Through growing formative research, lesson study has emerged as a powerful practice that affects teachers' practical analysis of learning and teaching. Such research, however, also recognizes challenges to its implementation. In a methods course, lesson study has the potential to provide valuable links between teacher education and practice. In this article the author examines the essential factors in the implementation of lesson study in methods courses for inservice teachers and considers how collaboration, critical field observations, and the practice of teacher reflection emerge from the practice of lesson study. Lesson study challenges and methods of addressing these also are discussed. (Contains 1 footnote.)