Syracuse University SURFACE Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations School of Education 12-2011 Lesson Study: Developing a Knowledge Base for Elementary Writing Instruction Vicki McQuitty Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/tl_etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation McQuitty, Vicki, "Lesson Study: Developing a Knowledge Base for Elementary Writing Instruction" (2011). Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations. 236. https://surface.syr.edu/tl_etd/236 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Education at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ! Abstract Concern about students’ writing skills has led to recommendations that elementary teachers receive more professional development in how to teach writing (National Commission on Writing, 2006). However, there is currently little evidence about the knowledge teachers need to teach writing well, and it is therefore difficult for teacher educators to design effective professional development experiences. What is needed is a better understanding of the knowledge base that informs teaching writing to elementary children.!One possible means of gathering evidence about this knowledge base is through a collaborative teacher research process known as lesson study (Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2002; Lewis, Perry, & Murata, 2006). Lesson study engages teachers in planning, evaluating, and improving lessons, so the process generates knowledge teachers find useful for their practice and may provide a mechanism for identifying some of the knowledge needed to teach writing. The goal of this study was to explore that possibility by describing the knowledge about writing instruction that elementary teachers generated through the lesson study process. ! This qualitative case study drew on complexity theory (Davis & Sumara, 2006), to conceptualize lesson study as a knowledge producing process and the lesson study groups who participated as knowledge producing systems. It addressed two main questions: (1) How did the lesson study systems enable and constrain the knowledge about writing instruction that emerged through them? and (2) What was the nature and content of the knowledge about writing instruction that emerged through the lesson study systems? Four lesson study groups, two in each of two elementary schools, participated. Data was collected through videotaping the lesson study sessions, collecting the ! ! documents the groups created during the lesson study process, and interviewing the participants after the lesson study cycle ended. The findings indicated that instances of over constraint, under constraint, and enabling constraint occurred in each lesson study group and that the groups produced knowledge that varied in content and nature. In general, instances of enabling constraint produced knowledge that fit the criteria for professional knowledge outlined by lesson study proponents (Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2002). Instances of over constraint and under constraint produced knowledge that did not fit the professional knowledge criteria. This knowledge may therefore be less useful for teachers outside the lesson study groups than for the teachers who generated it. The findings suggests that lesson study can, but does not always, produce knowledge suitable for the professional knowledge base for teaching writing. The implication is that, if lesson study groups are to generate knowledge for the knowledge base, they must be organized is such a way that they prompt enabling constraint within themselves. LESSON STUDY: DEVELOPING A KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR ELEMENTARY WRITING INSTRUCTION by Vicki McQuitty B.S., Oklahoma Baptist University, 1993 M.S., Syracuse University, 2004 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching and Curriculum Syracuse University December 2011 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Copyright © Vicki McQuitty 2011 All Rights Reserved! v Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… i Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………. v List of Illustrations………………………………………………………………… vii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….. viii Chapter One – Introduction……………………………………………………….. 1 Student Writing Performance……………………………………………... 2 Writing Instruction in Elementary Classrooms…………………………… 5 Elementary Writing Teacher Preparation…………………………………. 13 Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………. 17 Definition of Terms……………………………………………………….. 18 Organization of the Dissertation…………………………………………... 19 Chapter Two – Literature Review…………………………………………………. 22 Knowledge (Base) for Teaching…………………………………………… 22 Lesson Study………………………………………………………………. 31 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………. 52 Chapter Summary………………………………………………………….. 69 Chapter Three – Research Design…………………………………………………. 71 Case Study…………………………………………………………………. 71 The Schools and the Participants………………………………………….. 73 Procedures…………………………………………………………………. 76 Data Collection……………………………………………………………. 81 Data Analysis………………………………………………………………. 84 Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………. 90 Chapter Summary………………………………………………………….. 93 Chapter Four – The Lesson Study Systems………………………………………… 94 Participating District and Schools………………………………………….. 95 The Lesson Study Systems…………………………………………………. 99 Chapter Summary…………………………………………………………... 130 Chapter Five – Knowledge Generation…………………………………………….. 133 Over Constraint in the Lesson Study Systems……………………………... 135 Under Constraint in the Lesson Study Systems……………………………. 141 Enabling Constraint in the Lesson Study Systems…………………………. 166 Chapter Summary…………………………………………………………... 192 vi Chapter Six – Nature and Content of the Knowledge……………………………… 193 Nature of the Knowledge about Writing Instruction……………………….. 193 Content of the Knowledge about Writing Instruction……………………… 214 Chapter Summary………………………………………………………….. 224 Chapter Seven – Discussion, Conclusions, and Implications……………………….. 225 Lesson Study and Knowledge Generation…………………………………... 225 Lesson Study and a Knowledge Base for Writing Instruction………………. 227 Implications for Practice…………………………………………………….. 237 Directions for Future Research……………………………………………… 244 Significance of the Study……………………………………………………. 249 Appendices………………………………………………………………………….. 252 Appendix A – Coding Scheme: Content of the Knowledge ……………….. 252 Appendix B – A Tool for Planning and Describing Research Lessons…….. 254 Appendix C – Deer Valley K Group Final Lesson Study Report…………... 261 Appendix D – Deer Valley 2 Group Final Lesson Study Report………….... 267 Appendix E – Lesson Study Handouts……………………………………… 273 Appendix F – Writing Professional Development Books…………………... 282 Appendix G – Hillside K Group’s Research Lesson Plan…………………... 284 Appendix H – Hillside K Group’s Observation Recording Sheets…………. 287 Appendix I – Lesson Study Debrief Protocol……………………………….. 293 Appendix J – Graphic Organizer Used as Model by Hillside 2 Group……… 295 Appendix K – Graphic Organizer Created by Hillside 2 Group……………... 297 Appendix L – Hillside 2 Group’s Observation Recording Sheet…………… 299 Appendix M – Hillside K Group’s Lesson Planning Tool Notes……………. 301 References…………………………………………………………………………… 303 Vita………………………………………………………………………………….. 321 vii List of Illustrations Figure 1. HS K research lesson plan……………………………………………… 110 Figure 2. HS 2 Research lesson plan ……………………………………………... 116 Figure 3. Summary of lesson study groups and participants ……………………... 129 Figure 4. Summary of professional development sessions by group …………….. 130 viii Acknowledgements An old African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” It also takes a village to get a graduate student from the beginning of her program to the successful completion of her dissertation. There are many people who made this dissertation and my journey to a Ph.D. possible. First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee—Drs. Gerald Mager, Kathleen Hinchman, and Benjamin Dotger—for their patience, guidance, and support throughout this process. I am grateful for their suggestions and wisdom, not only about this dissertation, but also about how succeed in my endeavor to be a teacher educator. Their mentorship has been invaluable. In addition to my dissertation committee, I am forever thankful for the friends and colleagues that walked this path with me. Joanne O’Toole and Carol Willard, who I met in my first doctoral course, have been never-ending sources of encouragement, camaraderie, and insight. Their friendship made the difficult times more bearable and the joyful times more rewarding. The members of the math and science education seminar, who welcomed me into their group even though I was “a literacy person,” provided valuable feedback on early drafts of this dissertation. I am grateful for their willingness to read my work on writing instruction! I am also grateful to Mary Beth Western and the wonderful teachers at her school who made care packages of snacks to get me through the long hours of writing. This dissertation would not have been possible without the ongoing support of my family. My parents Phil and Mary Ellen, sister Dawn and brother-in-law Dan, and niece Annie cheered me on throughout the process and understood when I worked during iv holidays and family vacations. Their unwavering belief that I could successfully complete this project kept me going. Most of all, I want to thank my wonderful