Planning and Analyzing Teaching

Front matter

‘In this reader-friendly book, the authors show how research can be applied to solve teachers’ most enduring challenge — creating richer learning opportunities for students. By presenting and interpreting a powerful theory of teaching and learning, along with examples from different school subjects, the authors lay out a coherent and compelling set of principles for planning, implementing, and improving instruction. This is a must read for teachers (and researchers) who want thoughtful, research-grounded, useable suggestions for improving their craft.’ James Hiebert, Robert J. Barkley Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware, Newark DE, USA

‘Many competent and dedicated teachers have likely pondered why some students fail to learn despite their meticulous planning and conscientious teaching. This book aims to shed light on this issue and propose ways to move forward. It explains Variation theory in accessible language and provides numerous practical examples from classroom research across various subject areas. The book serves as a bridge between Variation theory and Learning study, and classroom practice.’ Lo Mun Ling, retired professor from Hong Kong University of Education and the founding president of WALS

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

Contents

Foreword by Christine Kim-Eng Lee xiii Preface xv 1 Toward powerful learning opportunities 1

How do learners experience what is taught? 3 What is made possible to learn in an act of teaching? 5 Note 10

The object of learning reflects meaning 11 Characteristics of the object of learning 13 Further examples of objects of learning 16 The intended, enacted, and lived object of learning as reflecting different perspectives in teaching and learning 18 Object of learning as focus for planning and analyzing teaching 19

Foreword

This book, Planning and Analyzing Teaching, is a seminal piece written especially for teachers to help them understand Variation theory and Learning study as a theoretical lens they can use to plan and analyze their teaching in powerful ways to enhance student learning. Learning study draws inspiration from Japanese Lesson Study’s iterative cycles of critical inquiry, collaborative planning, observations of research lessons, reflections, and improvements but adds to this process a way for teachers to help students discern what is taught by focusing on the critical aspects of the objects of learning in lessons. Teachers are often faced with a recurrent problem in their practice of why some of their students are not able to grasp what they are teaching or did not learn what they intended. Identifying the critical aspects of the objects of learning and using Variation theory as a tool for making them visible through their teaching is not an easy task for teachers. This book recognizes this challenge for teachers and has explained Variation theory in ways that are accessible to teachers, clarifying what an object of learning is and how central it is for teachers to discern it carefully as they planned their teaching toward necessary conditions for learning from the learner’s perspective and making that as a starting point. This is where the shift is needed for teachers as often they view lessons from a teacher’s perspective and reduce an object of learning to specific content-related educational objectives. Using Variation theory also helps teachers to analyze the intended object of learning (what is planned) and compare it with the enacted object of learning (what was made possible to learn) and lived object of learning (what the students have experienced and learned). Such analyses in examining these relationships are powerful in helping teachers make improvements in their practice and close gaps to improve student learning. This book made clearer how variation is the key for learning as it makes critical aspects of an object of learning visible to learners and how this is different from the induction process of learning.

xiv Foreword

But how can this theory be understood by teachers? This book is replete with examples from pre-school to college from various subjects (mathematics, history, Swedish language, Cantonese language, English grammar and reading comprehension, chemistry, physical education, natural science, technology, economics) to help teachers concretize their understandings and bring these ideas into experimentation in their classrooms. It is also evident in the examples provided how important it is for teachers to collaborate as a community of inquirers to explore the meanings of the critical aspects of the object(s) of learning during the planning process, observe carefully, and gain further insights of critical aspects (if any) in the enacted object(s) and the lived object(s) of learning in their analysis. This plan-do-see-share cycle is integral to lesson study protocols. It is in working together that we learn together. It is also important to make public what teachers have learned from a Learning study so that the results of a Learning study can be further explored, tested, and refined by other teachers working on the same topic.

We want to congratulate the authors of this book for rising to the challenge of making Variation theory accessible to teachers as well as to researchers who are unfamiliar with Variation theory and Learning study. The ideas and examples shared in this book that included fine-grained analyses are powerful. We want to encourage readers to seriously consider these ideas and experiment with them in their practice. The WALS-Routledge Lesson Study Series is pleased to support the publication of this book which will prove to be a primer for those interested in implementing Learning Studies around the world. The WALS Lesson Study series provides an opportunity to showcase the excellent work of educators and researchers who will employ Lesson Studies to improve teacher and student learning and increase not just the intellectual capital but also social-emotional and cultural capital in schools, colleges, and universities.

Christine Kim-Eng Lee National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore WALS-Routledge Editorial Team