Unpacking the practice of anticipating when learning ambitious mathematics teaching

The practice of anticipating has often been considered simply as predicting what responses students might come up with, but this study explores the complex and involved nature of anticipating in ambitious mathematics teaching. Based on analysis of nine co-planning sessions in a professional development program with a group of elementary mathematics teachers, two key dimensions of anticipating practice are identified. The first dimension relates to anticipating students’ responses, which involves anticipating students’ strategies, representations, and potential follow-up questions. The second dimension is anticipating students’ readiness for the task, and this involves considering students’ prior knowledge and skills and how to support all students’ learning and development. The findings highlight the importance of pedagogical reasoning in developing anticipating practice, and the study shows how teachers consider the interplay between the mathematical content, students, and instructional strategies.