Teacher Leaders Providing Classroom Support to Teachers through Demonstration Lessons/Modeling

Teacher leaders use many strategies to help teachers improve their instruction. A common strategy is to demonstrate a lesson. This demonstration may occur in a single teacher’s classroom or in a central classroom so that multiple teachers may observe. The point is to demonstrate to teachers how to implement the desired curricular and instructional practices with students. It is important, as well, to discuss with teachers before the lesson what they should look for, and to debrief with them afterward. Demonstration lessons lend credibility to the teacher leader’s work, and are often highly valued by teachers because they can see how the lesson actually works.

Experienced practitioners, including MSP program leaders, offered insights around strategies that teacher leaders can use to help classroom teachers improve their instruction. Data were collected and vetted through multi-round, online panel discussions with practitioners, as well as interviews and focus groups with MSP leaders. The insights below reflect general agreement among these practitioners on the strategy of using demonstration lessons or modeling, illustrated with examples from their own practice. After reviewing these insights, you will be given an opportunity to share your own experiences with using these strategies for these purposes. The information you provide will be included in the analysis of insights and examples from other practitioners as this website is periodically updated.

Knowledge matters – Make sure teacher leaders understand the content and concepts to be developed in demonstration lesson.

Experienced practitioners emphasized that teacher leaders need a thorough understanding of the mathematics or science content of the lesson, plus knowledge of how best to teach the content, in order to teach a demonstration lesson well. This requirement doesn't mean that the lesson must proceed flawlessly. As one MSP leader noted,

Teaching a lesson that does not go smoothly is fine—and maybe even better than one that works exactly as designed—because it provides opportunity for reflection on what happened. But even then, the preparation and knowledge of the teacher leader should be extensive or else the reflection will be limited.

If a teacher leader’s knowledge of the content or pedagogy of the lesson s/he intends to demonstrate is not particularly strong, sufficient preparation is needed to maximize what the lesson can demonstrate to a teacher (and to help students learn.) A teacher leader may want to work with a content expert in planning the demonstration lesson and/or do a “dry run” of the lesson with other teacher leaders, supervisors, or content experts to get feedback on how to best teach (and explicate) the content and pedagogy of the lesson.

It could happen here! – Advocate that teacher leaders provide demonstration lessons in a classroom setting that is realistic and similar to the teacher's classroom.

Demonstration lessons offer proof to teachers that a lesson, strategy or activity is possible in his/her classroom “with my kids.” Ideally, the demonstration lesson will occur in the teacher's own classroom with the teacher's students. In some cases (such as when the teacher leader wishes to demonstrate a lesson for a group of teachers), the classroom setting may be that of another teacher in the building or a classroom that is seen on video. In these cases, the credibility of the lessons will be higher if the students are similar in ability and disposition to those of the teachers observing the demonstration lessons. The point is that the lesson that is demonstrated or the strategy that is modeled should not be viewed by teachers as beyond the capacity of their own students.

Keep it real – Make sure that a teacher leader’s demonstration lesson is purposeful and relevant to the teacher's current work.

As one MSP leader remarked, “It is essential that the modeling experience be purposeful and relevant to the teachers, connected to the lessons they are doing, and contribute to the teacher’s goals for students.” The lesson may be focused on something that the teacher is currently trying to do in his/her own classroom, something that the teacher anticipates doing, or something that the teacher is reluctant to do because of the challenge it poses. A demonstration lesson or modeling experience needs to have some meaning for the teacher; it must not be so far beyond his/her own practice or questions that it seems irrelevant.

Insight in action
In a mentoring program where teacher leaders served as instructional coaches for beginning middle and high school mathematics and science teachers, new teachers were provided with opportunities to plan lessons as a group and then observe as one of the teacher leaders demonstrated the lesson with students. Following the demonstration, the group of teachers had an opportunity to discuss what they had observed. Teachers were particularly invested in the demonstration as they had worked with the teacher leader to design and develop the lesson plan.

Identify a focus – Emphasize with teacher leaders that a teacher’s observation of a demonstration lesson needs to be framed by a specific question or issue.

As a teacher observes a demonstration lesson, that observation needs to have a clear focus. Without a guiding question or issue, the teacher may not understand the purpose of the demonstration lesson, and may view the lesson “as a ‘break’ rather than a learning opportunity.” Therefore, experienced practitioners suggested that, prior to the demonstration lesson, the teacher leader and the teacher agree on a framing question or issue that will provide a focus for the teacher’s observation.

An observation protocol can help the teacher focus on the agreed-upon question or issue, and can also provide a framework for a follow-up discussion. As an example, one MSP leader described the Japanese practice of conducting research lessons, in which “the research evidence is collected by the observers about what in the lesson enables learning and what does not. This provides some focus to the observation by the teachers and to the discussion after the observation between the teachers and teacher leader.”

Teacher leaders in another MSP used a classroom observation checklist to focus the observer’s attention on the lesson’s content and students’ engagement with that content. It included questions such as: Are students challenging the ideas of other students or the teacher? Are they carrying out investigations? Are they confident in their content knowledge? Do they present and discuss multiple solutions? Teacher leaders and teachers used this kind of checklist to preview a lesson, to guide observations, and to structure follow-up discussion.

It’s what you do and what you say – Make sure there is time for the teacher and teacher leader to debrief and discuss what the teacher understood from the observation.

Soon after the demonstration lesson or modeling experience, experienced practitioners suggested that the teacher and teacher leader discuss what the teacher understood from his/her observation. This is the “making meaning” part of the experience, which is important in answering the framing question that the teacher brought to the observation. In this discussion, as one MSP leader explains,

The role of the teacher leader is to ensure that the discussion focuses on the lesson and whether the mathematical goals were achieved and what evidence did the observers see that would help them answer that question. The discussion also has to focus on only one or two issues. For example, Was the key question the right one? Should a table have been introduced, or did that switch the focus? Was the example chosen so as to lead to the mathematical points that they wanted to make?

Debriefing is also the time when the teacher leader helps the teacher connect what was observed to his/her own classroom practice, in this way “making meaning” relevant to the teacher's own instruction. Thus, discussion time after the demonstration lesson or modeling experience is an opportunity both to analyze what was observed and to strategize about implications for application by the teacher.

Insight in action
As part of a district-level coaching program, teacher leaders used demonstration lessons as an early intervention with K-8 mathematics teachers, an opportunity to provide them with examples of the types of mathematics instruction being advocated. In a conference before the demonstration, teacher leaders made sure that the teacher had a specific focus and a question to attend to during the observation. The demonstration lesson was followed by a post-conference between the teacher leader and the teacher. This work was part of ongoing coaching, where planning, observing and debriefing sessions occurred periodically over an extended period of time.

Get on the same page – Advocate that a teacher leader and a teacher share expectations about what constitutes good instruction.

Establishing shared expectations about what good instruction is may precede a demonstration lesson (and be enacted in the lesson) or be articulated through reflection on a demonstration lesson. If expectations are not shared initially, it is the role of the teacher leader to introduce them through his/her work with a teacher. As one MSP leader pointed out, “You can't always get agreement on what constitutes good instruction ahead of time. Teachers can agree ‘to give it [a lesson] a try’ before agreeing on what constitutes good instruction. Once they experience the impact of good instruction, they may change their mind.” These shared expectations about good instruction should be grounded in research and supported by evidence of student learning, not based simply on what the teacher leader and teacher may think. As described by another MSP leader,

Demonstration lessons provide an opportunity to open doors between classrooms and break down cultures of “whatever I do in my classroom is my business only and its fine.” Getting to a place where teacher leaders—and “regular” teachers—agreed to have their instruction observed, to debrief, and to focus on identified areas for discussion and improvement is central to building and sustaining a shared vision of effective instruction and for fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This mechanism allows for teachers to get feedback, which is a necessary component for improvement.

Timing is everything – Work with teacher leaders to be purposeful about when and with whom demonstration lessons are used.

Experienced practitioners noted that the purpose of demonstration lessons can change, depending on the needs and experiences of teachers. When a particular lesson or strategy is new to a teacher, modeling is a useful way to develop the teacher's capacity to implement the strategy in his/her classroom. As the teacher becomes more proficient with the new lesson or strategy, the purpose of a demonstration lesson may move from learning to implement the strategy to “improving and refining how the teacher handles content.” Whether demonstrating lessons for a new or veteran teacher, an essential condition is that teacher leaders are purposeful about when, and to what end, a demonstration lesson or modeling experience is used with a teacher.

Reaching more teachers – Recommend that teacher leaders use demonstration lessons with groups of teachers.

The insights shared above apply not only when the teacher leader is working with a single teacher, but also when working with a group of teachers. It may be more difficult to schedule a demonstration lesson with a group of teachers, and also more demanding in terms of facilitating discussion before and after the observation. Even so, modeling for a group of teachers can lead to a discussion enriched by multiple responses, provided that all are in agreement about the question or issue they use to frame the experience. As one MSP leader observed, “Many eyes see different aspects, even around the same focus question. The discussion afterwards helps all of the teachers and shows that the learning is for everyone.” A demonstration lesson done with a group of teachers thus provides a “much deeper and better experience than the expert telling the novice.” An essential condition is that the modeling experience is appropriate for all of the teachers in the group.

Insight in action
As part of a district program to support new teachers’ classroom practice, teacher leaders demonstrated number talk (K-2nd grade) and mental computation (3rd-5th grade) lessons in classes. The schools’ administration provided time for teacher leaders to meet with teachers before and after the demonstration lesson. Teacher leaders usually demonstrated these lessons for groups of teachers (ranging in size from just a few teachers to 20-30 teachers), rather than working one-on-one with a single teacher. Indicators of this practice’s effectiveness included evidence of teachers integrating number talks or mental computation into their instruction and requests from schools for additional work with teacher leaders.

Now It's Your Turn...

If you would like to comment on any of these insights or provide an example based on your own experiences with demonstration lessons or modeling as a strategy for instructional support, we invite to share your comments or example here.

If you would like to share additional insights (not included in the list above) from your own experiences with demonstration lessons or modeling, we invite you to add these insights here.

If you are interested in how these practitioner insights were collected and analyzed, a summary of the methodology can be found here.