Nancy O Neil

After World War II the School Education Law was enacted in March 1947 to mirror America s model of elementary, middle, and high school. Compulsory education includes primary education which is grades 1 through 6 Junior high school grades 7 through 9. It is mandatory for students to attend school for these years, after junior high school they may choose to continue their education to high school and then to university or to find employment (Education in Japan).

Children enter first grade when they are 6 years old. The school year starts in April and ends in March. Japanese schools have three terms: summer, winter and spring and each are followed by a vacation period. The winter and spring breaks are short and the students are assigned a lot of work to complete during the time off. For summer vacation students have one month off. The school year consists of 240 school days. Sixty percent of students attend Juku, a cram school that is held four or more days a week

In 1959, moral education classes were introduced into the curriculum as a way to develop the whole person . The responsibility of developing the whole person is placed on the elementary school teachers. Children learn in school to maintain cooperative relationships with their peers and to value punctuality. Students are encouraged to participate in after school clubs and sports teams.

All schools serve the same healthy lunch to students. The lunch is determined by a dietitian and prepared in a central location before being delivered to school. The lunch consists of rice, soup, boiled fish and milk. The students are expected to stay very active by participating in recess and physical education. Even in class teachers ask the students to stand up and move around while learning (Costello, 2009). Students walk to school, ride a bicycle or take a train to school because there are no public buses.

The elementary school curriculum covers Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, music, arts, homemaking and physical education. Teachers focus on developing the holistic child by teaching hygiene, nutrition, manners and public speaking.

The middle school curriculum includes Japanese, mathematics, social studies, science, English, music, art, physical education, field trips, clubs and homeroom. The pace is quick and instruction is text book bound because the focus is on preparing students for high school entrance exams.

Elite academic high schools collect the top performing students and send most of its graduates to the best universities. The non elite academic high school prepare students for less prestigious universities or junior colleges. A lot of these students attend a specialist school which teaches them skills such as bookkeeping, languages and commuter programming. Vocational highs schools offer courses in commerence, technical subjects, agriculture, homescience, nursing and fishery. Correspondence high schools offer flexible schooling for student who did not attend high school right after junior high. Evening high school is for students who have to work during the day for financial reasons

The role of modern schooling in Japan is to transmit cognitive knowledge National policy is constantly shifting the role of the school and teachers do not always agree with the policies. People believe if you work hard in school you can climb up the social ladder and earn high paying jobs. Competition is very prevalent in schools because all of the students are competing to get into the most prestigious high school.

Lesson study begins with a shared long term goal. A group of teachers decide on a research focus , usually choosing a broad goal that is compelling to teachers from different grade levels and point of view. For example, for students to take pleasure in friendships and learning (Lewis, 2002). The goal must focus on either an academic or less academic goal. The goal often targets a weakness in student learning or on a subject that is difficult to teach (Lewis, 2002). The ultimate center of attention is on student learning and development.

Japanese teachers gather evidence of students work, learning and treatment of one another. They also gather evidence of their own actions such as their questioning techniques, and how many students they called on (Lewis, 2002). The Japanese teachers place a lot of value on student reaction and engagement to their teaching.

Teachers spend a lot of time preparing and planning to attend research lessons. It is not uncommon for teachers to travel hundreds of miles to observe lessons. The teachers believe they must watch the lesson in person because student learning and development cannot be assessed by looking at a lesson plan, or even by looking at most videotapes of lessons (Lewis, 2002). When the teachers watch the lesson they gather data on students persistence, emotional reactions, discussions, degree of interest and demeanor (Lewis, 2002). Teacher use their notes from observation, written cases, lesson plans and photographs to learn about one another s lessons.

They believe lesson studies allow them to think carefully about the goals of a particular content area, unit, and lesson, think deeply about long-term goals for students, study the best available lessons, learn subject matter, develop instructional expertise, build capacity for collegial learning, and develop eyes to see students .

We would need a share curriculum. The textbooks in Japan are documents that focus on exactly what to teach instead of a broad picture of each subject manner. The U.S. would need to change the textbooks so teachers can devote time to studying the most effective way to present the information instead of spending time deciding what s really important to teach (Lewis, 2002).

Even if you copy someone else or are copied by someone else, I don t think anything can be absolutely the same. So, I think it is all right to copy others. If you shoot for originality too early in your development as a teacher, you re likely to fail. Initially, you must take a lot from others. But ultimately, to move to a higher level of teaching, your lesson must become your own original thing, not simply imitation of others. But it s through imitating others lessons you create your own authentic way of teaching (Lewis 2002).

American teachers would have to start setting self improvement goals and deemphasize external evaluations such as reviews and checklist evaluations (Lewis, 2002). In Japan, self critique is valued and gracefully accepted.

American schools would have to slow down how often changes are made to the curriculum. In Japan, the course study changes about every twenty years because it takes time to see the results of implemented programs (Lewis, 2002). Japanese teachers start with texts that are teacher-written and lesson-based, they can afford to spend considerable time at the bottom of the pyramid, planning, observing, discussing and refining actual classroom lessons (Lewis, 2002).

During the public lesson School Number Two teachers, Greenwich Japanese School teachers, and other invited educators went into classrooms to watch lessons. Lewis observed a motivating, carefully designed introduction to multiplication that had been planned by four second-and third-grade teachers working together over a period of time (Lewis, 2002). School Number Two proves that Japanese lesson study can work in the United States. However, if we alter the traditional lesson study it would require administrators to have a deep understanding of what it is and why it has been useful to Japanese teachers

Costello, B. (2009, April 21). What U.S. schools can learn from Japan. The Japan Times, pp. 1-13. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.com Education In Japan [Article]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://www.education-in-japan.info Japan Guide [Fact Sheet]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2011, from Education Japan website: http://www.educationjapan.org Lewis, C. (2002, January). Does lesson sudy have a future in the United States? Nagoya Journal of Education and Human Development, 1, 1-23. Takeya, K. (2000, May 8). Culture Shock: Schools in the U.S. and Japan. St. Cloude State Kaleidoscope, 3, 1-2. Retrieved from http://www.stcouldstate.edu