Collegiality, Reduced Isolation, and Validation Through Lesson Study Embedded in Learning Communities

• In Event: Teacher Learning Through Lesson Study in Various Contexts

Abstract

This qualitative study shares ways in which faculty from an educator preparation program in the Southern United States developed collegiality, felt validated, and reduced isolation through hybrid (Zoom and in-person) participation in Lesson Study. Within a larger faculty learning community of 12, three small groups of three to five teacher educators in various departments and roles formed based around self-directed goals and followed the steps and activities of the Lesson Study cycle. Using the constant comparative method to analyze researchers’ reflective journals, field notes, surveys, and interviews, the study revealed many benefits and challenges. This presentation specifically focuses on findings around participants’ reported benefits from their engagement in the experience and the conditions that led to a successful collaborative experience.

Authors

• Marietta Smith Adams, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Tori K. Flint, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Micah N. Bruce-Davis, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Aimee Barber, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  Presenting Author