Metacognitive Log Routine

Metacognitive logs are a place for students to think and write about their own reading process with extended assignments such as textbook chapters, whole books, or the texts for a course project. Some metacognitive logs take the form of compiled metacognitive double- or triple-entry journals, others structure metacognitive responses to prompts about how students are reading, and some combine these forms, depending on student choice or teacher suggestion.

Like other Reading Apprenticeship routines, metacognitive logs can help students become more aware of their thinking as readers and give them more control over how well they learn. The logs can be a place for students to docu- ment their reading experience in preparation for sharing and problem solving in the whole class community.

To help students practice monitoring their reading with metacognitive logs, many teachers provide an initial set of prompts that students can use to get their thinking started. Prompts such as “I got confused when . . .,” “I started to think about . . .,” “I first thought . . . but then realized . . .” help keep students focused on responding to what happened to them as readers and what they did about it. (Use of such prompts is discussed in more detail in Box 6.5 in Chapter Six.)

Will Brown’s Introduction to Chemistry students read their textbook side-by-side with a two-column metacognitive log (Box 4.12). Heather Howlett’s grade 8 science students use the same routine as they read about astronomy. Both teachers grade students’ logs with a rubric that rewards effort and learning.

In addition, these teachers ask students to share their logs. Students look for good ideas in each other’s logs and specifically notice how someone else makes connections to the same text. Box 4.13 shows the form Heather’s students use when sharing their logs with a partner. She says that when partners talk together, she expects them to interrogate each other’s thinking and learn from each other in a metacognitive conversation: “Why did you write that?” “What reminded you of this?” “What made you think of that picture you drew?”