Consider a lesson plan you might use. Which metacognitive skills/abilities are involved as students gain facility/knowledge in this domain?
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Think of an activity or lesson component that explicitly teaches one or more metacognitive and one or more problem solving skills.
Metacognitive skills are so very important for our young learners-- because it helps them learn how to learn. When I was first introduced to the word metacognition I was a little confused, but then quickly realized that this is a skill that I've used for a very long time and has served me well! For this PLE I will be answering the second question that we were given.
Before starting a new literature lesson I would like to introduce my students into this idea of metacognition. I don't think that I will use the word metacognition, because it's a little big and scary (even to my college aged self I was a little bit intimidated by it!). I want to advise my students that they will start "thinking about what they're thinking about". I will give them their literature and tell them that they should write down on a separate sheet of paper anything that they find themselves thinking about when they're reading along with the page number they were on. In a perfect world students would be able to write in their books, but due to funding and resources this probably won't happen. I'd like to see them write down things such as connections they're making, questions they have about vocabulary words, etc.
Along the same lines, once we're done with our literature piece, I'd like to present them hypothetical questions like "what if you were character X, what would you have done in their situation, and why?" to help develop their problem solving skills. I would like to make this a big group discussion, because I think that students feed well off of each others comments and discussion.
Here is a cute youtube video I found of students singing a song about metacognition. A little long to have students memorize and sing, but maybe making a recording of this or printing it out and placing it around the room would be a good idea! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNeQKk_1Bg8
Lily,
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great idea to encourage students to record and discuss what they are thinking about when they read. I remember when we discussed this in Reading Ed 430, it was something I had never really thought about before. However, I can definitely see why this would be beneficial, and especially for students who struggle with reading or haven't had a lot of previous literacy experience. Great example of metacognition!
In regards to literature, I found that I always learned better when I wrote in the margins of my books, or on a separate sheet of paper. It definitely helps to make connections and to keep up with the story and the characters. I think this is a great way to use metacognition.
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