Thursday, June 25

What a great day!  Although the temps and humidity were on the high side, the day was fantastic on all fronts.  Meeting up in the lobby of the Keio Plaza Hotel, we embarked on a 10 minute walk to the Seibu Shinjiku train station to catch the train to the town of Tokorozawa.  Upon arrival, a 15 minute walk brought us to Namiki Elementary School.

After a brief presentation by the school’s Principal and Assistant Principal, we were provided a tour of the school.  We were able to observe various grade levels and school facilities.  We were able to watch students in a music class who sang a song for us.  The song was about how students need to support each other and will stand by one another when times are tough.

With a brief tea break complete, we went to a 5th grade class to observe a teacher educate students on the use of a microscope.  This observation was our introduction to the Japanese Lesson Study strategy.  In this strategy, teachers observe one another and provide feedback using the KJ Method (Kirakita, Jiro).  On this day, we made our own notes on what we observed so we could work with our Waseda University partners in the afternoon on three separate KJ diagrams.

The highlight of the day was when we taught an English-based class to Japanese students (Michael and Olive: 4th grade; Gwen and Nicole: 3rd grade; Paul: 3rd grade).  We all had a great time interacting with these students.  They were so intrigued with what we had to present and were eager to participate.  None of us experienced a dull moment in any of our 60 minute classes.  What fun being engrossed with innocence!  Once our classes were finished, we ate lunch in each respective classroom.  Lunch in Japanese schools is something to be seen to understand:  students rearrange desks into groups, the lunch is wheeled to each classroom and students serve each other.  No one complains and the students talk and laugh just like any other 8-9 year old.  

At the completion of lunch, the uniqueness of the Japanese education system becomes clear:  students push all the desks to one section of the classroom and then start cleaning.  And not just the classroom:  they attack the hallways, the bathrooms, the sinks, the erasers, everything.  It is truly a community of learners!!! 

Post lunch we were divided into KJ groups with our Waseda University partners.  We developed our KJ posters grouping our individual observations into relative sections.  We then drew lines to connect these groups by concepts or learning modes.  Upon completion of these posters, the teacher who gave the lesson on microscopes earlier in the morning came in to hear our comments.  It was empowering to be a student and have the teacher listen intently to what we all had to say so he could assimilate our remarks into his future instruction.  This was the first time any of the USD students had participated in a KJ method analysis so it was enlightening for that aspect but also to accomplish it with our Waseda University fellow students.  I think we all look forward to using these ideas in our future educational pursuits.