When I worked as both a learning disabilities teacher consultant (LDTC) and special education teacher in the Ridgewood Public Schools, my first job was multifold. I was to observe and evaluate children as well as develop a resource room model, teach teachers how to differentiate, teach children with learning differences and help parents better understand their children’s learning styles. My principal was a former marine sergeant, who, after leaving the military, went back to school, became superintendent and then stepped down to work in the trenches—working directly with teachers as the commander in chief of the school. His personality style, needless to say, was authoritarian and didactic, yet he was an intelligent individual, had a doctorate in psychology and wanted metacognition to be used in our school. He expected all teachers to incorporate metacognitive philosophy into teaching. One of my assignments was to help him explain metacognition and executive functioning to staff, so that teachers would incorporate this philosophy to help students perform better on tests.
Simply put, metacognition is the process of thinking about one’s thinking. It is essential in every aspect of life and especially important in education, because it involves self-reflecting on one’s current and future goals, potential actions, strategies and results. Metacognition is a process and therefore it is not like a switch that can be turned on. Everyone, especially students, should reflect and learn from their unique experiences. Metacognitive processes are, by necessity, reflective and retrospective. For a student to practice metacognition while studying, he must ask, “Do I understand the concept?” Then, depending upon the answer, the student may or may not need to adjust his personal cognitive actions to learn.
First, imagine you are on a summer vacation and reading an enjoyable novel, not one challenging for you to read. You are enjoying the sounds of the beach and suddenly as you near the end of the book you realize that you have not paid attention to the last few chapters of the book and you aren’t sure what happened to the plot. You go back and reread those few chapters and suddenly you realize that “how” you were reading and not focusing greatly impacted your ability to recall information. Now step into the shoes of your child who has to study for tests, read notes and review text books. There is a TV not too far away, a cell phone within eye shot and a text book right in front of him. A student with weak metacognitive skills, whether due to working memory, attentional control, executive functioning weaknesses or other factors, will often find that his mind is wandering, although he is putting in time to study. Is he thinking about thinking? Perhaps he has recognized that his mind has wandered and he has lost focus. If time permits, he can catch himself in the act of becoming distracted and re-read, memorize, take notes and move to an area where he can focus better. Noticing when your mind is wandering is one step to understanding how to be a better student. Since metacognition is knowledge and control of one’s cognitive processes, and mindfulness increases one’s ability to focus and control awareness, then it is important to utilize mindfulness and metacognition in learning.
Thus, metacognition denotes in-depth thinking whereby cognitive processes involved in learning are actively controlled by the individual. This includes planning how to accomplish a given task, monitoring one’s understanding, and estimating one’s progress toward completing the task. It is believed that students have greater ability to control their goals and attention when they are more aware of their own thinking processes. For instance, when a student is aware of his lack of commitment to studying and recognizes that he is procrastinating, delaying, and allowing himself to be distracted by less important things, then he may take action to get started on doing the task. He is thinking about his thinking.
Metacognition is important in all aspects of learning, especially reading comprehension at any level. When students understand, analyze and engage in learning, and think about their thinking, they can start to make sense of what they are reading. They can then determine what material is important, and decide which strategies to use to overcome obstacles. Metacognition here deals with the capacity to self-monitor, assess and evaluate to correct any difficulties in comprehension. Research has proven that the ability to demonstrate metacognition during reading is important for both the beginning reader and the accomplished reader. As students go through school, reading instruction changes from learning to read—to reading to learn.
According to Marie Clay, a researcher famous for Reading Recovery, one way to determine if a student is developing appropriate metacognitive skills is to observe him reading and ask the following questions.
Does he try to use what he knows?
Does he know how to predict?
Can he make connections?
Can he consider viewpoints and perspectives, and form conclusions?
Can he explain in words what he will have to explain on a test?
Is he able to recall information and refer to other texts?
Next time, when you read with your child or try to help him study for a test, notice if he is thinking about his thinking. Is he using metacognitive strategies to be able to talk about what he is learning? Can he explain the thought processes he uses to derive answers to questions? Perhaps my principal was correct years ago, when he required that teachers learn about metacognition to help students learn how to study and think about their own thinking. When a student is able to explain his thinking process, he has done more than memorize—he has put thought into his learning. He has studied effectively. Metacognition—try it!
Patricia London, MEd CAGS, is an experienced certified learning disabilities teacher consultant (LDTC). She is also a certified school psychologist, resource teacher, special education teacher and counselor. She works with students with a wide range of needs and has achieved recognition in public and private schools, and on the university level. Patti is recognized as an expert in executive functioning, ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, and all language-based learning problems. She has a tutoring practice in Englewood, as well as works virtually. She helps provide students and families with techniques to understand subject matter while learning effective study skills. The London Learning Center provides tutoring for students in all subjects and grades, and offers programs for enrichment as well as remediation. Support in all subject areas helps students to become independent learners, and there are many graduates. Patti also offers support in all levels of math and science with the help of a brilliant staff member. Visit the London Learning Center website and call for a free consultation: 201-805-4964. For more information about her private practice and individualized support, please reach out and set up a free consultation. She works with students from kindergarten through college who might need just a few sessions to those who need more intensive support or enrichment.
https://londonlearningcenter.wixsite.com/londonlearningcenter
