Introducing Metacognition

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Students quickly pick up on the concept of metacognition, or thinking about thinking. LaKeisha's academic literacy teacher introduced metacognition in September, and within days LaKeisha was not only using metacognition daily but also explaining it to others. She had learned how to look inside her mind and observe her own thinking processes.

Students' responsiveness to the idea of their own thinking is thrilling for teachers as well. Monica Figueroa, a middle school social studies teacher, was delighted with the way her students took to the practice of thinking about their thinking:

The very first benefit [of Reading Apprenticeship], that I really saw early on, was metacognition, the idea of having them actually think about what they were thinking. It was just so great to me, to have them actually participate in their own brains. That their brains do these miraculous things and they can actually control that! Paying attention to the wheels in their head - knowing that they have wheels I see the pride growing in them.

Anyone who has worked with adolescents knows that they can be intensely self-absorbed, consumed with questions of individual identity and of their place within their peer group and the world. When we first developed Reading Apprenticeship, we realized that we could use this self-interest to get students thinking about their own reading processes. We thought of this self-absorption as our ally: Why wouldn't adolescent students naturally be motivated to uncover how and what they thought as they read, and to want to compare their thoughts and thinking processes with those of their friends?

Purpose

CELL PADDING NOT STICKING. AGAIN, FONT SIZE, LINE HEIGHT NOT STICKING. To give all members of a class a low-risk opportunity to practice thinking aloud and to see how available their thinking is to them, model and then have partners take turns describing their thinking as they engage in a nonthreatening cognitive task such as the one described here.

Procedure

• Model thinking aloud metacognitively during the pipe cleaner task that follows (or another of your devising), and have a partner make notes on what you say.
• Display these notes for all to see and ask students to identify and explain examples in the notes that demonstrate metacognition.
• Give each student four or five pipe cleaners and a piece of paper. Assign partners.
• Instruct students that one partner will create a pipe-cleaner creature that can stand on two feet; the other partner will observe and record the creature creator's thinking aloud. Encourage students to be inventive with the pipe cleaners. Set a time limit of two or three minutes.
• Some ideas for the creature creator to think aloud about
  • What do I predict will be tricky about creating a creature that won't fall over?
  • What do I want my creature to look like and why?
  • What am I thinking and feeling about each step of joining and shaping the pipe cleaners?
  • What am I going to do next and why?
• Have the partners trade roles.
• Ask the partners to choose one or two comments from their combined notes to share with the class.
• Lead a class discussion focusing on metacognitive elements of the comments.