Classroom Photographs: Reframing What and How We Notice

Abstract

Use these three activities as professional learning community tools to support powerful conversations.

What they notice in photographs: A study of preservice teachers' noticing in a formative assessment cycle

“…For example, PSTs focus on attending when taking the photographs and can shift to interpreting the photograph outside of the teaching moment. Additionally, photographs can be taken without identifying the student and can be easily displayed in teacher education courses, where alternative interpretations and responses may be explored (Oslund & Crespo, 2014).…”

“…We hypothesize the use of photographs allows PSTs to focus on a single moment with a specific intention of noticing students' mathematical thinking. Additionally, similar to Oslund and Crespo's (2014) work, photographs can also be used in methods courses as ways to develop and extend PSTs' noticing skills when MTEs use the photographs to encourage conversation about alternative explanations of what might or could be occurring in the photograph. Limited research has been done on the use of photographs as a tool for the development of noticing skills in PSTs.…”

“…Mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) have utilized a variety of tools to support the development of PSTs' ability to notice, including video clubs (e.g., Mitchell & Marin, 2015; Walkoe, 2015), interviews (e.g., Lesseig et al, 2016), students' written work (e.g., Monson et al, 2020), and photographs (e.g., Oslund & Crespo, 2014). Most studies of PST noticing include “some type of written document as evidence of noticing” (Amador et al, 2021, p. 7) and many use video and/or audio.…”

“…Jacobs and Spangler (2017) indicate that, despite their popularity, video and student written work are not the only means to notice children's mathematical thinking and identify photographs as potential artifacts for studying teacher noticing. While the specific use of photographs in research about PSTs' ability to notice is scant, Oslund and Crespo (2014) demonstrate how photographs of student work, a math lesson, and classroom and community contexts can be used to promote noticing skills by having inservice and PSTs engage in conversations about what might or could have happened in the photographs. This work further explores PSTs' ability to notice using photographs as evidence of student thinking.…”

“…Photographs provide a classroom artifact that can be revisited and interpreted outside of the teaching moment (Jacobs & Spangler, 2017; Marin et al, 2020; Roller et al, 2019b; Sherin & van Es, 2003). Oslund and Crespo (2014) also promoted teacher noticing skills by leveraging photographs, which do not tell a complete story, but instead encouraged teachers to consider and discuss alternative narratives of what might or could have happened while examining students' math work.…”