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Posted a quick note on Twitter the other day about working memory and teachers- how using a clip board to note observations could teachers� working memory to be more responsive the students as they interacted and how having an exemplar–and ideal student answer you’d like to get to–written out and carried around with you could allow you to not have to try to hold that idea in your working memory as you spoke to students so again you’d have more working memory free to interact, and could refresh your recollection from time to time.

I thought I’d post some examples from actual classrooms to show that I mean.

In this video Denarius Frazier circulates as his students divide polynomials.Ìý

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He’s taking notes as they work so he is able to 1) hold on to the observation that grows incrementally over time that finding the remainder is the main problem for his students. His intervention at the end is based on this accumulation of data but all the while as he tracks it he is able to 2) interact with each student in an authentic and responsive way as he walks around. This is due in large in part to the fact that he is not trying to also remember who struggled with what. He is actually building a histogram of student errors as we works the room but you’d never know it because when he’s not building it he’s not thinking about it! The point isn’t even really that his clipboard helps him to remember. It’s that it causes him not not have to focus his attention on trying to remember. He can be fully present with students. Without the clipboard he might remember that remainders were the issue. But his interactions with students and perceptions about their work wouldn’t be nearly as good.

He also has an exemplar on his clipboard.Ìý You can see him use it to refresh his working memory at 1:12 in the clip.

Denarius glancing at his exemplar to refresh his working memory.

Again this allows him to give this student a key piece of feedback without trying to remember the steps to the answer himself as he works the room. He can focus on her answer.

His students feel the connection and his faith in them because he is fully present. But he’s also gathered a ton of data: that 8 or so students need to review how to find the remainder; that the right person to Show Call is Fagan; that Quinetta had an alternative solution.

In this video Erin Magliozzi notes on her clipboard two students whom she wants to call on (Corey and Jackie) and why. “Jackie,� she says, “I’m going to ask you to share that difference.� Five minutes later she remembers exactly what was great about her answer and makes her feel great about it.

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There are several minutes of lovely interactions between her and students between the time she makes these observations and when she seamlessly calls on them, easily weaving what was useful and important in their answers into her narrative as she calls on them. There’s just no way she could make them feel so seen and valued in that moment–and done the same with all the kids in between–if she was trying to hold those details in her working memory the whole time.

“Jackie, I’m going to ask you to share that difference.�

One teacher on Twitter asked in response: “So I’ll be more present if I am writing on a clipboard while circulating?� Maybe she was being sarcastic. Maybe not. But the answer is: Yes, you probably will.

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