Portions of the DLC site have moved to the Digital Learning Department at OSPI.

Digital Learning CommonsDigital Learning Commons

Lesson Improvement Process

Back | Page 1 of 6 | Next

Introduction

Overarching question of the lesson improvement process:

  • How are skills for coaching and knowledge about effective lesson design applied in collaborative work on lesson improvement?

Questions to guide our collaboration:

  • How are everyday classroom lessons improved through increasing connections to standards, authenticity of tasks, engagement of students, and powerful use of technology?
  • How are collaboration and communication skills used to assist collaborative work on lesson improvement?

New Ways of Learning

The Internet and other technologies are a great boon to education. The learning sciences are pointing the way toward new approaches to student learning. Teaching to standards has become the expected norm. What do teachers need to do to prepare lessons that take full advantage of these best practices?

Teachers Need a New Approach

This will help students:

  • Know the standards toward which they are working and how their success will be measured.
  • Become more skillful thinkers who complete tasks requiring higher-order thinking skills.
  • Develop competency in digital-age information skills such as effectively locating information, evaluating sources, crediting sources, and organizing information to draw conclusions.
  • Become genuinely engaged in their work because they are learning useful life and workplace skills, are encouraged to use their own life experience in solving a problem, are invited to be creative and original, and are creating products and performances that have usefulness outside the classroom.

Questions that Guide the Lesson Improvement Process

One practical way to incorporate best practices is to improve existing classroom lessons through attention to a simple set of five questions related to lesson improvement:

  1. What is an authentic, engaging problem that students might address in doing this lesson?
  2. What are the academic and 21st Century Skills standards that students will work on?
  3. What are the student steps and teacher directions needed to work through the problem situation posed by the lesson?
  4. What are some ways that technology can enhance teaching and learning throughout the lesson?
  5. How will student success be measured against the selected standards?

Improving a Lesson and Practicing Collaboration

  1. You are going to improve a traditional lesson by using:
    • The five questions.
    • The Learning Activity Checklist.
    • Exemplary lesson design resources.
    • DLC tools and resources.
  2. You will also simulate real-life coaching and collaboration by:
    • Working in collaborative teams.
    • Practicing your collaboration and communication skills as you make lesson improvement decisions.
    • Giving and taking feedback.
    • Reflecting on the merits of your efforts.
    • Using a Lesson Improvement Process Rubric to guide your work.

Setting Up Your Lesson

You will use the Lesson Improvement Project Template to create your newly improved lesson.

Back | Page 1 of 6 | Next