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| Eye on Leadership | Spotlight
on Literacy Lesson Study: Power and Possibility by
Rebecca McKay While traveling through Memphis last week, reflections of the 2008 Winter Conference Lesson Study caused my imagination to dance. Grabbed by an advertisement stating that more cargo passed through the Memphis airport than any other airport in the world, I remembered that Memphis is home to FedEx. Thinking that American public schools have bragging rights about the numbers of students that pass through our doors, I wondered if Cornerstone schools could embrace the FedEx motto: "Relax, it's FedEx" and adapt it to: “Relax, it’s Cornerstone.” Could Lesson Study aide us with inquiry in literacy and science integration if we continue to tap into the power and possibility within the Lesson Study process? The Lesson Study I participated in at the conference (at St. Mary’s Elementary School) gave me renewed hope in the power and possibilities of the process. Melanie Bastien, a teacher of five months, moved through the rituals and routines of the research lesson with 20 children, all a mere five years old. An act of precision and clarity, the lesson showed the teacher’s in-depth knowledge of rituals and routines, a finding that was an agreed-upon strength among the Lesson Study team. The team followed their “skeleton lesson plans” [see online article] and furiously took notes to give as feedback in relation to student learning, teaching, and the lesson plan itself. After the lesson, observers gathered around to provide suggestions on strengthening the lesson. Knowledgeable others [see online handout] with a broad range of perspectives served on the research team. Anchor
Charts by Wendy Seger Creating a learning environment that supports and extends literacy learning is an exciting and challenging task. Many schools have made an immediate impact on their environment by creating a visually pleasing “welcome area” at the entry of the school. However, as many in the network would agree, that is just the “warm up”. Modifying the school environment to support student learning is much more daunting when it requires a change in teaching practice. One of the ways that the environment becomes the third teacher is through the use of the anchor chart. So, what is an anchor chart? That was the question on the table for the Springfield coaches at a recent gathering of new and sister Cornerstone schools. The term “anchor chart” had been used repeatedly in the model lessons, but no clear guidelines had been given so teachers could create them on their own. This coaching group took on the challenge of answering that question through their own inquiry. |
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