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Teacher noticing from a sociopolitical perspective: the FAIR framework for anti-deficit noticing

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Abstract

In this paper, we respond to the continued harm of deficit discourses in mathematics education, focusing on discourses that systematically devalue the knowledge and abilities of students of color in classrooms in the United States. We specifically aim to (1) develop a sociopolitical framework for conceptualizing mathematics teacher noticing and (2) conceptualize and illustrate the enactment of noticing that challenges deficit discourses about these students and their communities—anti-deficit noticing—through the lens of our framework. We address our first research aim by introducing the FAIR framework, which foregrounds the role of sociopolitical Framing as an essential component of noticing that shapes and is shaped by Attending, Interpreting, and Responding, processes that have frequently been discussed in studies of teacher noticing. We show how an analysis using FAIR can contribute to understanding deficit noticing. We then conceptualize and illustrate anti-deficit noticing using the case of Oscar, a college mathematics instructor who worked with many Black and Hispanic students and himself identified as Hispanic. We discuss the local context that supported Oscar’s anti-deficit noticing and conclude with implications for future research and practice.

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Notes

  1. In this paper, we use “students of color” and “people of color” to refer to Black, indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian people, in solidarity as scholars who identify as people of color. We recognize the limits of this term in relation to varied patterns of historical marginalization and the social construction of race in the US. We use “Hispanic” (rather than, for example, Latin@ or Latinx) following participants’ terminology.

  2. All names are pseudonyms.

  3. Jacobs et al. (2010) seminal work refers to the third component of teacher noticing as “deciding to respond” (p. 169). Others have used “planning to respond,” “formulating responses,” or simply “responding” (e.g., Shah and Coles 2020, p. 3; Wager 2014, p. 316). Here we use “responding” to capture the shared essence of these various terms.

  4. HSI is a US government designation for institutions of higher education where at least 25% of full-time undergraduates identify as Hispanic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Wisconsin Madison School of Education, Madison, WI, USA

    Nicole Louie

  2. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Aditya P. Adiredja

  3. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Naomi Jessup

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  1. Nicole Louie
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  2. Aditya P. Adiredja
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  3. Naomi Jessup
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Correspondence to Nicole Louie.

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Louie, N., Adiredja, A.P. & Jessup, N. Teacher noticing from a sociopolitical perspective: the FAIR framework for anti-deficit noticing. ZDM Mathematics Education 53, 95–107 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-021-01229-2

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