Hi Readers! 

I can’t believe it’s the middle of June the time is flying! 

I keep talking about the various definitions of metacognition and you’re likely thinking to  yourself that no one really knows what the word truly means. The reason for not having a concise definition is due to the fact that metacognition is still a relatively new term. In fact metacognition has overlapping characteristics with other terms such as self-efficacy (belief in one’s abilities) and self-regulation (the ability to manage your own learning) (Tanner, 2012, p.113-114). So until everyone can agree on one distinct definition, people will continue to adapt and interpret metacognition. Until then, I will continue to share the definitions that I come across. Like the definition of Betül Altay “Metacognition is a term which means managing learning consciously without giving a loose to it , since it entails self-control at heart. It is interlinking knowledge of oneself with the knowledge of world” (2013, p. 673). The way I interpret this definition, is that you are aware of your learning process, thus you are aware of how you learn and what strategies work best for you. With this understanding you can learn knew ideas, topics, etc. 

A lot of the times, we read up on these amazing knew theories that we hope will help our students but how do these theories translate to the classrooms? According to Nancy Joseph (2010) research has shown that teachers should incorporate talking about metacognition, direct instruction with modelling, and practicing metacognition in the classroom. One of the examples that Nancy Jospeh (2010) provides is using a technique called “think-aloud.” With this technique the teacher might go over a passage with students, and as the students follow along, the teacher provides thinking strategies they may use to better understand the passage. Through teacher modelling, students will learn and will eventually be able to do it on their own. 

Kimberly D. Tanner (2017) discusses how to get university students to use metacognition. Tanner provides questions students can ask themselves in order to develop their metacognition. These questions may not be appropriate for all grade levels and the questions may need to be adapted to more student friendly language. Keeping in mind what Nancy Joseph (2010) said, teachers should model these questions first before asking students to do it on their own. Questions that they can ask themselves in relation to class sessions are in the table below:

These are just a very small example of what teaching students about metacognition can look like in the classroom. I intend to expand upon this, and provide you with more examples.

So how will this look in my own classroom? During my next practicum I plan to incorporate metacognition into my lesson plans. Not only can I use/teach metacognition in my social studies classes, I can also use/teach it in my French classes. According to Atlay (2013, p. 673), metacognition is useful and helps students become proficient in a different language, so I know I will be able to adapt this into my French classes as well. I will take the time to explain to my students what metacognition is and how it can help them learn. I think this is a very important step because students need to understand why it is important.  In order to teach my students how to use metacognition, I will begin by using modelling and the “think-aloud” strategy that I mentioned earlier. During a lesson I might ask myself out-loud “Do I understand this right? Do I have any questions about what I’m learning/reading?” Depending on my students, I might have to incorporate different strategies so that all my students understand and can use metacognition. 

Thanks for stopping by, until next time!

Kaitlin Owens