1. !!!! 32 !!!! TechKnowLogia, January - March 2003 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org
LESSONLESSONLESSONLESSONLABLABLABLAB: Evolving Teaching into a Profession
Ronald Gallimore and Jim Stigler
University of California, Los Angeles and LessonLab
Images of Alternative PracticesImages of Alternative PracticesImages of Alternative PracticesImages of Alternative Practices
Practitioners face rising expectations. Not only must they
teach to new standards, they must learn to teach in ways
most have never seen or imagined. In response, teachers are
now asking for and getting new kinds of professional devel-
opment opportunities. Those with the most appeal are long-
term, involve active learning, and are coherently related to
ongoing school activities (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman,
& Yoon, 2001).
However, even new forms of professional development fall
short when teachers have no access to images of alternative
practice. For example, many are now required to teach
mathematical problem-solving, scientific inquiry, critical
thinking, and other high-level student competencies thought
essential to the nation’s future. Unfortunately, because such
teaching has not been common in the United States, there are
few opportunities to see it in action. To learn the new and
complex teaching practices many are now expected to use,
teachers need and want to see lessons being taught, with stu-
dents like those they teach, in classrooms like their own.
Reading about or hearing someone describe teaching for
“problem-solving” or “scientific inquiry” is a poor substitute
for seeing it reasonably well implemented.
Seeing is RealizingSeeing is RealizingSeeing is RealizingSeeing is Realizing
Teacher response to seeing alternative approaches was strik-
ing when we began reporting the results of an international
study of teaching in different countries. The TIMSS (Third
International Mathematics and Science Study) Video Study
compared teaching in 3 countries (see TechKnowLogia, No-
vember/December 2000) and the TIMSS-R (Third Interna-
tional Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat)Video Study,
conducted by LessonLab, included 7 countries (Stigler &
Hiebert, 1999; Stigler, et al., 2000). Teachers who saw ex-
amples of teaching in other countries were astonished that
familiar subject matter was taught in very different ways.
They realized, just as the TIMSS results indicated, that there
is not nearly as much variation among American teachers as
was commonly believed. In fact, mathematics lessons in the
U.S. follow a fairly standard script no matter what part of the
country they were recorded. For the first time these teachers
realized how much they take for granted about how to teach,
and that the American style of teaching is a choice, not an
inevitability.
The reaction of teachers to the TIMSS videos is a reminder
of reactions to the commercial introduction of video tape
recorders. Thirty-five years ago, there was a surge of opti-
mism that the then new video tape technology would move
teaching from a profession that described its practices in
words to one that demonstrated them with vivid images
(Tharp & Gallimore, 1989). Today, video technology does
play a role in some teacher preparation and development, but
the potential of this technology has never been fully realized.
Many teachers tell us that having a lesson videotaped and
reviewed with a coach or colleague was among the most
memorable professional development experiences they ever
had. Sadly, most say it was a single opportunity, or occurred
long ago when they were in college. Even more surprising is
the number of teachers who tell us how seldom they get to
observe lessons of any kind as part of their professional
work, and that this has been true since the beginning of their
careers.
Not surprisingly, we are frequently asked for access to the
lesson videos that were collected by the TIMSS studies. The
term most often used is “demonstration lessons.” Teachers
want to see examples of how teachers in other cultures teach
mathematics and science. They want to see more than just
“stars” whose virtuosity is as unquestioned as it is uncom-
mon. They want to see multiple examples of ways to teach
concepts and skills, demonstrations of the lessons they are
increasingly being asked to teach, linked to the curricula for
which they are responsible.
Digital LibraryDigital LibraryDigital LibraryDigital Library
Teachers need and want a large, rich, easily accessible
knowledge base for teaching that includes vivid images of
alternatives represented in lesson videos. This is the purpose
of a new effort in which we at LessonLab are involved, the
building of digital libraries in which to accumulate and share

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a rich storehouse of professional knowledge–a library of pro-
fessional knowledge easily accessible to teachers over the
Internet.
A very large part of the professional knowledge base is les-
son videos, available online to all teachers, pre-, early-, and
in-service. But videos are not enough. They need to be linked
to standards and assessment documents, examples of student
work, and other resources. They need to have commentaries
by the teacher of the lesson and other experts–comments
linked to specific parts of the lesson video to avoid the global
generalities that too often characterize talk about teaching.
All sorts of knowledge should be in the digital library, all
linked to practice.
Building on our work in TIMSS video studies, LessonLab
built a technology platform that permits easy accumulation,
storage, and sharing of knowledge. LessonLab is building
two professional development product lines on its technology
platform: LessonLab Course and LessonLab Coach. Each of
these is based on a clear, research-based learning model,
LessonLab’s “Learning from Practice” model.
(www.lessonlab.com/software)
LessonLab Coach products are integrated offerings that pro-
vide both online and face-to-face components, generally in a
70-30 split. LessonLab Courses are typically carried out
100% online and include online facilitation. A similar learn-
ing model is used to generate both Coach and Course pro-
grams. Both product lines are built in modules, with each
module providing approximately 10 hours of work for par-
ticipants.
The core of each module is one or more video cases, typi-
cally a classroom lesson. The module engages teachers in a
series of activities that engage them in studying the case. The
learning model that guides the building of LessonLab Coach
and Course modules includes four phases:
1. IdentifyIdentifyIdentifyIdentify Problem of PracticeProblem of PracticeProblem of PracticeProblem of Practice ---- each module is
motivated by a problem of practice. Learning to define
such problems is an important skill for teachers, and
teachers in this part of the module are given opportuni-
ties to make the problem that motivates the module their
own by linking it and calibrating it with their own prac-
tice.
2. Analyze PracticeAnalyze PracticeAnalyze PracticeAnalyze Practice ---- each module then provides op-
portunities for teachers to analyze artifacts of practice
(such as classroom video) within the context of the
problem they have identified. Activities include the
analysis of content, student learning, and pedagogical
strategies, all in relation to the problem that moti-
vates the module.
3. Link to PracticeLink to PracticeLink to PracticeLink to Practice ---- in this phase teachers
engage in activities designed to link the results of
their analyses to their own practice, through plan-
ning, implementing, and reflecting on their own
practice in the classroom.
4. Assess LearningAssess LearningAssess LearningAssess Learning ---- finally, teachers are
given opportunities to assess their own learning in
the module, and/or to be assessed by a facilitator or
peer.
New GroundsNew GroundsNew GroundsNew Grounds
Several thousand teachers in four dozen different
projects around the USA are using the LessonLab
software platform. Some are participating in the
building of digital libraries, and others are bor-
rowing those developed elsewhere. The TIMSS-R
Video Study will release sometime in 2003 a pub-
lic–use library of 8th grade mathematics and sci-
ence lessons. For teachers interested in learning
about algebra teaching, LessonLab and the Intel
Corporation will shortly release an online course
that provides an option to earn UCLA graduate
credits. Some textbook publishers are providing
small libraries of demonstration lessons to accom-

3. !!!! 34 !!!! TechKnowLogia, January - March 2003 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org
pany their published materials. Local school systems are us-
ing locally built lesson libraries to implement standards-
based instruction, support in-service programs, and to induct
new teachers into the profession. Institutes of higher educa-
tion are building video cases into online courses to augment
traditional programs.
For digital lesson libraries to function as envisioned, educa-
tors will need to find a way to agree on what constitutes
standard practice. Standard practices, according to Al Shan-
ker, the American union leader, distinguish a profession, and
are its proper aim, provided there is a means of improving
them over time. In medicine, failure to follow the standard
practice is malpractice. The new technologies that are now
available can help make teaching a profession defined by its
knowledge base, which will allow it to improve its practices
over time (Yinger, 1999). Over the past 100 years, medicine
has changed greatly – not because smarter people became
doctors, but because medicine found a way to accumulate
and share knowledge and to update and improve it over time.
If we begin now and take advantage of the new technologies,
perhaps in a generation the same can be true of teaching.
LessonLab hopes to be a part of this evolution by its com-
mitment to teaching research and creating technologies that
support teacher professional development.
ReferencesReferencesReferencesReferences
Garet, M.S., Porter, A.C., Desimone, L., Birman, B.F., & Yoon, K.S. (2001). What makes professional development effective?
Results from a National Sample of Teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38, 4, 915-945.
Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., and Stigler, J.W. (2002). A Knowledge Base for the Teaching Profession: What Would It Look Like,
and How Can We Get One? Educational Researcher, 31, 5, 3-15.
Stigler, J. W., Gallimore, R. and Hiebert, J. (2000). Using video surveys to compare classrooms and teaching across cultures:
Examples and lessons from the TIMSS video studies. Educational Psychologist, 35, 2, 87-100.
Stigler, J. W., Hiebert, J. (1999). The teaching gap: Best ideas from the world’s teachers for improving education in the class-
room. New York: Free Press.
Tharp, R. G. & Gallimore, R. (1989). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, & schooling in social context. Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press.
Yinger, R. (1999). The role of standards in teaching and teacher education. In G. Griffin (Ed.), The education of teachers:
Ninety-eighth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (pp. 85-113). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago
Press.
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