Lesson Study: Cycle 3
Our Lesson:
This lesson took place in Miss Jillian’s fourth grade classroom at High Tech Elementary School in North County, San Diego. Her classroom is diverse, thoughtful and community minded; however, our research team was curious to see if a few classroom modifications might elevate contributions to group discussions in an effort to maximize equitable exchanges. Multiple PDSA cycles demonstrated that initiating student-led discussions paired with a short list of established norms, showed positive correlations with student participation. Our second cycle included several small change ideas such as using a talking stick and sharing a teacher-made conversation web so that students had a visual representation of how the conversation progressed. In our final lesson Miss Rochelle joined Miss Jillian in the classroom to help facilitate a discussion centered on a black and white photo taken during the era of Japanese internment. The purpose of having two teachers was to test the effectiveness of the UDL strategy of parallel teaching alongside the above mentioned considerations. In the end our focal students demonstrated an increased willingness to share their thoughts and engage with the content.
Standards:
Prior Learning Standard That Unit Builds On
History 4.2.3 Describe the Spanish exploration and colonization of California, including the relationships among soldiers, missionaries, and Indians (e.g., Juan Crespi, Junipero Serra, Gaspar de Portola).
Learning standard For This Unity
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).
Later Standards For Which This Unit Is A Foundation
HSS-4.4.5 Discuss the effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and World War II on California.
Lesson Goals:
Content Goal: 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.
Equity Goal: 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.
Equity Goal: 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.
Take a Look at our Lesson Slides...
Click to set custom
Focus Students:
Focus Student 1:
...loves to play soccer, is very popular with his peers and excels at making his teacher laugh. He especially likes working with his hands and connecting with his classmates during partner work. In class he is easily distracted and he struggles with critical thinking skills. He shows promise as a writer but usually needs to work closely with an adult to get his ideas on paper. Focus student 1 is a slow processor and often needs extra time to share out in class or formulate new ideas. He has a strong connection with his little sister and has said that he's driven to succeed so that he can be a good role model for her.
Focus Student 2:
...loves coming to school and has very close bond with two classmates who are his best friends. Focus student 2 has an IEP and benefits from support in both reading and writing. Despite this challenge, he is at the head of the class in math and wants to be a scientist. He lives with his sister and mother but has a very close connections with his large, tight knit family. Goals that his teacher has set for him include building confidence, staying on task and sharing his voice when involved in small group work.
Focus Student 3:
...has a twin sister in the classroom next door to her. She has a competitive relationship with her sister when it comes to academics and this spirit really shows in math. She struggles with reading and writing and has expressed frustration when it comes to generating ideas and getting started on writing exercises. She largely keeps to herself but can work closely with classmates as long as partners are carefully selected. She's great at staying on task and making a genuine effort however her teacher would like to see her make more effort at connecting with her peers during project work.
...loves to play soccer, is very popular with his peers and excels at making his teacher laugh. He especially likes working with his hands and connecting with his classmates during partner work. In class he is easily distracted and he struggles with critical thinking skills. He shows promise as a writer but usually needs to work closely with an adult to get his ideas on paper. Focus student 1 is a slow processor and often needs extra time to share out in class or formulate new ideas. He has a strong connection with his little sister and has said that he's driven to succeed so that he can be a good role model for her.
Focus Student 2:
...loves coming to school and has very close bond with two classmates who are his best friends. Focus student 2 has an IEP and benefits from support in both reading and writing. Despite this challenge, he is at the head of the class in math and wants to be a scientist. He lives with his sister and mother but has a very close connections with his large, tight knit family. Goals that his teacher has set for him include building confidence, staying on task and sharing his voice when involved in small group work.
Focus Student 3:
...has a twin sister in the classroom next door to her. She has a competitive relationship with her sister when it comes to academics and this spirit really shows in math. She struggles with reading and writing and has expressed frustration when it comes to generating ideas and getting started on writing exercises. She largely keeps to herself but can work closely with classmates as long as partners are carefully selected. She's great at staying on task and making a genuine effort however her teacher would like to see her make more effort at connecting with her peers during project work.
Student Input:
Data:
Reflection:
Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about our team’s third lesson study. I’d like to reflect on my experience along the way and the two PDSA cycles my team and I executed. Our first PDSA offered our students a low-stakes opportunity to share their input on a fun topic. We asked our kids if they would rather have the power of invisibility or flight. We worked with the kids to craft an anchor chart of conversation norms that they could reference to help facilitate equitable debate. We used popsicle sticks to choose jobs such as time keeper and facilitator and we created a web so that we could document who shared and how many times. During this cycle my kids were engaged in robust dialogue with over ¾ of students sharing their opinions. Unfortunately, my focus students did not share their thoughts.
During our second PDSA cycle we instituted a few change ideas. For starters, we decided on a slightly more challenging topic that we still felt all kids could engage in passionately. We asked, if you could change one school rule, what would it be? We stayed true to the format we instituted in the first cycle while adding a talking stick and a counter, to keep track of how many times students shared in the hopes that our biggest contributors would allow more space for quieter classmates. We also shared the previous conversation web so that the students had a visual representation of who shared during the first cycle. Finally, we initiated a turn and talk exercise so that all students had a chance to share their thinking one-on-one before the whole group convened. This cycle concluded with only three students remaining silent. When our team met to share our data we agreed that it was time to consult the UDL framework for ideas on how we might further lift participation. To this end we decided our final lesson study would utilize co-teachers, a move that resulted in all three of our students sharing their insight either during a turn-and-talk or in their Exit Ticket responses. This late breakthrough contributed to making our final lesson study a success for teacher, students and focus students alike.
During our second PDSA cycle we instituted a few change ideas. For starters, we decided on a slightly more challenging topic that we still felt all kids could engage in passionately. We asked, if you could change one school rule, what would it be? We stayed true to the format we instituted in the first cycle while adding a talking stick and a counter, to keep track of how many times students shared in the hopes that our biggest contributors would allow more space for quieter classmates. We also shared the previous conversation web so that the students had a visual representation of who shared during the first cycle. Finally, we initiated a turn and talk exercise so that all students had a chance to share their thinking one-on-one before the whole group convened. This cycle concluded with only three students remaining silent. When our team met to share our data we agreed that it was time to consult the UDL framework for ideas on how we might further lift participation. To this end we decided our final lesson study would utilize co-teachers, a move that resulted in all three of our students sharing their insight either during a turn-and-talk or in their Exit Ticket responses. This late breakthrough contributed to making our final lesson study a success for teacher, students and focus students alike.