Teacher Leaders Providing Classroom Support to Teachers through Lesson Planning

Practice-Based Insights on Teacher Leaders Providing Classroom Support to Teachers through Lesson Planning

Teacher leaders – current or former classroom teachers working with other classroom teachers and other educators in the school or district – are present in many reform efforts in mathematics and science education. Lesson planning is one of a variety of strategies teacher leaders can use to support the improvement of classroom teachers’ instructional practice. As a strategy employed by teacher leaders, lesson planning, review, or analysis may be used for various purposes: to focus attention on the content and learning outcomes in a lesson, rather than on an “activity for activity’s sake”; to deepen understanding of “big ideas” and the content knowledge in a lesson; or for articulating the conceptual flow across lessons that guides student learning over time.

Advice from experienced practitioners offers guidance to those involved in teacher leaders' efforts to improve teachers’ classroom practice through lesson planning. Insights provided by a group of expert practitioners with diverse backgrounds and experiences in working with teachers included the following ideas:

• Start with the end in mind – Ensure that teacher leaders articulate the learning goals of a lesson so that they are clear and meaningful to the teacher.
• Content is job 1 – Emphasize with teacher leaders the centrality of the content of the lesson when lesson planning.
• Stay focused – Advocate that teacher leaders use a shared protocol to structure lesson planning.
• What’s the big idea? – Ensure that lesson planning addresses a series of lessons developing a "big idea."
• All together now – Develop shared expectations about what constitutes good instruction.
• Two or more can play this game – Recommend to teacher leaders that they engage in lesson planning with groups of teachers.

Teacher Leadership Matters

Empirical evidence shows that teacher leaders' practice impacts teachers' instructional practice and, in some studies, provides evidence of positive impact on student outcomes. Findings across studies include:

• Teacher leaders' practice, particularly in providing instructional support to teachers, impacts teachers' classroom practice.
• Teacher leaders' practice occurs in a larger context of conditions that impact teachers' practice.
• Teacher leaders' practice is related to positive student outcomes.

Research on Teacher Leaders Providing Classroom Support to Teachers through Lesson Planning

In a review of the published literature, nine research studies were identified in which teacher leaders engaged in lesson planning as a strategy to improve the instructional practices of classroom teachers. These studies were distributed across grades K-12 in mathematics and science, suggesting that lesson planning was considered an appropriate teacher leader strategy in various classroom settings. These studies examined different aspects of teacher leaders’ engaged in lesson planning: as part of a definition of teacher leader practice; the impact of an intervention (such as teacher leader training) on teacher leader practices, including lesson planning on student outcomes; and the impact of interventions on teacher leader practice, including engagement in lesson planning. In these studies, lesson planning was examined as part of a set of teacher leader practices; none focused on the unique contribution of lesson planning. The findings suggest that lesson planning is recognized as part of a set of practices through which teacher leaders work with teachers to improve classroom instruction.