Metacognition in the Making

As I went through school (particularly college) I definitely became clearly aware of what worked for me and what didn't in terms of studying, learning and absorbing new concepts and materials. I'm not sure this was something I was taught, but happened automatically as I'm sure it does for many people at some point during their schooling. I know I'm far better studying on my own in a quiet space rather than in a study group. Even the way in which I take notes helps me when studying later. I highlight certain things or group my notes in a way that makes it easy for me to remember and review later. Even the time in which I study helps. When I wake up early in the morning and study, read, etc, it helps me remember things later. I know what works for me. There are so many individual differences regarding metacognitive abilities that the challenge as a teacher is helping students figure out and encourage what works for them. How do we as teachers facilitate self-reflection, self-responsibility and initiative, as well as goal setting and time management in our students? That's a tough one.

Well, in Health classes, I believe I have a unique opportunity to facilitate this process on a broader scale than some of the other subjects or instead of just focusing on how to get students to pass the final in my class. I teach a unit on goal setting. This would be the perfect setting to have students set academic goals and then allow for self-regulation. In "Self-Regulation through Goal Setting" , Dale H. Schunk states that goals are involved across the different stages of self-regulation including forethought (setting a goal and deciding on goal strategies); performance control (employing goal-directed actions and monitoring performance); and self-reflection (evaluating one's goal progress and adjusting strategies to ensure success). With this in mind, students can set goals for themselves at the beginning of the year in terms of the grade they would like to receive in each class. Then students can create an outline of how they plan on achieving those goals using Inspiration or one of the Web 2.0 mapping tools to plan it all out. For instance, if the goal is to do well in math first quarter (say and 85 or higher average), the student might include attending tutorial and 20 minutes of review a day in addition to homework as part of their map. http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show/4703127 The map can serve as a visual reminder and checklist for the students. Students first have to assess their strengths and weaknesses regarding a subject when coming up with a plan. For instance, I know that math was a subject in school that required more studying and attention on my part in order to understand what was going on in that class.

Students can use a Web 2.0 service like Zoho Planner to help make to-do-lists, set reminders, organize and add notes to comment on their progress (or in some cases their frustrations).
Also, students can journal using a blog to self-evaluate as they take tests and complete class assignments. Blog topics could include Self-Evaluation of Work, Teacher Feedback, Successes and Problems (monitoring). Teachers and parents can read the students blog and leave comments, suggestions and give further feedback. At the end of the quarter, not only will students have all that they need to evaluate how they did in my class, but they will also be able to evaluate how they performed in their other classes. When they adjust their goals or set new ones for the second quarter, strategies can of course be changed, adjusted or continued if they are working. We could even do something fun like make a movie where students describe or show us their best "study tip" or technique and then edit it using IMovie. I think this would at least be a good beginning at getting students to "think about" regulating their thinking and learning, and what works or doesn't work for them.