Mathematics Teachers' Goal Setting and Planning Activities in a Lesson-Study Context

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in goal setting and planning activities of a lesson study group consisting of three middle -school mathematics teachers. The teachers worked as a group, conducting three study lessons over a period of five months. Data were collected from documents that the teachers developed and used, as well as videotaped observations of their planning meetings. The results showed that teachers shifted their focus from the content towards student engagement with the content when goal setting and planning. As they grappled with the problems of reform mathematics teaching, teachers' goal statements evolved and new goals emerged. They became more attentive to planning the content and discussing ways to present it. They modified curricular materials based on the students' current knowledge and skills, anticipated students' thinking and planned teacher reactions in accordance with meaningful learning. As the teachers began to define more concrete and descriptive implementation steps to achieve their goals, they also developed more specific criteria for success.