Understanding Metacognition

for

Teachers & Their Students

Shery l Ross

ED 561 Adv. ED Psych

Dr. Michael Rousel l

Apri l 26, 2012

“THINKING-ABOUT-THINKING”

A METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS CONSORTIUM

By Cristóbal Vila

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkGeOWY

NATURE BY NUMBERS

AN ATMOSPHERE FOR LEARNING

Six Key Strategies for Teachers

Alliance@al4ed.org, Case Study,2005

VOCABULARY & LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

EXPLORING VOCAB WORDS WITH ACADEMIC CONCEPTS BUILD ON STUDENT’S BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGEDIVERSE NEEDS

GUIDED INTERACTIONSTRUCTURE LESSONS FOR STUDENTS TO WORK COLLABORATIVELY ABOUT ACADEMIC CONCEPTS-LISTENING-SPEAKING-READING-WRITING

METACOGNITION & AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENTTEACHERS MODEL EXPLICIT CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS TO CREATE HIGHLY SKILLED READERSUSE A VARIETY OF ASSESSMENTS TO CHECK UNDERSTANDING

EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONDIRECT TEACHING OF CONCEPTS & ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

MEANING-BASED CONTEXT & UNIVERSAL THEMESTAKING SOMETHING MEANINGFUL FROM STUDENTS’ LIVES TO SPRINGBOARD INTO ACADEMIC CONCEPTS

MODELING-GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS- VISUALSMAKES LANGUAGE & CONTENT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO STUDENTS

The Metacognitive Competence of ChildrenInternational Journal of Bilingualism, 2010

A Role-Play Scenario of Student Strategies- How kids do it

Thinking…Knowing…Learning...Control…Cool…

• Directed attention- The child focuses on a semiotic cue identifying

the problem.• He/she tries to get back on track.• Control of emotions- The child shows self-determination to communicate and

does

not manifest any frustration feelings.• Anticipation- The child elaborates a plan to act while thinking aloud.• Mime- The child proposes to show something using mime.• Cooperation- The child proposes an explicit action to communicate with

the other child.• Code-switching- The child proposes another language to communicate (sign

language included).• Imitation- The child proposes to do the same as the other.• Clarification- The child makes more propositions in order to reassess the

information source.• Ask for assistance- The child explicitly refers to an external help to intervene.

Mnemonics

Loci Method: Technique of associating items with specific places, for example, picturing where something belongs to think of the name.

Peg-type Mnemonics: systems of associating items with cue words, for example, one is bun, two is shoe, three is tree. The words you want to remember are “pegged” to already known systematic words that naturally link together. Acronyms: Technique for remembering things by using the first letter of each thing to create a word that is easy to remember.

Distributed Mnemonics: sorting words in categories.

Chain Mnemonics: linking a memory strategy in which each thing in the series is linked to the next, for example, “i before e except after c” or GenkiEnglish.com songs and activities to match phonics

Keyword Method: system of associating new words with similar sounding words or images in order to remember them more easily.

Visual Memory: multi-sensory, mental imagery, using physical items, pictures, word cards,

The art of memory using systematic procedures for improving memory. These strategies take what needs to be learned and connect it with

already known words or images.

A Metacognitive Awareness Lesson for TeachersA Time to Reflect & Learn- Professional Development

Duration- 55 minutes

Objectives-

Metacognition Strategies

• What are the mnemonic strategies?

• What strategies work best for you, the learner?

• How can we transfer metacognitive awareness into the elementary classroom to help our students with their learning?

Materials Needed:

The Set- the quiet atmosphere for learning because we deserve it:

SMARTboard for Video “Nature by Numbers” on Vimeo or YOUTube

Candle, lighter (low lighting) or battery-lites and group table labels

Online or CD Player, instrumental music

Note: This was a part of a lesson we did last year and our peers loved the experience.

Banners- made with plastic table rolls, silver paint, ribbon in soothing colors hanging floor to ceiling

Ethnic- gentle music online or CD and player

Brain Food-Table- I prefer big bowls of fruit, bread nuts, bottled water, table, cloth, serving utensils, service

Tables for small groups of teachers

Table strategy labels: Visual Imagery, Loci Mnemonics, Chain Mnemonics, Distributed Mnemonics, Rote Memorization

Table strategy materials for group learning

Hand-out of strategies:

Metacognitive Journals

http://freeology.com/wp-content/files/metacognitivejournal.pdf

Metacognitive toolkit

http://www.readingresource.net/support-files/metacognitionyoolkitrevised.pdf

List of common words for strategies on poster

Small tablets to write down words, pencils

Additional informative posters

Lesson continued…

ResourcesOnline Video- Nature by Numbers. Vila, Cristobal, 2008, YouTubeOnline Video-Metacognition Song, 2010. Uploaded by frogeeteacher. youtube.com.Google Images

PreparationPrepare set materials and roomPrepare bannersPrepare foodPrepare strategy materials for group tablesSet-up with food available as audience walks in.Opening: 10 minutes

Meet and Greet- teachers asking them to find a seat with one of the group tables and eat.Turn on Nature by Numbers video presentationIntroduce metacognitive concept with word gameRole-Play Student metacognitive CompentenciesIntroduce class table activities and Tables- each group instructor introduces table strategyBreak-out into groups:

Demonstrate and provide strategy lesson with each group: 10 minute rotation

Visual Imagery: Using physical items, picture and word cards using common wordsLoci-type Mnemonics: List of words, association, acronyms using common wordsChain Mnemonics: 1st word associaltion-2nd word association and on, verbal association using common wordsDistributed Mnemonics, sorting using common words.Rote Memorization, flash cards, repetitious writing using common words.Each Group- Ask everyone to write down the list of common words without looking at their materials after table strategy implementedConversation: Prompts- All tables-How did this make you aware of your cognitive thinking process?What strategies have you taught yourself?How did the music, food, ambiance effect how you think?What does this mean for our young learners?

Closing: Youtube Video, Metacognition Song in the Classroom

Lesson Outcomes

Metacognitive awareness will transfer into our

classrooms at either the university or elementary

levels.

We will teach students how they think-to remember-how to recall information

We will teach students new understandings-awareness-how to explain new ideas or concepts

We will teach students analysis-how to discriminate or compare and contrast

We will teach students how to strategize and evaluate-to defend and stand for a decision

We will teach students how to create, design construct their thinking strategies

Multimedia coding-To bring out the best thinking strategy!Using physical items: with texture-smell-colorUsing picture and word cards: to correspond with physical itemsBuilding connections: show or discuss cultural similarit ies and diff erencesWorking memory for verbal-visual images:Frames for Fluency and pic word cue cards, Carousal

Topics based on phonics lessonSee attachment for pictureand word cards example

VISUAL & IMAGERYA PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Apply to My Classroom

Phonology-Study of sounds

Sound-Symbol Association

Syllable Instruction

Morphology

Syntax

Semantics

Curriculums:

Modified Orton-Gillingham Method

The Spaulding Method

English to a Beat

Alphabetic Phonics

Seq. English Ed

Lindamood-Bell Method

The A.P.S. Linguistic Approach to Literacy

Starting Over

Frames for Fluency

GenkiEnglish.com

A Multisensory

Structured Language ProgramTeaching is done using all learning pathways in the brain simultaneously in order to enhance memory and learning:

Systematic & Cumulative following the logical order of language

Direct Instruction-inferential learning with student/teacher interaction

Diagnostic Teaching must be adept at prescriptive or individualized instruction

Synthetic/Analytic Instruction uses parts of a language builds to whole meaning/and vise versa

…because our students think differently!

“Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.”

Parker J . Palmer, The Courage to Teach