Metacognition; TAPS 6.7

Metacognition is important in life.  It is important for you as an adult learning new concepts or skills, important for you as you evaluate your effectiveness as a teacher, and important to teach your students so that they become independent learners.  In addition, it is Element 6.7 in the TAPS portion of TKES: Teaches students how to self-assess and to use metacognitive strategies in support of lifelong learning.

It has taken me quite a while to figure out a way for me to incorporate and specifically teach metacognitive strategies to my students.  For me, metacognition is relatively new (I became aware of it, in an intense way, while working on my doctorate) and has two aspects.  One: metacognition is your own personal awareness of your comprehension, understanding, and ability to ascertain your progress in learning.  Two: there are "stacks of research" showing how important it is for students to use metacognition to increase their achievement.  I use metacognition all the time, but either I was not teaching it before or I was ineffective.  Now that metacognition has become more pronounced in education, I do not think that my students truly could gauge their own progress without my telling them.  I do not want to be ineffective; how do I change that?

I read an excellent article last year about promoting meta-cognition in the classroom, and even though it was a bit cumbersome and had too much information, I created a way that would be simple, quick, and effective for my students; you can do the same.  Not only will it easily demonstrate element 6.7, but, more importantly, it will help you and your students.  It shows them where they are in their understanding (concept) and demonstrating (skill) of each learning goal and you where they are.

I teach middle school, so after each new concept is presented or skill is described, the students give themselves a score from 1 to 5 and note what is the area of weakness.  Each time the concept or skill is reviewed, the students re-rate themselves and note any changes in weakness.  Not only has it been very helpful for the students to gauge for themselves (and compared to others) how they are doing, I can quickly ask, "Show me with your fingers how you rated yourself" or "Raise your hand if you gave yourself a 5."  This week one class in particular had too many 3s and 2s.  I asked, "Why did you give yourself a 3 on that?"  Student answered.  "What do I need to do so that your score goes up next time?"  Student answered.  Result?  They understood the content, but could not perform the skill (to a level of 5) because I was going too fast.  Excellent: metacognition, formative assessments, student/teacher input for future planning &/or content....

My scoring system

1. I really don't understand this at all; I'm mostly lost.
2. I've got some of it, but I'm not quite sure I understand how all of this works together.
3. I've got most of it, but I get confused on a couple of parts.
4. I can do this very well; a few mistakes; I'll give myself a 5 by the end of the week.
5. I'm great; I could teach this to someone else; I could perform this on stage in the cafeteria during lunch time and get it right.