The Japanese teachers made the 90-minute trip to attend School 2's weekly meetings and mentor their American colleagues. Paterson teachers also traveled to Greenwich to watch lesson study in action. In Japanese schools, as one group of teachers finishes its lesson study, the next group moves into lesson study, to be followed by yet another group. Each small group then spent 15 to 18 hours developing each lesson, Fernandez said. Large bookstores carry published collections of study lessons that include teacher reflections about what worked and what didn't.
Schools have open houses to demonstrate study lessons for teachers from other schools.
Open houses at some national schools in Japan can draw up to 5,000 teachers. Each small group presented a draft of its lesson to the larger group, including the Japanese teachers, for feedback. Then they taught that lesson to a class as part of the regular curriculum. Each time the lesson was taught to students, it also was observed by other teachers. School 2's math specialist and other teachers from the small group observed and took notes.