Teacher Practice

The construct professional noticing of children’s mathematical thinking is introduced as a way to begin to unpack the in-the-moment decision making that is foundational to the complex view of teaching endorsed in national reform documents. We define this expertise as a set of interrelated skills including (a) attending to children’s strategies, (b) interpreting children’s understandings, and (c) deciding how to respond on the basis of children’s understandings.

By synthesizing what has been learned with regard to critical dimensions of mathematics classroom teaching and learning, and investigating the ways teachers and other school personnel characterize high-quality mathematics instruction, this study defines the notion of ‘instructional vision’ and provides an initial categorization scheme.