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WHAT TYPES OF THINGS DO YOU typically notice as you watch your students in class each day? For instance, when the bell rings at the start of class, what do you look for as you scan the room? Later on, when you see a group of students interacting, what do you tend to notice about their work together? And in class discussions, which of the ideas that students raise stand out to you and why?
Noticing is an important part of being a teacher-where we focus our attention has a strong influence on what we understand about our classrooms. Yet deciding what to notice is not a simple task in an environment as complex as teaching. Here we invite you to consider how to strengthen your own ability to notice what is happening in your classroom.
We begin by introducing three reflective prompts that can help to guide one's efforts to notice classroom interactions. We then present the experiences of three middle school teachers who approached "learning to notice" in different ways. Finally, we provide suggestions to help you begin to develop your own successful approach to "learning to notice."
What Is Learning to Notice?
FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS, WE HAVE BEEN examining what it means for teachers to notice classroom interactions and how the ability to notice develops among both new and experienced teachers (Sherin 2001; van Es and Sherin 2002). On the basis of this work, we identified three key elements of learning to notice that are represented by the reflective prompts shown in figure 1. First, noticing involves identifying what is important in a situation. The classroom is a complex environment with many things happening at once, and one cannot possibly pay attention to everything with equal weight. As a teacher, you select what to pay attention to in a given lesson. In doing so, try to ask yourself, "What is important here?"
Second, teachers must do more than simply identify the crucial moments of interaction; they must also interpret them. Once you have identified an important event, ask yourself, "Can I understand what is happening here?" This question may involve making sense of a student's strategy, analyzing why a particular concept was confusing for the class, or exploring how...