Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
With an Inquiry Stance
Inquiry Question
How can I as a teacher of primary grade students, encourage the use meta-cognitive strategies such as self reflection/evaluation and “thinking about thinking” to promote student engagement, motivation and critical thinking skills?
Story of My Inquiry Question
Growing up I was always an "A" student. I knew what was expected of me and could always live up to the standards that were set before me. I always saw myself as successful and capable. Until, I got to college. I had never been challenged so much. I realized that I had learned and retained very little from the subjects that I had "done well in" during school. I had also never been asked to be that independent and self reliant. I had never really learned who I was as a student. That first year was rough, but luckily I had a great support system and a stubborn, determined personality to see me through. I did eventually catch on to what is required to be a successful adult in the real world. Looking back, and even if I am asked about this today, I would say that what helps me through the struggle and ultimately succeed are my skills and habits related to metacognition.
I truly feel like I know myself. I know what my own strengths and weaknesses are. I know when and how my strengths can help me compensate or overcome what I struggle with. I also am aware of particular strategies that work well for me when I am particularly frustrated and lack motivation. I always try to be self aware of my thoughts, responses, and feelings. The ability to self monitor and regulate has helped me get where I am today. I am constantly taking a step back from something I've read, seen, learned, or experienced. I ask myself questions about whatever it is and determine what it really means and how it is meaningful to me personally. In this way, I am a very critical thinker but also very good at internalizing what I interact with. This change I went through as an adult has impacted me in so many positive ways. I now feel confident making good decisions for myself. I am great at making connections to build better arguments for what I believe and feel is needed. I represent myself well to others and can be open and honest with them. Of course I still have my moments of total failure, but when I do I am able to pick myself back up and find a way to start again.
What frustrates me, is that I didn't learn ANY of this in grade school. I remember thinking during that first year of college, how could I have been a straight "A" student and be failing now? I believe it was because I didn't internalize what I had learned by using metacognition. I had been just absorbing the content presented to me without really thinking about it or giving it meaning. I had no clue who I was as a student and what my particular needs were and as an adult, you are the only one who will make sure those needs are met. I want to be sure that I provide this for my future students. I want them to start as early on as possible, building habits related to thinking about their thinking/feeling, identifying their go-to strategies, and being a critical thinker/learner. Metacognition has not been directly addressed in my graduate classes either, although strategies that encourage and support metacognition have. I also find myself wanting to be rather metacognitive in relationship to my teaching practice and try to be a "reflective practitioner". So I figured, I know it helps me to be a better teacher and I want to know how it can help my students to be better learners. Therefore, throughout my teaching I plan to inquire about how grade school students can participate in metacognition but also what teachers can do to effectively teach and encourage these strategies with their students.
I truly feel like I know myself. I know what my own strengths and weaknesses are. I know when and how my strengths can help me compensate or overcome what I struggle with. I also am aware of particular strategies that work well for me when I am particularly frustrated and lack motivation. I always try to be self aware of my thoughts, responses, and feelings. The ability to self monitor and regulate has helped me get where I am today. I am constantly taking a step back from something I've read, seen, learned, or experienced. I ask myself questions about whatever it is and determine what it really means and how it is meaningful to me personally. In this way, I am a very critical thinker but also very good at internalizing what I interact with. This change I went through as an adult has impacted me in so many positive ways. I now feel confident making good decisions for myself. I am great at making connections to build better arguments for what I believe and feel is needed. I represent myself well to others and can be open and honest with them. Of course I still have my moments of total failure, but when I do I am able to pick myself back up and find a way to start again.
What frustrates me, is that I didn't learn ANY of this in grade school. I remember thinking during that first year of college, how could I have been a straight "A" student and be failing now? I believe it was because I didn't internalize what I had learned by using metacognition. I had been just absorbing the content presented to me without really thinking about it or giving it meaning. I had no clue who I was as a student and what my particular needs were and as an adult, you are the only one who will make sure those needs are met. I want to be sure that I provide this for my future students. I want them to start as early on as possible, building habits related to thinking about their thinking/feeling, identifying their go-to strategies, and being a critical thinker/learner. Metacognition has not been directly addressed in my graduate classes either, although strategies that encourage and support metacognition have. I also find myself wanting to be rather metacognitive in relationship to my teaching practice and try to be a "reflective practitioner". So I figured, I know it helps me to be a better teacher and I want to know how it can help my students to be better learners. Therefore, throughout my teaching I plan to inquire about how grade school students can participate in metacognition but also what teachers can do to effectively teach and encourage these strategies with their students.
Statement of Beliefs
Too often students are allowed to pass through their years in school just “going through the motions”. They learn what they have to in order to get by or gain the standard amount of proficiency without ever really internalizing what they are learning, making the knowledge their own and often without being able to transfer use of that knowledge to help them in the future. They are too often dependent on others that are invested in them (teachers, family, etc.) to provide them with appropriate motivation, engagement and learning experiences. As students reach various milestones of independence in high school, college and eventually adulthood, they may continue to struggle with the same problems if they have not learned how to be responsible for their own learning and knowledge construction. One way that teachers can prepare students for this eventual high level of independence and responsibility is to explicitly teach metacognition throughout their years in the classroom.
I believe students as young as first grade can and should be introduced to metacognition.
Although metacognition involves complex and abstract thought processes, I believe we should not underestimate young children's ability to be metacognitive and self reflect. Recent studies have proven “unsuspected strategic competence and metacognitive knowledge in young children” (Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000, p. 95). Other "recent research suggests that young children are capable of rudimentary forms of metacognitive thought, particularly after the age of 3. Although individual developmental models vary, most postulate massive improvements in metacognition during the first 6 years of life" (Lai, 2011, pg 2). The younger they are introduced to metacognitive strategies the more years they will have to practice and use those strategies. Some researchers are claiming to have evidence of metacognition in children as young as three years old. "Whitebread et al. (2009) found that children as young as 3-5 years old exhibited both verbal and nonverbal metacognitive behaviors during problem solving, including articulation of cognitive knowledge, cognitive regulation, and regulation of emotional and affective states" (Lai, 2011, 15). Students who are introduced to metacognition early on will become more self sufficient for their future success in and outside of school. Teachers can promote a beginning, general awareness of metacognition in younger students by modeling metacognitive skills during instruction. This can be done by “thinking aloud” and “making thinking visible”.
I believe metacognition leads to and supports critical thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills.
Metacognition and becoming more aware of your thinking also connects to and supports students' critical thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills."Flavell (1979) and Martinez (2006) maintain that critical thinking is subsumed under metacognition" (Lai, 2011, p. 11). Others equate the two, or claim that metacognition supports critical thinking. The latter rings true for me, because I believe that "monitoring the quality of one’s thought makes it more likely that one will engage in high-quality (critical) thinking" (Lai, 2011, p. 12). All of these skills cross over all academic disciplines and content areas. Metacognition therefore adds value to learned knowledge because students can use these strategies to apply knowledge learned to new situations for greater success. “The broader the range of strategies that children know and can appreciate where they apply, the more precisely they can shape their approaches to the demands of particular circumstances” (Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000, p. 100).
I believe metacognition improves student engagement and motivation.
Motivation includes concepts like self-efficacy, which is confidence in one’s ability to perform a specific task and beliefs about the nature of knowledge." Martinez (2006) argues that metacognition entails the management of affective states, and that metacognitive strategies can improve persistence and motivation in the face of challenging tasks... Paris and Winograd (1990) concur, arguing that affect is an inevitable element of metacognition, because as students monitor and appraise their own cognition, they will become more aware of strengths and weaknesses" (Lai, 2011, p. 13). Students might be motivated by the positive increase in their own performance gained through their use of metacognitive strategies in their learning. They could also be more engaged because metacognition allows them to see themselves in what they are learning and doing in school.
I believe classroom discourse, collaborative work, and social interactions promote metacognitive thinking.
I believe that social interactions and collaborative work actively promote metacognitive development. "Researchers also recommend the use of collaborative or cooperative learning structures for encouraging development of metacognitive skills" (Lai, 2011, p. 24). Metacognitive discourse among students for example, can stimulate conceptual conflict. Such conflict can then lead to clarifications of students’ beliefs and concepts. This type of discourse also encourages the construction and internalization of metacognitive thinking. I also think that students involved in group processing are better able to then process their own individual thinking. "When children dialogue together, they learn to use language to explain their ideas and experiences, negotiate meaning around a task, and develop new ways of thinking and behaving that they may not have previously considered" (Gilles, p. 37).
I believe metacognition is an essential 21st century skill.
I believe metacognition is an essential skill for success because it allows students to know themselves better as a learner. Metacognition helps students to self monitor and self regulate to get the most out of what they are learning and recognize when they need more help. Therefore students are often their own best supporters and advocates. This is particularly true with the ever increasing class sizes and increased limits of instructional time partially due to the pressures of high stakes testing. There are some important supporters for the importance of teaching skills like metacognition. For example, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has identified self-directed learning as one of the life and career skills necessary to prepare students for post-secondary education and the workforce. Researchers claim, "critical thinking may be a component of metacognition or both concepts may be subsumed under the more general framework of self-regulated learning" (Lai, 2011, p. 34). Ultimately, I agree with the position that metacognition that leads to self-directed learning. I also believe it can encourage students to become life long learners that will help to enrich their world.
I believe students as young as first grade can and should be introduced to metacognition.
Although metacognition involves complex and abstract thought processes, I believe we should not underestimate young children's ability to be metacognitive and self reflect. Recent studies have proven “unsuspected strategic competence and metacognitive knowledge in young children” (Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000, p. 95). Other "recent research suggests that young children are capable of rudimentary forms of metacognitive thought, particularly after the age of 3. Although individual developmental models vary, most postulate massive improvements in metacognition during the first 6 years of life" (Lai, 2011, pg 2). The younger they are introduced to metacognitive strategies the more years they will have to practice and use those strategies. Some researchers are claiming to have evidence of metacognition in children as young as three years old. "Whitebread et al. (2009) found that children as young as 3-5 years old exhibited both verbal and nonverbal metacognitive behaviors during problem solving, including articulation of cognitive knowledge, cognitive regulation, and regulation of emotional and affective states" (Lai, 2011, 15). Students who are introduced to metacognition early on will become more self sufficient for their future success in and outside of school. Teachers can promote a beginning, general awareness of metacognition in younger students by modeling metacognitive skills during instruction. This can be done by “thinking aloud” and “making thinking visible”.
I believe metacognition leads to and supports critical thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills.
Metacognition and becoming more aware of your thinking also connects to and supports students' critical thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills."Flavell (1979) and Martinez (2006) maintain that critical thinking is subsumed under metacognition" (Lai, 2011, p. 11). Others equate the two, or claim that metacognition supports critical thinking. The latter rings true for me, because I believe that "monitoring the quality of one’s thought makes it more likely that one will engage in high-quality (critical) thinking" (Lai, 2011, p. 12). All of these skills cross over all academic disciplines and content areas. Metacognition therefore adds value to learned knowledge because students can use these strategies to apply knowledge learned to new situations for greater success. “The broader the range of strategies that children know and can appreciate where they apply, the more precisely they can shape their approaches to the demands of particular circumstances” (Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000, p. 100).
I believe metacognition improves student engagement and motivation.
Motivation includes concepts like self-efficacy, which is confidence in one’s ability to perform a specific task and beliefs about the nature of knowledge." Martinez (2006) argues that metacognition entails the management of affective states, and that metacognitive strategies can improve persistence and motivation in the face of challenging tasks... Paris and Winograd (1990) concur, arguing that affect is an inevitable element of metacognition, because as students monitor and appraise their own cognition, they will become more aware of strengths and weaknesses" (Lai, 2011, p. 13). Students might be motivated by the positive increase in their own performance gained through their use of metacognitive strategies in their learning. They could also be more engaged because metacognition allows them to see themselves in what they are learning and doing in school.
I believe classroom discourse, collaborative work, and social interactions promote metacognitive thinking.
I believe that social interactions and collaborative work actively promote metacognitive development. "Researchers also recommend the use of collaborative or cooperative learning structures for encouraging development of metacognitive skills" (Lai, 2011, p. 24). Metacognitive discourse among students for example, can stimulate conceptual conflict. Such conflict can then lead to clarifications of students’ beliefs and concepts. This type of discourse also encourages the construction and internalization of metacognitive thinking. I also think that students involved in group processing are better able to then process their own individual thinking. "When children dialogue together, they learn to use language to explain their ideas and experiences, negotiate meaning around a task, and develop new ways of thinking and behaving that they may not have previously considered" (Gilles, p. 37).
I believe metacognition is an essential 21st century skill.
I believe metacognition is an essential skill for success because it allows students to know themselves better as a learner. Metacognition helps students to self monitor and self regulate to get the most out of what they are learning and recognize when they need more help. Therefore students are often their own best supporters and advocates. This is particularly true with the ever increasing class sizes and increased limits of instructional time partially due to the pressures of high stakes testing. There are some important supporters for the importance of teaching skills like metacognition. For example, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has identified self-directed learning as one of the life and career skills necessary to prepare students for post-secondary education and the workforce. Researchers claim, "critical thinking may be a component of metacognition or both concepts may be subsumed under the more general framework of self-regulated learning" (Lai, 2011, p. 34). Ultimately, I agree with the position that metacognition that leads to self-directed learning. I also believe it can encourage students to become life long learners that will help to enrich their world.