Attending the lesson study was a valuable experience for me .The positive effects of the lesson study  on my teaching practice comes from two different factors :The nature of the lesson study being a lesson that motivate mathematical thinking and curiosity , and the other factor is the ability to observe the lesson from the outside and reflect on the students response to the problem .The lesson was planned accurately so that students can make a progress and come to a conclusion at the end of the lesson which I think had made the lesson less challenging mathematically ,but probably more satisfying for the students as I could tell that a more open ended lesson with less structure would have confused them and made them feel frustrated soon.Regarding the students response to the problem being investigated , I thought that most of the students were unsure how to approach the problem so rather than keeping the student working individually for longer time .the  teacher  asked them to think independently for a period of five minutes , then discuss their thought on groups before discussing their ideas and thought as a class .This structure of thinking independently and then working collaboratively  helped students who were unsure how to explore the problem to get some good ideas that were discussed and as a result made a progress further during the lesson .The lesson study was a great experience that I would like to examine personally with my students to develop their mathematical skills and teach them to be independent learners.

I heard about lesson study during the course of my PGCE at the University of Manchester. In May this year, I was among a cohort of trainee teachers who observed the lesson at Holmes Chapel. There were observers from another UK University, Spain and Japan (where lesson study originated from). The lesson was similar to the Japanese model with students given an open mathematical problem to solve while the teacher facilitated (in this case two teachers). One important modification to the original model was the use of additional teachers. One was assigned to each table with a group of four students. They helped ensure the students stayed on task without giving out key information. I thought this was a very good use of extra staff given the class size. It also ensured all students were actively involved in the problem solving. The problem was open but also controlled so that learning was achieved by all. The whole experience was very beneficial to me for several reasons. The planning was collaborative which meant teachers learnt from one another. The students benefitted from applying their prior learning to solving an open ended problem. Also, after the lesson, we all discussed how the students approached the problems and ways it could be modified to improve future lessons.I think lesson study aids curriculum development. I hope to promote the use of open ended problems in mathematics lessons and engage in more lesson study as my career progresses.

Zainab Akinwande PGCE Secondary Mathematics Student The University of Manchester