This dissertation-in-practice is a reflective self-study exploring the lived experience of the current researcher as a leader of Lesson Study (LS) over 2 years. Drawing on the concepts of perspective and engagement articulated by Wenger-Trayner and Wenger- Trayner (2016) in their Learning in Landscapes of Practice conceptual framework, the study is organized around the primary critical question: How has my perspective on what it means to be a teacher leader been transformed through my engagement with LS in the context of a US community of educational practice? Working within the paradigm of first person action-oriented inquiry, the method of self-study was selected in order to describe, interpret, evaluate and thematize the researcher’s experience. This study is informed by a set of data comprising memos from an action reflection journal and artifacts from the leadership of LS, which include emails composed by the current researcher that were sent to colleagues and mentors. The description and interpretation aspects of this study provide an account of the current researcher’s practical knowledge about enacting LS for others to consider when planning actions in their own contexts, though the experience disclosed here is unique to the current investigator’s perceptual experience and cannot be generalized. The evaluation and thematization aspects of this study contribute to the discussion of the potential LS and action-oriented inquiry have in the guidance of professional learning for scholarly educational practitioners in the United States
