Learning professional noticing by co-planning mathematics instruction

Abstract

At the core of ambitious mathematics teaching involves using knowledge of students’ mathematical thinking when facilitating and leading mathematical discussions. A teacher’s ability to productively use this knowledge depends on his/her noticing expertise. This study explores in-service teachers’ opportunities to develop their ability to notice through a practice-based approach to professional development. Fourteen Norwegian elementary-school teachers collaborate with teacher educators in learning cycles of enactment and investigation, where the overarching aim is to learn to enact ambitious mathematics teaching. This study investigates what this innovative approach enables teachers to work on when co-planning to notice. The findings suggest that the co-planning discussions focused on particular students’ mathematical thinking (focused noticing) and on both students’ mathematical thinking and teacher’s pedagogy (extended noticing).