Metacognition

* This response is geared toward the secondary level*

As a student, several years ago, when it came time to take the finals or regents in June, after practicing and engaging in work for the previous nine months, there were certain subjects in which I felt well prepared, specifically Math, Science and English. Then there was social studies, which not only was it not really my favorite, but I always felt like I wasn't prepared. I wonder if it was the teacher? But how is that possible? The teacher isn't responsible for my actions, whether I decide to engage fully or not. Saying that, to better prepare students today, I think as teachers we have a really big role in that. Of course students are contributors to their own success and self-regulation to feel better prepared. But there are things the teacher can do to assist students.

One way that teachers can help students develop meta cognition is within the daily lessons. Teachers can use the aim, to set a goal, which is sub-divided from the long term, so students understand what the primary accomplishment for the day(s) should be. The aims from the entire unit should serve as the long-term goal (Schunk).
A web 2.0 tools which I see helpful to this is a concept map, with the long term goal in the center and each branch with the sub-divided goal, in this case the aims from the lesson. It provides students with a visual in addition to their notes and handouts, but it also helps them keep goals(units of study) orderly when it comes time to looking back.

Another thing teachers can do to help students is to internally motivate them so the student begins to take ownership of their own learning, which in turn would increase their confidence and they'd begin to value their learning to assist in taking steps toward developing self-regulation. (Self Regulation ppt) It is important for the student to understand how much of the topic they already know, but they should be able to compare the current task at hand, to their current performance. (Schunk)
A technology tool which could help the teacher accomplish this when beginning to plan the lessons, could be to use Survey Monkey, Poll Daddy or a QuickTopic. These tools would allow the student to communicate what their interests are. If the teacher is aware of the students' interests, students would have an easier time taking ownership of their learning. It also allows the student to let the teacher know what they already know about the topic, providing the teacher formulate clear, direct questions, which could easily be answered by students.


Finally, the third thing teachers can do is to ask questions which would guide the students in the right direction, learn how to analyze feedback, whether it's from the teacher or peers via cooperative learning, and finally to recognize success. Challenging the students with a question they may not know how to answer, by asking them to research or hypothesize a path toward a solution would assist with developing self-regulation.
One way I see technology helping this idea is to create an online collaborative tool where students could post their answers/hypothesis for others within the class, including the teacher, to view and be able to provide feedback directly on that document.

Well these are only three suggestion I've come up with for now about how teachers can help students develop self-regulation and integrate technology. Taking these small steps, focusing on student learning could help many students avoid feeling unprepared at times when cumulative exams arise.