Noticing, noting and naming
Noticing can focus the brain on items such as new teaching strategies, setting intentions and close reading. When new teachers are observed by mentors and instructional coaches, it’s good to start the debrief conversation with noticing something that was going well with the lesson. This puts the one being observed at ease and makes them more aware.
When developing practices such as new instructional strategies, noticing and naming helps to reinforce them. By drawing attention to budding practices, their occurrence is more likely to increase.
For example when observing a new teacher, I noted that he’d used three strategies that really assist ELD students. When I pointed them out to him, he was unaware of their names. He intuitively had used techniques that captured students’ attention. I named each strategy and gave him the reason that it helped second language learners which drew his attention to their significance and meant I saw them again when I visited the following week.
Specifically listing the practice and offering the brain research that substantiates its use is one way to draw attention to what works with students. Noticing recognizes that a desired practice is present and being explicit about the benefit to students and their retention helps ensure it’s likely to continue into future lessons.
Cultivating the practice of noticing with students also helps them invest in their own learning. Noting what you appreciate about their behavior such as substantiating their response with textual evidence is another great way to increase its occurrence. As the saying goes, “Praise what you want to raise.”
Conversely, when students name what’s not working, then they can be about the business of fixing it. Setting an intention at the beginning of the period about how they’d like to operate during class helps to focus them on what will enhance their learning. Checking in about their intention half way through the period is another way to see if they’ve maintained their focus.
This works with teachers at a staff meeting as well. They can identify something that gets in the way of focusing on the meeting agenda such as side conversations and then set an intention to eliminate that for the next hour. Half way through the meeting, when reminded to check progress on their intention, some will note success while others have to remind themselves again.
Since the brain can process eight times faster than people can speak, it can be creating the grocery list, doodling on the agenda, worrying about whether a child got picked up and still look like attentive listening is happening. Setting intentions helps the brain to notice and focus.
Wanting students to focus and connect to a complex text with a close read, means finding ways for them to notice and take notes multiple times. In Nonfiction Reading: Notice and Note, by Probst and Beers, they suggest several strategies for honing student focus.
Fiction writers invite readers to explore their imagined world. Nonfiction writers assert facts. Responsible readers question the text for writer bias. Student generated questions help them to discover meaning.
Teachers that ask questions they don’t know the answer to already are more likely to engage students. When asking what surprised them about the text, it invites students to notice a personal reaction and can hook them to discuss.
Pre-reading activities are often needed to interest students in engaging the text. “Possible Sentences” is an instructional strategy that has students put together phrases taken from the article they’re about to read and create sentences that could be true. The teacher selects about a dozen words or phrases from the text being sure to use some people, places, problems and solutions.
Students are challenged to write five possible sentences that might appear in the text using several phrases in each sentence. They predict as they construct possible sentences and are enticed to read to satisfy their curiosity about their accuracy. While reading, they note whether their predictions are right. After reading, students return to their sentences to make correction.
Noticing and naming helps focus the brain of new teachers on instructional strategies. Students write intentions for class to enhance focus on behavior. They can also create possible sentences to heighten awareness of important aspects to note about a text. Noticing, noting and naming are powerful ways to focus the brain.