Lesson Study in Mathematics

Nigel Bufton

Anna Middleton

Rachel Fort

Camden School ImprovementSuccess for all

Context

• Camden sought to develop Lesson Study approach across primary schools

• Keen to improve progress in mathematics across Years 2, 3 and 4

• Invited group of 7 schools to participate

• Importance of head teachers’ involvement

• Schools meet half-termly, self funded

• Develop case studies to share practice

Camden School ImprovementSuccess for all

Progress• First meeting with heads and teachers• Schools identified focus on learning from

– Core Skills of Number– Language, dialogue– Problem Solving

• Ongoing input of ideas to explore• Updates on learning and practices• Focus on writing case study• Phase 2 schools about to be invited

Camden School ImprovementSuccess for all

How Lesson Study has helped to improve learning in

mathematics

Camden School ImprovementSuccess for all

Beckford Primary School Inner-city school453 pupils on roll

42% eligible for FSM/ Pupil Premium67% of pupils do not have English as a first language

19% of pupils are on the SEND register Attainment low on entry

Progress over KS2 is improving

Focus and Aims for lesson studyTalk in Mathematics

Our aims were that our children would be able to:• talk confidently about learning and explain thinking.

• make links across learning and derive new facts from know secure facts.

We wanted to use the project to:• generate resources and ideas that best supported

children with EAL.

• explore the way pupils learn, thorough discussion and explanation of their mathematical thinking and reasoning.

Our lesson study format was flexible to suit our needs and focus

Who? Maths Subject Leader/Year 2 class teacher, parallel class teacher

What? Lessons with different foci but planned for maximum maths talk and explanations

Where? Year 2, observing children from parallel class

When? 3 lesson cycle, over a 2 month period

Why? A need to identify barriers to embedded learning

How? Class teacher cover made easier with supportive Leadership team and available GTP student

Lesson outlines

Lesson 1 – Mental Maths session – Odd and Even- star words for key vocabulary to include in explanations- Sentence prompts ‘I know…..because’ ‘I know…so…’ ‘…is not…’

Conclusion: Lack of structure to children’s explanations – prompts needed. Without the frames find it difficult to structure thinking. With frames, the thinking is modelled. Was excellent way to assess true understanding of the concept e.g. ‘It’s a little bit odd!’

Lesson 2 – Reasoning about number, finding possibilities- Envelope challenge to find hidden numbers with differentiated clues, clues given

sequentially and then reasoned as to which numbers can be eliminated - Sentence prompts ‘I know…..because’ ‘I know…so…’ ‘…is not…’ - Developing resilience in approaching a problem

Conclusion: Children could answer questions like “How do you know that?” or “Can you explain your answer?” using the frames as starting point. Developed possibilities.

Lesson 3 – Division- Contextualised examples involving making into groups and the link main back with

earlier x learning. Use of “I know ... so…” prompts, oral rehearsal alongside practical solving

Conclusion: Using context that children understand and beginning practically whilst developing language alongside meant a quicker move to using abstract symbols than with previous Year 2 class. Oral rehearsal gives children confidence very useful AFL.

What has worked for us?• Speaking prompts we used

“I know…so ...”“I know…because...” “...is not…”“...is not but...is...because...”

• Set high expectations through- Framing explanations - Full sentence responses- Accurate vocabulary, explanations- Star words – to be included in explanations - Allowing sufficient thinking time

What has worked for us?

- Talk rich activities planned e.g. More opening ended/using and applying activities/supportive grouping

- Greater ownership of assessing own learning and next steps

- Shared language - Speaking prompts used throughout school now and in other curriculum areas e.g. Explanations of character “I know…because…”

- Emphasis on inverse relationships and links to known facts

- Maths opportunities beyond the maths lesson

Impact?• Greater confidence in approaching and talking about maths

• More accurate assessment of children’s understanding

• More secure with inverse relationships, use of known facts to derive new facts

• Increasingly making links across mathematics

• Talk prompts adopted as whole school focus - noticeable improvement from Summer group of children to Autumn term group increasing confidence and articulation with introduction into Year 1

• Whole school use of shared language

• Whole school use of tested activities

What next? Lesson study extended to other year groups as a key to identifying

gaps in children’s understanding and barriers to learning.

Carlton Primary School Inner-city school

400 pupils on roll, 79% eligible for FSM/ Pupil Premium,

75% of pupils do not have English as a first language 35% of pupils are on the SEND register79%Historically low but rising attainmentSignificant progress KS1 to 2 last year

Focus and Aims for lesson study

We wanted to use the project to:

• identify barriers in number for those ‘stuck’ children

• identify why some children were having so much difficulty in using a number line

Our aims were that our children:

could overcome the barriers that were holding them back

How our lesson study operated

Who? Maths Subject Leader, experienced Year 3 teacher, NQT Year 4 teacher

What? Lessons with a focus on calculation and place value

Why? Support core group of children struggling with calculation and not making progress, a ‘dip’ in Year 3 that follows some children through to Year 6

Where? Year 3 class, taught by class teacher and subject leader

When? 3 lesson cycle, over 2 terms

Lesson outlinesLesson 1 – Calculating with TU numbers• Offered children a range of models, images to represent 2-digit numbers and use for

calculations with 2-digit numbers• Wanted to investigate exactly what the difficulties were

Conclusion: our focus group had some shocking gaps in their understanding and basic skills - we didn’t know what they didn’t know!

Lesson 2 – Breaking down skills needed for calculating, splitting class according to need• Two mini lessons – first adding multiples of 10, second adding units to multiples of 10• Wanted to go back to basics with focus children where understanding was muddled

Conclusion: ‘stuck’ children need precision teaching; splitting according to their needs worked well

NB Before Lesson 3, focus children had additional intervention from subject leader

Lesson 3 – Applying skills to data handling- Children calculated with 2 digit numbers through interpreting a bar chart; question

language- Wanted to investigate impact of intervention on focus children

Conclusion: improved recall of number facts made huge difference, more competent calculating – improved understanding of place value?

What worked?• Time and space Lesson study gave us the time and space to really

observe the children and unpick their difficulties• Breaking down skills Required careful thought about number of separate skills

needed for a ‘simple’ calculation – each part needs to be mastered

• Intervention group Children most at risk of not making progress given

opportunity to catch up – put them in a much stronger position

• Matching teaching effectively to gaps Teaching more needs led; different groups can go ‘off

objective’ if that’s what they need to support learning

Wider impactKey skills

Identified importance of key skills such as number facts and place value, to ensure children make genuine progress throughout school

Progression

Dialogue with current Year 2 teachers on how to avoid same difficulties being repeated

Wider professional development

Lesson Study rolled out across school – every teacher involved in some Lesson Study focus

Camden School Improvement

Success for all

• Supportive Leadership team• Two-form entry school was useful in having a partner from the

same year group.• Cover to allow observation (e.g. GTP student) • Time to feedback the same day• PPA time used to reflect on findings • Continued focus/theme through lessons, allowing it to develop• Trying something new that wouldn’t be done in ‘normal’ practice• After school staff meeting time given to group meetings for

review, sharing and further planning• Working with same class for consistency• Subject leader able to share findings beyond year group

What factors contributed to a successful lesson study group?

Camden School Improvement

Success for all

• Going alone without the support of senior staff• Having too many people involved at once• Not providing participants with sufficient explanation about or

background to the purpose of Lesson Study• Treating the process as separate learning sessions – needs

continuation between lessons to see development over time• Not sharing the responsibility for planning and delivering the

lesson as the process unfolds• Focusing planning on the teaching rather than expected learning• Observing teaching and not learning of children• Delaying post-lesson discussions and review• Being too cautious

What to avoid?