Plan the Research Lesson
Teachers plan a lesson together. For each lesson, the following resources are provided:
- Professional development resources to guide and support the lead teacher
- All classroom material, includes a powerpoint, tasks and a comprehensive teacher guide
Research theme
Each lesson has a research theme that focuses on one aspect of dialogic learning.
For example, for Lesson 1 the research question is:
How does collaborative learning (through the design of resources and the actions of the teacher) promote collective endeavour?
The question helps focus teachers’ attention during the planning, as well as the two other stages of the collaborative research process.
Focus on student learning
Together, teachers go through ‘story of the lesson’, getting grips with the key activities, and how they address the learning goals of the lesson.
Teachers should:
- decide where there are opportunities for collaborative learning
- rehearse the lesson as learners
- focus on the difficulties students may encounter and how teachers can support them through prompts and questions.
At this stage, the group may decide to refine the lesson to better suit their particular context. It is important that teachers have ownership of the materials, but do caution against major changes as this could undermine the efficacy of the tasks.
Lead teachers from the Maths-for-Life programme discuss how they plan to teach a Maths-for-Life lesson, including familiarising themselves with the student activity, anticipating student misconceptions and considering which questions to ask.