Developing Habits of Noticing in Literacy and Language Classrooms: Research and Practice across Professional Cultures

Noticing is an essential aspect of professional expertise in teaching – a skill that draws on deep professional knowledge in ways that affect how teachers are aware of, respond to and meet the needs of their students. Being a ‘noticing teacher’ in the language and literacy classroom can make a real difference to students’ progress as readers and writers, to their literacy attainment and to their engagement with learning.

This international, research-informed book is unique in its focus on literacy and language. The authors explore models and methods to embed both noticing and the development of teacher agency and grounded knowledge into teacher education programs and school practices. To further the professional knowledge and agency of ‘noticing teachers’, the authors argue that research, policy and the professional community need to understand how noticing skills can be woven into the policy and practice contexts of the literacy teacher’s work.

Developing Habits of Noticing in Literacy and Language Classrooms: Research and Practice across Professional Cultures is designed to help teachers, researchers and school leaders think in new ways about how ‘noticing’ operates in the context of the literacy classroom and how it can be supported. Each chapter provides a valuable insight into how teachers learn from their students, in the course of teaching activities, to be responsive, analytical and inspirational.

Alyson Simpson is Professor in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. Her research projects in higher education and primary schools include work on the power of dialogic learning and the impact of digital technology on reading practices and pedagogy.

Francesca Pomerantz is Professor in the Department of Childhood Education and Care at Salem State University. Her research and teaching focus on preparing and supporting teachers to teach literacy. As the lead faculty for school and community partnerships, she is responsible for the field component of the university’s teacher preparation program.

Douglas Kaufman is Associate Professor of Curriculum & Instruction in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. His current research examines teachers’ identities as writers and the development of intercultural understandings in preservice teachers. He also directs the Neag Teaching Abroad Program in Cape Town, South Africa.

Sue Ellis is Professor of Education in the School of Education at Strathclyde University. Her research concerns the role and nature of professional knowledge in literacy teaching and how policy and practice frameworks can shape initial and continuing professional development to promote equity through schooling.