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7. The post research lesson discussion
What works
Come together as soon as you can after the Research
Lesson (and certainly not later than 24 hours afterwards).
You may wish to review the following qualities of a
successful post Research Lesson discussion.
(a) Openness to critical viewpoints and
suggestions
(b) Fidelity to observed data and no excusing
failure
(c) Viewing the post
lesson discussion as a joint
learning opportunity
(d) Clear goals and questions from the
plan/observation sheet
(e) A designated ‘moderator’ for the discussion
(a chair who can lead the discussion positively,) a
role that can be combined with that of
(f) ‘Adviser,’ (final commentator) whose role it
is to capture the
learning distilled from the
discussion, in order that it can be acted upon
by the group and others beyond the group. This
person may be external to the school (Takahashi,
2005).
The most important thing to remember though is that
the flow of analysis needs to start with the observations
made of the case pupils’ (and other pupils’) learning
before it addresses the teaching (See Fig 3 below). This
preserves the focus on student learning and on teacher
learning from this and reduces the tendency for lesson
observation discussions to become feedback on teaching
(which teachers can feel is judgmental in nature and not
conducive to teacher learning (See Fig 3 below).
Notes
‘….it’s amazing how much you learn by explicating
your ideas, so in challenging me, I have to justify
why I think we should do this in this particular way
and through that it really strengthens your own knowledge
and gets you to a place you could not get on your own’