UC Irvine

Equity in mathematics teaching has gained increased attention in the last few decades. A growing field of research has provided various definitions of equity, outlined standards, and identified practices that lead to equitable learning opportunities for all students, particularly for students from non-dominant backgrounds. However, few studies have examined how teachers engage in this complicated work. Recently, a limited number of researchers have highlighted the possible connection between teacher noticing and equitable practices. Existing studies on teacher noticing in mathematics have primarily focused on teachers’ attention to student thinking. Noticing for equity expands on the idea of attending to students to explore what teachers attend to in terms of participation, access and power. This dissertation consists of two studies that examined secondary mathematics teachers’ noticing, practices and pedagogical commitments. The first paper examined the noticing, instructional practices and pedagogical commitments of three secondary mathematics teachers who were identified as being committed to equity. Data were drawn from three case studies and included videotaped observations, field notes and interviews. Specifically, this study examined what teachers noticed in the moment of teaching and the relationship between teachers’ in-the-moment noticing, practices, and pedagogical commitments. The study findings highlight the complexity of engaging in equitable practices, associated noticing and the role crucial role of teachers’ pedagogical commitments to students and equity. The second paper examined how teachers reasoned about videos of instruction and the influence of teachers’ pedagogical commitments on their interpretations. This study conceptualized noticing as not just related to what teachers see, but how they also reason about what they see. Teacher noticing is also conceptualized as being tied to broader constructs of instruction that shape what one finds to be noteworthy. In other words, teacher noticing is informed by the expectations teachers have of teaching and learning, what some researchers describe as framing. Findings from this study highlight the interpretive frameworks that teachers use when watching videos of teacher practices and the role of teachers’ pedagogical commitments in framing their interpretations. Drawing from both study findings, recommendations for professional development are provided.