Learning to Restructure Lesson Plans through a Primary School Lesson Study Group

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Teacher learning, from a socio-cultural perspective, involves educators in a dialogical relation where knowledge is co-constructed and learning becomes a shared responsibility. Recently, the EFL teacher Professional Development field has addressed the issue of offering educators alternative strategies to pursue long-term learning and improve their pedagogical practices along with colleagues. Drawing on these, the present case study aims at exploring how primary teachers restructured their lesson plans as evidence of their learning in a Lesson Study Group at the workplace. This qualitative instrumental case study reports the finding of two (2) selected primary teachers who voluntarily accepted to participate in the study. Data collection procedures entailed audio-recorded meetings, interviews, class observations, teachers’ reflections and analysis of lesson plans. Findings showed that teachers managed to restructure their lesson plans to include 6 Shelter Instruction Protocol features: activating students’ background knowledge, displaying clear content and language objectives, vii implementing strategies to make content concepts clear, implementing a variety of scaffolding techniques, providing opportunities for content and language use and promoting interaction. Nonetheless, promoting higher order thinking skills and learning strategies, and integrating language skills were 2 features studied but not implemented by teachers due to limitations of knowledge about topics and possibilities to put them in action. Throughout this paper, a Lesson Study Group is argued to be a grounded Professional Development strategy that offers in-service teachers the possibility to increase their knowledge base and skills to plan, become self-oriented towards improving practice and boost their motivation for their job. Additionally, the conditions that facilitated teacher learning in this professional learning community are discussed, i. e.: integrating theory and practice, promoting structured discussions through protocols, developing collegial talk among participants, gaining a sense of belonging towards the group and changing perspectives about class observations. Besides, limitations for teacher learning at the workplace such as administrator’s lack of support and decontextualized school policies are obstacles educators faced during this study. Finally, conclusions from this study call different stakeholder to recognize teacher learning as a long-term process, which requires changes in Professional Development policies at the school, university and country levels.