Novice Teachers' Attention to Student Thinking

Source: Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 60 Number 2, March/April 2009. 142-154

The authors contribute to the empirical and theoretical arguments challenging stage theories of teacher development. According to those views, novice teachers are unable to attend to students’ thinking until they have begun to identify themselves as teachers and mastered classroom routines, and so the first emphases in learning to teach should be on forming routines and identity. The authors challenge those views with evidence of novices attending to students’ thinking early in their teaching. The authors also offer framing as an alternative perspective on whether and how teachers attend to student thinking. By this account, most teachers work in professional contexts that focus their attention on curriculum, classroom routines, and their own behavior, rather than on student thinking. An account of framing suggests an early, strong emphasis on attention to student thinking in teacher education.