**5.2 Engaging students in reflective processes**

Engaging students in reflective processes is the next step in developing students' metacognitive knowledge of how they learn—their knowledge of themselves as learners, of strategies, and of tasks. It builds the **awareness** aspect of metacognition without which there can be no strategic **action**. Asking questions such as "What worked in your discussion?," "Did you deepen your understanding of the topic?," and "What could you do differently in your next discussion?" fosters reflective thinking and helps build self-awareness. When teachers consistently and systematically integrate reflection into their teaching, it permeates the curriculum and gets built into their daily teaching activities. The teacher in the following scenario has done this successfully with her class.

*Scenario of engaging students in reflective processes*: Ms. Peck has already introduced her students to metacognition. She is now working on having them be more reflective about their discussions in order to improve upon them. Students have just completed a discussion with their partners. She distributes a reflection sheet that has these prompts: What worked? What didn't work? And why?

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**Figure 5.**

*Metacognition anchor chart.*

A strategy that moves students to a deeper level of reflection is a strategy checklist. (See **Figure 8**.) The first column is a list of discussion strategies followed by an additional 3–5 columns that students check to indicate if they used each strategy at

*Teaching with and for Metacognition in Disciplinary Discussions*

prompts to reflect on how your discussion went."

and reflect on how they improved in those areas.

"You are all getting so much better in your discussions. Today I want us to think more deeply about our discussions and how each of you did. The first prompt is 'What worked?' Think about what worked in your discussion with your partner. Some things to consider might be: Did you both take turns? Did you both share your ideas? Did you ask each other clarifying questions?

The next prompts ask, 'What didn't work?' and 'Why?' Think about your discussion. Did it stall? Did you stay on topic? Did you fortify your discussion? Did you help each other get better? So, with your partner, discuss each of these

At this stage in teaching for metacognition, there are more strategies to help students become engaged in self-awareness. One strategy is a metacognitive "Do Now" which is given to students at the beginning of class. It is a list of actions related to the task they will be doing (in this case engaging in a discussion), and students mark which ones they will attempt to improve upon during their discussion. (See **Figure 7**.) At the end of the lesson, students return to their Do Now

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86665*

*Teaching with and for Metacognition in Disciplinary Discussions DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86665*

*Metacognition in Learning*

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

Engaging students in reflective processes is the next step in developing students'

metacognitive knowledge of how they learn—their knowledge of themselves as learners, of strategies, and of tasks. It builds the **awareness** aspect of metacognition without which there can be no strategic **action**. Asking questions such as "What worked in your discussion?," "Did you deepen your understanding of the topic?," and "What could you do differently in your next discussion?" fosters reflective thinking and helps build self-awareness. When teachers consistently and systematically integrate reflection into their teaching, it permeates the curriculum and gets built into their daily teaching activities. The teacher in the following scenario has

*Scenario of engaging students in reflective processes*: Ms. Peck has already introduced her students to metacognition. She is now working on having them be more reflective about their discussions in order to improve upon them. Students have just completed a discussion with their partners. She distributes a reflection sheet that has these prompts: What worked? What didn't work? And

more. This visual can also be used for older students.

**5.2 Engaging students in reflective processes**

done this successfully with her class.

**24**

why?

**Figure 4.**

*Stages in teaching for metacognition.*

"You are all getting so much better in your discussions. Today I want us to think more deeply about our discussions and how each of you did. The first prompt is 'What worked?' Think about what worked in your discussion with your partner. Some things to consider might be: Did you both take turns? Did you both share your ideas? Did you ask each other clarifying questions?

The next prompts ask, 'What didn't work?' and 'Why?' Think about your discussion. Did it stall? Did you stay on topic? Did you fortify your discussion? Did you help each other get better? So, with your partner, discuss each of these prompts to reflect on how your discussion went."

At this stage in teaching for metacognition, there are more strategies to help students become engaged in self-awareness. One strategy is a metacognitive "Do Now" which is given to students at the beginning of class. It is a list of actions related to the task they will be doing (in this case engaging in a discussion), and students mark which ones they will attempt to improve upon during their discussion. (See **Figure 7**.) At the end of the lesson, students return to their Do Now and reflect on how they improved in those areas.

A strategy that moves students to a deeper level of reflection is a strategy checklist. (See **Figure 8**.) The first column is a list of discussion strategies followed by an additional 3–5 columns that students check to indicate if they used each strategy at

**Figure 6.** *Paint chip cards.*

**Figure 7.** *Do now.*

different points in the lesson. A different checklist could ask students to indicate whether "I did it well," "I need to work on this skill," or "I need help in using this strategy." Students complete this checklist at the end of the discussion.
