Improving Teaching Does Improve Teachers

TLDR

The authors aim to comment on Morris and Hiebert’s article in three distinct ways. They argue that focusing on teaching—supported by lesson study—enhances both student learning and teachers’ mathematical knowledge, beliefs, and instructional improvement, and that instructional products and assessments alone are insufficient without practice‑based collegial learning.

Abstract

The authors comment on the article by Morris and Hiebert in three ways. First, they add thoughts about why improvement efforts often focus on teachers, rather than teaching. Second, they offer evidence from U.S. lesson study research that focus on teaching can improve both students’ learning and teachers’ learning. Finally, they suggest that the instructional products and common assessments advocated by Hiebert and Morris are not sufficient, and that they need to be accompanied by practice-based, collegial learning in which teachers build shared knowledge and commitments for the hard work of improvement. Their research indicates that lesson study focuses on teaching, but improves teachers as well, increasing mathematical knowledge and beliefs that support instructional improvement, as well as improving student learning.