Abstract
Mathematics coaches are often employed in schools to support professional learning for teachers with the ultimate aim of improving student outcomes. However, most coaches receive little to no formal training when entering the role, and limited research focuses on how coaches develop expertise in their field. Drawing on the extensive research on teacher professional noticing as a lens for examining and developing expertise, the three studies in this dissertation extend the construct of noticing from a teacher context to a coaching context to investigate implications for coach learning. In the first study, the nature of noticing of different coaches’ practice was analyzed by examining how coaches attended to and interpreted video clips of their personal practice and the practice of an unknown coach. Findings highlighted similarities and differences in what and how coaches noticed, and identified implications for professional learning providers supporting coaches. The second study compared coaches' noticing across two contexts: mathematics teaching and coaching conversations. Coaches identified key moments in video clips from both contexts and articulated why they found them to be significant. The comparison of coaches’ noticing across the two contexts revealed distinct differences in what and how coaches noticed within each context. In the third study, coach noticing was investigated in a collaborative video club setting and compared to their noticing in an independent interview setting. The results of the analysis highlighted both similarities and differences across the two different settings, and offered insights into the potential of video clubs as a form of professional learning for coaches. Together, the three studies provide insights into the value of diverse analytic frameworks for examining coach noticing as well as the variability inherent in coaches’ professional noticing.