Lesson Study and Bilingual Education

According to TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) results, Japanese students show more advanced performance and deeper thinking in mathematics. Many mathematics teachers’ in other parts of the world are looking closely at the strategies and techniques of Japanese teachers to help them improve their teaching as well as their students’ achievements in mathematics.

Some reports say that one of the key elements of their success is that they conduct Lesson Study, in which the teachers work as a group. They first choose a research theme in math, which should be school-wide and then they select a goal and unit of study to focus upon. They then create corresponding teaching plan and one member of them will teach it. The other members of the group observe the lesson. After the observation, they will discuss and revise the lesson and document the findings.

Do you think this kind of teaching-researching teamwork will be applicable to bilingual education? If you think it will, do you have any specific idea about how it can be applied?

Posted by Qing Qing

We had a discussion before in the math class about memorize the multiplication table. We all know that if the children just know how to memorize the table, they will not be able to explain why 5 times 5 equal to 25. They will not truly understand the meaning of multiplication. But by the end do we need to help the students to memorize the multiplication table? If they do not memorize it, they will have to rely on the calculators or the multiplication table all the time. They will not be able to calculate things fast. How can they survive in this competitive world? Growing up under Chinese Math education system, I feel that I learned a lot of math skills that I will not need during my high school years; teaching in the U.S school, do we teach our students enough math skills?

Profound Understandings

This week for math we read two chapters on a “Profound Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics” (or PUFM). These chapters compared Chinese and US teachers’ understandings of fundamental mathematics including subtraction with redistribution, multi-digit multiplication, division with fractions, and the relationship between area and perimeter. The author argued that Chinese teachers seemed much more likely to have a PUFM than US teachers, but only gained this PUFM after having taught for years. This PUFM, the author proposed, came from intense study of the teaching materials and the field of mathematics in addition to regular conversation with fellow teachers about different ways of problem solving. These Chinese teachers teach one subject (mathematics) for three to four 45 minute lessons a day and spend the rest of the time in one-on-one conferences with students and developing their understanding of mathematics with their peers. That is just not the reality in most schools in the US, where elementary school teachers tend to teach all the subjects and have little professional development time. Keeping this in mind, what lessons can be learned from doing reading of this kind, which compare two countries that have entirely different cultures and attitudes towards education? What do we gain from this?

No Child Left Behind Act: Good or Bad?

As it is mentioned in Sleeter's chapter entitled Democratized Assessment, the No Child Left Behind Act is receiving mixed reviews: "While some find standardized testing to be a very useful lever to improve teaching and learning, especially for students from historically underserved communities, others find it punishes those very same students. Nationally, there is tremendous controversy over whether standards-based reform by testing promotes or undermines equity" (p65).

The NCLB act requires accountability through standardized testing of students. Every student in the school is tested, including Special Education students, students who have English as a second language yet with little comprehension yet of English, etc. The schools are then ranked regarding their progress toward achieving passing test scores for all students. The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to achieve 100% proficiency by the 2013-2014 school year, and each year until then the proficiency requirement increases. Limited accommodations are made for special circumstances. Test scores for immigrant students are not counted during their first year of U.S. school. Students with learning disabilities can receive certain special accommodations such as extra time, but only 1% of total students may take an alternative test for special education students, even if the student population of special education students is 5%, 10%, 15% or more.

What is your opinion regarding this Act? Do you think the No Child Left Behind Act provides a well-rounded education to students or intrudes the educational process requiring teachers to teach to a test?