[This article presents
the challenges faced by practicing teachers in the course of
developing lessons in Physics from the point of view of a member of
the study group.]
“Ma’am, baka pwedeng bigyan n’yo na lang kami
ng lesson plan at iexecute na lang namin?”
(Ma’am, can you just give us a prepared lesson plan and then we
will just execute it?) One teacher of our lesson study group in
Physics asked during the initial planning of the lesson. What made
the teacher to ask this question?
Lesson study is about planning together to develop,
implement, and improve a research lesson. “Planning together” is
not something new to teachers. They plan on activities in school such
as Science Fairs and school foundation day celebration but “planning
together to come up with a lesson” is something unusual to them.
Teachers are used to prepare their own lesson plans and implement
them as they see fit. In a school, where there may be five or more
physics teachers, it is possible that these teachers differ in the
way they teach the same topic. Hence, asking teachers to plan a
lesson together faces a lot of challenges.
Finding time for planning the lesson was a challenge. In
our lesson study group, the teachers had to meet around lunchtime to
plan the lesson because they have classes in the afternoon.
Requesting them to come at this time was sometimes inconvenient for
them because they had personal matters to attend to. That was the
reason why a teacher asked for a prepared lesson plan to execute
instead of planning together to prepare a new one.
Finding the right activity for the lesson was a
challenge. Teachers acknowledge that letting the students do an
activity is a good practice. During the planning of the lesson, the
teachers brought activities they used in the previous school year. As
they presented the activities, they were asked some questions: 1)
Will the activities help your students to
discover the concept/s you want them to know? 2) Will the students be
able to discover the concept on their own? 3) What skills will be
developed through the activity? 4) Do you have the materials (or
enough materials) needed for the activity? These
questions were asked for teachers to realize that it was not enough
that students perform an activity for the sake of doing an activity.
Teachers had to evaluate the activity they were using. If the
activity does not meet the objectives of the lesson, they have to
select a more appropriate one or make some revisions. Moreover, the
teachers were asked to tryout the activity. There were situations
during the planning that they had to replace the activity or some
materials because the activity or material itself was not working. As
a result, it took several meetings just to come up with an activity.
Thus, teachers would say, “Hindi pala ganito
kadali gumawa ng activity (It is not so easy
to come up with an activity).”
Finding the appropriate strategy for a lesson was a
challenge. The usual sequence followed by the teacher in teaching a
science lesson is as follows: motivation, presentation of the concept
(including equation), performing the activity (if there is an
activity), guided solving of a sample problem, individual or group
problem solving, assessment, and homework. However, the formulated
goal for the lesson study was “To develop and nurture self-directed
learners who have enduring understanding of science concepts that can
be applied in real-life situations.” Their
usual way of teaching would not work to attain this goal because if
the teachers would simply give the concepts and equations, then the
students would become passive learners. Thus, there is a need for the
teacher to shift from being the source of information to a
facilitator of learning. They should guide their students to discover
the concepts on their own. To do this, the teachers have to think of
the questions they would ask to elicit thinking among the students as
well as the possible answers the students might give. Writing these
in their lesson plan would allow the teachers to anticipate different
scenarios that might happen during the class discussion. Planning the
lesson this way involves detailed and focused discussion and by
itself a challenge to a teacher who is used to deciding by herself or
himself on how to go about the lesson.
Indeed, planning together is not that easy. Yes, it
takes time to plan, choose an activity, and find an appropriate
teaching strategy. But to see the students enjoying the activity,
asking questions, and participating in class discussions are enough
rewards for the challenges faced. Going back to the teacher who asked
for a prepared lesson plan to execute, she no longer asked this
question in the succeeding cycles of planning. She became more
participative in the discussions and even implemented two lessons
made by the study group. Clearly, by embracing the challenges of
doing a lesson study paved the way for her professional development.
The experience with lesson study embodies this quote by Henry Ford:
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress;
working together is success.”
By May R. Chavez
