**5.1 Introducing metacognition**

*Metacognition in Learning*

**Figure 3.**

*Metacognitive continuum—students.*

The first stage represents a student who does not reflect on his learning and is therefore unaware of how well or poorly he is doing on the assigned task. And because awareness triggers action, he cannot take action to correct any problems that may arise. For instance, think of a student who does not recognize, and therefore mispronounces, many words as he attempts to read a story aloud. But because he does not realize he is mispronouncing them he does not stop to correct himself. This student was unaware that he was not reading the words correctly, so he did not/could not take any action, i.e., use reading strategies to address the problem. The second stage depicts a student who is reflective, that is, he is aware that he is experiencing problems with an assigned task. However, this student is unable to take any action to address the problem because he has not been taught strategies to use in this situation. Imagine a reader who, unlike one at the first stage of the continuum, is aware that he does not recognize the words he is reading. However, this reader is unable to take action because he has not been taught reading strategies

to use when this occurs, e.g., use phonics to sound out unknown words.

can apply a range of strategies flexibly and independently.

Students at the third stage of the continuum have developed a deeper understanding of metacognition as evidenced by their ability to use strategies when problems arise. The challenge these students experience is that they have a limited range of strategies to use, so they struggle if the one or two strategies that they have ownership of do not prove to be successful. For instance, a reader at the third stage realizes that he has trouble recognizing and pronouncing certain words, but he has only been taught (or has only learned) to use phonics to sound out unknown words and, when that does not work, he asks the teacher for help. Students at this stage are certainly progressing metacognitively, but they are not yet at the level where they

Finally, students at the last stage have become aware of what they know and do not know by engaging in reflective processes, and they are able to take action to address flaws or gaps in what they know by employing a variety of self-regulation strategies flexibly and independently. A reader at this stage, who encounters words he does not recognize and is unable to pronounce, is able to try a range of strategies.

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Teaching for metacognition in disciplinary discussions must begin with an explicit explanation of what we mean by metacognition. In our experience "thinking about thinking" is too abstract and vague a definition to resonate with most students. Our work with instructors and learners across the grade level spectrum has led us to this: metacognition is awareness of what you know and do not know, and the action you take to address flaws or gaps in what you know. The following scenario demonstrates how a teacher who has worked with us introduces the concept to his students and provides a model that others can adapt for their settings.

*Scenario for introducing metacognition*: Mr. Carter is introducing metacognition to his young students. He says, "I have a really big word I want us to know and understand. It is metacognition. Say it with me, friends. Metacognition. Has anyone ever heard that word before? A few of you. I am going to write it on the whiteboard. Let's clap it out. Met-a-cog-ni-tion. Excellent. It has five syllables.

One part of metacognition is being aware of what you know and what you don't know. An example would be us learning our high frequency words. We each have our stack of words. When we can read them automatically, we move them out of our stack. We know that we know those words. The words that are left in our stack are the words we don't know well. So, I am aware of which words I know and which words I don't know. That is one part of metacognition. I am going to draw a lightbulb here to represent us being aware of what we know and don't know.

The other part of metacognition is knowing what action to take to learn what you don't know. Let's think about the high frequency words we still need to learn. What can we do to learn them? What action can we take? Talk to a neighbor and see what ideas you can come up with." Students share out some ideas like practicing more and looking for the words when they read. "Very good. Those are all actions you can take. I am going to draw the brain driving a car to represent the action we are taking to learn what we don't know.

So, metacognition is being aware of what you know and don't know and then taking action to learn. This anchor chart (see **Figure 5**) will help us as we continue to work on our metacognition. Turn to your neighbor and explain what metacognition is."

**Figure 4.** *Stages in teaching for metacognition.*

In addition to an anchor chart a teacher can demonstrate metacognition using paint chip cards with different gradations. (See **Figure 6**.) The lighter colors would represent little or no understanding or knowledge while the darker colors would represent stronger understanding or knowledge. Once students are aware of their level of understanding or knowledge, they take action to "drive their brain" to gain more. This visual can also be used for older students.
