Thinking about thinking An introduction to metacognition and

Thinking about thinking An introduction to metacognition and self-regulation Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 1

Learning outcomes To understand what metacognition and selfregulation are, and why should your school adopt them? To be able to plan learning strategies to enable students to identify the different ways they could approach learning overall and to select the most appropriate method for a particular activity Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 2

Activity: What is metacognition? Working in small groups, using flip chart paper and pens, consider: • What is metacognition? • What does metacognition look like in the classroom? • Share ideas Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 3

Activity: Consider our own metacognitive knowledge Use post-it notes to record your response to three questions: • What do you know about your own thinking abilities? • What do you know about how challenging you might find today’s training? • What do you know will be successful learning strategies to help you engage with today’s training? • Share post its with the group. Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 4

Self-regulation • Self-regulation refers to what learners do about learning. It describes how learners monitor and control their cognitive processes. Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 5

Activity: Understanding selfregulation Consider this scenario • You have been asked to put together a 15 -minute presentation on ‘metacognition and self-regulation’ for a staff meeting. You have tried searching the internet for available resources; but this hasn’t worked. What learning strategies could you use instead? • Individually, work through the three initial stages of self-regulation – plan, monitor, evaluate to come up with a better learning strategy to achieve your learning goal. • Now share with the group and reflect on what you have learned about selfregulation. Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 6

The four levels of metacognitive learners

METACOGNITIVE DIFFERENTIATION ACTIVITY • Identify a class or group that you teach and know well. • Use flip chart paper to group the students into one of David Perkins’ four categories: 1. Tacit 2. Aware 3. Strategic 4. Reflective • Now consider a learning activity that this class engaged with recently. Revisit that activity and differentiate it based on the four levels of metacognitive learners. • How does the differentiated activity differ from your original activity? • Share your ideas with the group. Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 8

Clarifying learning goals ACTIVITY: • Reword each of these outcomes to make the learning goal specific and focused on learning: • 1. To complete exercise 12: ‘understanding simultaneous equations’ • 2. To read the passage below and then complete the comprehension exercise • 3. To investigate the process of photosynthesis through experimentation • 4. To research the first world war • 5. To sing a song • 6. To produce a piece of expressionist art • 7. To role play ‘ordering a meal’ in French • 8. To use maps to plan a route to the local shopping centre • 9. To build a bookcase • 10. To grow a runner bean from seed • How do the reworded learning outcomes help students clarify their learning goals? • Share your ideas with the group Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 9

Applying effective thinking across subjects Activity: Magpie learning strategies • Working individually, use flip chart paper and pens to mind-map the variety of learning strategies that you use in your classroom • A magpie will visit us and take ‘shiny bits’ from our homes • Visit each other’s pages and take ideas form each that you can add to your mind-map. • Share your final mind-maps with the group and, if available, use smart phones photograph each other’s maps to share best practice. Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 10

Developing skills to plan, monitor and evaluate – Thinking Journals Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 11

Reciprocal teaching Watch this video of a teacher explaining the reciprocal teaching approach in the classroom. • Use what you have observed to plan a reciprocal teaching activity for your class. • Share your ideas with the group Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 12

Metacognitive talk ‘…talking out loud can help learners to focus and monitor their cognitive processing…’ Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 13

Exam wrappers • Exam wrappers are worksheets containing reflective questions that help learners to review their performance in a test or exam. • Exam wrappers can be given to learners both before and after they receive the results of the test and feedback. ACTIVITY: • The webpage ‘Exam wrappers’ on the website for Carnegie Mellon University features a number of examples of ‘exam wrappers’ in practice. • Once you have explored the webpage examples, devise your won ‘exam wrapper’ for a group of students that you teach • Share your ideas with the group. Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 14

WHERE NEXT? A METACOGNITION CHECKLIST This checklist could help you reflect on how to imbed metacognitive thought and selfreflection in your own teaching practice: • Have I included clearning objectives? • How am I going to encourage my students to monitor their learning? • How can I create opportunities for learners to practise new strategies? • How can I allow time for learner selfreflection? • Does the classroom environment support metacognitive practices? • So, what will you do as a result of this bitesized training? Bite Sized Training - Brought to you by www. simplyinset. co. uk Call +447767 858360 or email simplyinset@gmx. com 15