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Victor Brancati

Professor Rasmussen

Liberal Studies

2/14/17

Lesson Study Essay 1

Last week my liberal studies class visited and observed a kindergarten classroom at an

elementary school in San Rafael. The teacher there read the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle

to the class and then all of us helped the students work on an art project based on that nursery

rhyme. While there, we focused on Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs) that were relevant

to the lesson. The first TPEs that we focused on was TPE 1.7: provide students with

opportunities to access the curriculum by incorporating the visual and performing arts, as

appropriate to the content and context of learning. We also looked for TPE 3.3: plan, design,

implement, and monitor instruction consistent with current subject-specific pedagogy in the

content area of instruction, and design and implement disciplinary and cross-disciplinary

learning sequences, including integrating the visual and performing arts as applicable to the

discipline. Last, we assessed student engagement for the lesson.

In the lesson, the students created their own art picture with construction paper based off

of the story that the teacher had read to the class. TPE 1.7: Provide students with opportunities to

access the curriculum by incorporating the visual and performing arts, as appropriate to the

content and context of learning was demonstrated accurately because the students are able to use

the art picture that they are making to comprehend the nursery rhyme. By using this technique of

making the picture out of construction paper, the students were able to visually and kinetically

better understand the nursery rhyme. The students learning can be observed through the picture
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that they made and seeing if all of the parts of the nursery rhyme are in the right place. The

students were also learning this nursery rhyme because they would later be performing it. Being

able to do the action of the nursery rhyme will make the story more relatable for the students and

therefore give them a grasp of what the nursery rhyme might mean to them in their own life.

Secondly, TPE 3.3: plan, design, implement, and monitor instruction consistent with

current subject-specific pedagogy in the content area of instruction, and design and implement

disciplinary and cross-disciplinary learning sequences, including integrating the visual and

performing arts as applicable to the discipline was demonstrated in the teachers preparation for

the lesson. The teacher gave my liberal studies class handouts of the art project the students

would be making ahead of time. This gave us the opportunity to plan and prepare for the lesson

so we could implement it in the best way possible. To start the lesson, the teacher read a book to

the class about the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle. After the students heard the nursery

rhyme, the art aspect of the lesson started when they made a picture of Hey Diddle Diddle.

Last, student engagement was incorporated into the lesson when the teacher gave the

students time told the students it was okay to finish their project later and when the students

followed instructions by listening and then doing. Since the art project would take a lot of time,

the teacher knew that the students would not finish in the time period we were there. As a result,

when it was time to go to lunch the teacher just told the student to put down their work and leave

it for later. This encourages student engagement because they were able to work through what

they were doing to fully understand it. The teacher had taught the students listen, then do

which help them understand to not go ahead and follow instructions. As helpers in the class, we

used listen, then do to give the students instructions for the art project. As they were working

we were able to monitor the students progress.

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By not only observing this lesson study but also being able to take part in a major portion

of the lesson, I learned the TPEs in a very different way. Normally at a lesson study we watch the

teacher and see how they act and fulfill the TPEs. After that we are given a chance to help the

students with their work. This lesson study was different because I observed the TPEs through

my own actions. The first TPEs that I focused on was TPE 1.7: provide students with

opportunities to access the curriculum by incorporating the visual and performing arts, as

appropriate to the content and context of learning. I also watched for TPE 3.3: plan, design,

implement, and monitor instruction consistent with current subject-specific pedagogy in the

content area of instruction, and design and implement disciplinary and cross-disciplinary

learning sequences, including integrating the visual and performing arts as applicable to the

discipline. Last, I assessed student engagement for the lesson. I think that taking part in the

teaching of the lesson and not just helping of the lesson makes a big difference of how we view

the different TPEs.