Lesson Study in Introduction to International Relations

Abstract

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) who run independent sections for larger lecture courses typically receive insufficient feedback. Course evaluations, already flawed by numerous biases, offer an amalgam of student reactions to lecture and section, even when comments specifically laud or criticize section instructors. Course designs also vary greatly: Some professors meet regularly with their team of GTAs; others delegate to a lead GTA; and many simply let their GTAs do anything that gets students talking. Instead, we advocate a team-orientation approach: Lesson Study. Modifying the use of Lesson Study in science education, in turn adapted from a Japanese approach gaining popularity among K–12 educators, we concentrate on mentoring that emphasizes collaborative learning, rather than likeability surveys. Sections use a common assignment, which facilitates GTA participation in design and evaluation. The team meets in advance to confirm common pedagogical goals and again after sections to debrief. Insights may lead to immediate adaptations in subsequent assignments in the same term or revisions to the original assignment in subsequent semesters. Overall, this approach centers the collective articulation of lesson plan design and delivery through deliberately reflective practices that benefit both faculty members and GTAs.

Keywords:

• Mentoring
• collaboration
• graduate students
• team teaching

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kevin Moquin for introducing us to Lesson Study and to Sharon Dotger for encouragement to explore its wider applicability. We are also grateful for three other terrific team members with whom we crafted adaptations: André Anselmo, Farrah Brown, and Daniel Jackson. Ronit Berger has provided invaluable feedback on both the evolution of the model applied in this course and the transferability of some components into her own courses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lindsay Burt

Dr. Lindsay Burt serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Muhlenberg College (2021–2023), where she teaches courses primarily related to international relations and global health governance. She received her PhD from Syracuse University. Her research highlights the implications of the rise of non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries and the complexities of a globally coordinated and sufficiently resourced policy response. Burt is also interested in exploring and employing innovative and critical pedagogical approaches to teaching international relations.

Audie Klotz

Dr. Audie Klotz is a Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University. Her award-winning work spans theories of international relations, qualitative methods, transnational activism, global migration, and identity politics. Her research is grounded in the Southern African region and more broadly the former British Empire, with an overarching emphasis on race. She has taught introductory International Relations courses at numerous institutions spanning a wide variety of students, as well as graduate teaching assistants.