifteenth day of school for this class and they
were still getting to know each other and the teacher. Unlike the last lesson study school where
the students and teacher had already known each other from the previous year, which makes for
easier classroom facilitation. This means this class is still learning and getting used to a new
routine and since the class is having problems settling down the teacher decided to implement
meditation at the beginning of each day and after getting in from recess. Its a great way to get
students to focus and prepare for learning. The TPEs that we would be observing in the math
lesson to follow was TPE 1: specific pedagogical skills for mathematics instruction and TPE:
making content accessible.
The math lesson for this day was from Bridges math program which the teacher then
adapted to fit her own classroom. The lesson was based on growing patterns through the use of
unifix cubes. The students started with a warm up using whiteboards instead of manipulatives
because they have proven to be too distracting for the students. This also gives the class an
opportunity to really show their work instead of talking with peers which helps the teacher to
know who is actually understanding the material. The class started with seeing a pattern on the
board and drawing what they thought would be next in the pattern. Then the teacher would have
some students share what they thought. During this time its helping to refresh students minds

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because its a review of past learning. When the answer was revealed the teacher then had
students turn to a neighbor and share their thoughts.
During the official lesson had the students working in partners with real unifix cubes to
complete a worksheet. At the preconference we discussed with the teacher how she pairs students
for activities and she offered some good insight into choosing partners. Usually she will pair
students with like learning students who they are least likely to socialize. However, at the
beginning of the year she tries to initiate bonds between students by pairing them together with
students she think will connect, which is a strategy I really liked. At this time our class had the
opportunity to go around the class and interact with individual groups of students.
TPE 1 is pedagogy for teaching math and while the lesson was more of a review the
teacher was still teaching the class. The two strategies that really stuck out to me was how
anyone was open to getting called on during math time and using learning partners to do work.
The first strategy is one we talked about in the post conference and its an idea the teacher got
from somewhere else but has now applied it in her classroom. While it can be used at any time
she stresses that she calls on anyone particularly during math time to the students. However, if
she calls on a student and they are struggling with the answer she will allow them to pass then if
theres time at the end she will come back to them. I like how she doesnt force students to
answer even though she is randomly calling on them. The other strategy is using learning
partners, which is part of the strategy of choosing partners that I already discussed. The teacher
did a great job of transitioning into this partner time as well because when it started she went
around to different pairs to help facilitate getting work started together. Despite her doing this
she cant always be there to help so many partners ended up working individually. However at
the post conference when debriefing with our class on the lesson she mention how her main

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concern is that the students are on task. This stood out to me because it is the truth and reality of
lessons. It wont always go as planned but as long as students are working it can still be a
success.
The two strategies I saw work and would like to use in my future classroom are using
snapping and clapping when discussing growing patterns and the different methods of learning
used in the classroom. The strategy of snapping and clapping is one that I will use in my future
classroom even if it isnt in the same lesson. I like how the teacher incorporated sound and
movement to discuss how the pattern is growing because it allows the students to think about it
in different ways. All students learn differently and the use of movement is a creative way to
teach a concept that might be hard for young students to fully understand. This is also involved
with the different learning methods used in the classroom. Both help to keep students engaged
during the lesson because of the movement like the clapping or moving from their desks to the
floor to work. They also used multiple manipulatives during the activity for example the use of
whiteboards during the warm up and unifix cubes to form growing patterns as the lesson. The
teacher also had them show with their fingers how they think the pattern will go, which is
another example of visual learning through movement.
Overall, the lesson was a success just like the teacher thought and the second graders as
well as our class learned that day. You could see the students learning because of the different
modes of response used throughout the lesson. First with the whiteboards in the warm up and
then when the students were working in pairs and we saw them collaborating or working
individually. They all had some grasp on the concept even if it wasnt fully developed for all
students yet. I will take the strategies I discussed today and use them in my own classroom
especially one in particular that I didnt discuss. This was the teachers strategy of making sure all

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students put their names on their paper because she had them write their name on their paper and
tell them to touch it because otherwise kids will forget or think they did it already. There were
many strategies observed and these are just a few that I decided to talk about, I look forward to
being able to incorporate what I learned into my teaching one day.