Topic outline

  • General

    About this Moodle

    From October to December 2011, 24 teachers from across various school districts, as well as private and charter schools around, and within Calgary, met to look at ways to improve mathematical understanding in their classrooms.  The cohort started with a full day for teachers - an introduction to what the cohort was about, followed by teachers being actively engaged in two engaging and rich math tasks.  Following the first day, teachers then met every two weeks. 

    The process of these meetings, including the first one, was to introduce teachers to a rich math task, have them engage in the task as a group of learners, debrief the activity regarding questions that teachers could ask students who might struggle or excel in this activity, discuss some additional scaffolding that may be needed, identify misconceptions that students may run into and how to best support learners. 

    After each problem was presented and debriefed with teachers, they were then asked to return to their classroom and within the following two weeks, do the problem with a group of students.  During that time, teachers were asked to document through audio or video what the students were saying and doing.  They were also encouraged to collect written artifacts of the students work.

    When teachers gathered together again, we had the chance to observe the lesson in action.  Thanks to the Calgary Science School, we were able to go into two teachers classrooms and watch how the students took up the tasks.

    After this observations, teachers met to debrief what they saw in the classroom they observed at the Calgary Science School, what they saw in their classroom, how students reacted and worked on the tasks being presented to them, and to also show evidence of what took place (audio, video or artifact).

    After this, the process was repeated - new problem, new misunderstandings to consider, new supporting/stretching questions to consider, return to classroom to do the problem, return to group to oberve the lesson in a class, and debrief.

    Below are some of the problems that teachers looked at, along with some video regarding lesson study, teachers in action debriefing the problems and much more information.  Enjoy!

  • Topic 1

    Welcome to the CRC Lesson Study!

    LS IntroWelcome to Lesson Study. We are about to embark on 8 weeks of discovery and reflection around teaching and learning. I hope you are up to the challenge and that you enjoy our time together.

    Over the next 8 weeks we will have many opportunities to talk to each other, observe lessons, observe our students and reflect on the learning opportunities that are students are engaged in. It is bound to be very exciting work. I look forward to getting to know everyone.

  • Topic 2

    Week #1 Activity

    So, we are now doing our first round of lesson study. How are you finding the first activity? Feel free to enter any discussion items here for your fellow participants.

  • Topic 3

    Week #2 Activity

    We are now in the second round of lesson study.

    For this week you personally have 4 choices - do the same activity as last time, do the other activity we were introduced to in week 1, do the toothpick problem we worked on in week 2 or do the block pattern activity. You get to choose. When we meet back on November 14th, we will be observing the toothpick problem and the block patterns problem.

    How are you finding the second activity? Is there anything that you are doing different after the first round? Feel free to enter any discussion items here for your fellow participants.

  • Topic 4

    Week #3 Activity

    So, this week we are looking at candy. There is a video that you can use to introduce the candy problem to students. Thank you very much to Craig C. for putting this together for us. Enjoy. The candy problem is attached according to the handout we worked from on November 14th. Further information can also be found on the CSS website at the following link http://calgaryscienceschool.blogspot.com/2011/10/inquiry-in-math.html

  • Topic 5

    Week #4 Activity

    Teachers have been asked to bring a problem that they wish to look at. It is encouraged that teachers will upload their problems below. Simply click on the link below and upload your file.

    Erin and Jon will pick a problem from the list of problems that you upload here to do in the final week.

  • Topic 6

    Week #5

    We will be celebrating what we have learned in the past 2 months and all the hard work that you have put in. Please come prepared for a bit of video/audio reflection on the whole experience. Also consider how things could have been improved/what we could do differently if done again as well as where you would possibly like to go from here next!

    • Topic 7

      Additional Resources

    • Topic 8

      Staying Connected

      Please use the forum link below to stay connected to members within our cohort.

    • Topic 9

      Final Thoughts

      Here is a video of some of the thoughts from teachers involved in this project.

    • Topic 10