This article caught my eye because of the keyword "metacognition" in the title. This is an area that my reading curriculum devotes a great deal of time teaching, so I was curious to see what it had to say about integrating it into the content areas, especially through writing. I was glad after I completed this article that I walked away feeling validated and invigorated to share it with the curriculum facilitators of science and social studies at my school.
Although it starts off densely with a lot of research, I had to chuckle when it explained the definition of metacognitive knowledge. I can certainly connect to the person that never finishes a task at work because I become so distracted! My excuse is that I'm multi-tasking! But I see the point and how it works with students...focusing their thinking with metacognition (or what we quite often call Talking to the Text) gives them a purpose in reading. The research provided in this article is a valuable tool to use when defending the use of this strategy with content area teachers that are afraid of losing valuable time to teach their curriculum and are wary of becoming "reading" teachers. Many times I have the discussion/debate as all teachers are becoming teachers of reading due to the demands of today's curriculums and texts. Realistically (and proven through this reseach) metacognitive questioning and journal writing will lead to success as students are self-questioning, monitoring their understanding, and posing questions when they are confused. Ultimately, this type of journal writing keeps the students engaged and leads them to make connections between the content being studied and their own life. How many times do you teach a lesson in your classroom and become exasperated when the students walk down the hall and "forget" the strategies that you have taught them? By having all teachers on the same page and using metacognitive strategies in their lessons, students will constantly be reinforcing the skills being developed in the Reading/LA classroom and will lead to increased understanding of the content of the specific subject areas.
A few questions I would like to pose are:
Do you think your content area teachers (or you yourself if you teach all subjects) would "buy into" using the metacognitive journals based on the points provided in this article?
How would you go about assessing their knowledge based on the information provided in the journals?
I look forward to hearing from you -
Jen
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6 comments:
Jen-
I am happy that you felt so good after reading this article! In all seriousness though I, too, found it to be a very interesting and appropriate article.
One thing that I really liked in this article was the section about the metacognitive questions. I feel that it is very important to ask questions that require students to address their learning styles, strengths and weaknesses, etc. in order to provide them with the opportunity to reflect on their own learning styles and knowledge. I can think of so many kids this year that that type of questioning would have worked so well for.
I also love the idea of metacognitive journaling. I think it would help to engage the students in the text so much more and help them to make those ever problematic reader-text connections.
In response to your questions, Jen, I do believe that most teachers (at least those who are willing to change and not set in their ways [we all know some!]) would be very willing to "buy into" this type of method because not only does this article prove that it is effective, but it seems that it can only help on standardized testing. Moreover, didn't the article say that it will help students to become more independent? What teacher wouldn't want that? Especially teachers in the older grade whose job it is is to help students become more independent in preparation for high school and college.
The question about assessing I had to give some thought to. If I am understanding the questioning part of metacognitive learning correctly, wouldn't you be asking them the questions they are answering? If so, you could grade their responses on a 1, 2, 3, 4 scale similar to what we were discussing in class. If I am totally wrong about metacognitive questioning, then I am going to need some more time to think about assessement!!
Even though I will be teaching fourth grade next year, this article provided a bit of information that I can use in my classroom as well as understand what methods are being used in the upper grades. Ultimately, we are trying to provide instruction that is carried over between grades. I think the idea about thinking about how you learn is interesting. Although this would have to be presented in an elementary manner, I think that students really need to understand themselves as thinkers and learners.
As far as the idea of content area teachers not wanting to become “reading” teachers, I think that you are right when you comment about how our curriculum is developed differently now. We had a big discussion about this in a development reading class last year.
In response to your questions, I definitely would use metacognitive journals as a way to promote critical thinking. Although it would take extensive modeling to show my students how to successfully complete a journal entry, I think it would be quite valuable. Our district has really gotten into the “Bloom’s craze”. This would be another way to join in on the fun.
Assessments can often be difficult when dealing with student’s personal responses. I like the idea Lauren had about a rubric. I think you would also have to focus on the quality of the ideas presented and not always worry about assigning a grade. I think we are really looking to see how we can help each child reach their potential as thinkers.
Hi Ladies~
Helping students become metacognitive learners can be a daunting task, but when we implement the right techniques with them, I believe that it can definitely be accomplished. One way of making that happen can certainly be done through journaling. Journaling, while it meets many different objectives, helps students reflect on themselves as learners.
One section discussed the used of structured journal writing and if affects on student learning. I am definitely an advocate of journal writing, however, I do not believe that it always has to be structured for it to be effective. Journals can and should be used as a platform for student discussion on various topics before, during, or after a lesson. I’ve used them for these purposes in the past. However, I’ve also used journal writing as a time to write freely on a given topic for x amount of minutes. The outcome is always enlightening for the students and me. Any thoughts on the restraints we should put on journal writing?
I’ve heard the term metacognitive knowledge but this is the first time reading about metacognitive regulation. Correct me if this is wrong but do we as the teachers imbue our students with metacognitive regulation so that they can achieve metacognitive knowledge? That’s how this piece of the article read to me. If this is the case, should we not be also trying to eventually help our students grasp the concept of metacognitive regulation so that they can distinguish between the activities that will help them become stronger learners? Ultimately, we should be helping our students become metacognitive thinkers. When they do, they can sit in the driver’s seat of their own education and take ownership of the things they learn!
Jodi, well put with your closing remarks “Ultimately, we should be helping our students become metacognitive thinkers. When they do, they can sit in the driver’s seat of their own education and take ownership of the things they learn!”
I definitely think that you said it correct about teaching students the metacognitive strategies so that they will be aware of themselves as thinkers and learners. I think that is why I am such a fan of readers and writers workshop. These models of teaching allow students to know themselves as learners. I spend a lot of time teaching and modeling different ways students learn and provide strategies along the way to help them become independent.
In response to your journaling questions Jodi, I think that there are times when we need to be both flexible and structured in journal responses. I think a mix of teacher assigned reflective questioning and student choice personal response can be powerful. It allows us to assess students on response to provided questions and their own personal response. I think that you would actually be able to see growth in personal response when students have exposure to different types of given response questions. I think this would also cause more motivation to respond in journals.
Journaling is not something that I use often recently because I have switched more to Reciprocal Teaching logs in which students are sharing their metacognition, but it is formatted more for a discussion format. I spend a great deal of time in the beginning of the year teaching metacognition and the Readers Apprenticeship strategies. I think this can be brought to the lower grades very easily. Nancy Boyles uses more kid-friendly terms for younger students such as Noticing and Guessing, while I tend to use words such as schema, inferencing, and clarifying with middle school students. I am reconsidering instituting journals so that we have an ongoing record of students growth throughout the year. With the individual RT Logs, I can't go back and see growth unless students actually put the papers in their notebook (and we all know how organized middle-schoolers are!). The rubric idea is one that I'll play around with to use occassionally, but I still believe that leaving dialectal note is more effective as it is a way of having a conversation with my students without them having to worry that someone is listening to them. Students make very insightful connections and ask high-order questions when they don't have to worry about impressing their friends. In middle school it is just not cool to be smart! Our secret conversations let me in on what students are really thinking and I can develop future lessons from there.
It seems that I'm very out of the loop as to what is happening in other districts. Is metacognition not the focus of reading programs in the lower levels? We spend a great deal of time on it so I'm curious to see what is happening outside of my district.
Hey Ladies-
It’s always a bit of a struggle for me to use journals because as much as I love their purpose, they can lose their allure if used incorrectly or even too often. For that reason, I find that finding alternate methods of “checking in” with students to gauge whether or not they are thinking metacognitively. Because “it is only natural that students engage in tasks in which they feel competent and confident and in turn, avoid at all costs those in which they do not feel confident,” using alternate methods is detrimental to their learning.
In taking another look at this article, I am beginning to see the benefits of using journaling to help make that happen. As stated by Jen earlier, students at the middle school level don’t think it’s cool to be smart, however, students at my level are still feeding off of its positive effects. They thrive in situations where they feel knowledgeable about something and if that knowledge can be shared among classmates then sharing information becomes contagious.
For rich discussions to take place, rich questions must be asked. I definitely agree with the article when it cited a study about questioning. “Questioning is not all about grilling the person but more about asking questions that probe further thinking.” As we continue on our path of teaching, I think you will all agree with me when I say that knowing how to ask is just as important as knowing what to ask. When I think back to my first experience teaching a lesson in front of a group of students, I know I must have asked questions in the wrong ways, or in ways that did not help the students feel comfortable. Something happens along the way and before you know it, you know exactly how to talk to students so that they want to explain answers and are not intimidated to do so.
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