Introduce Metacognition in your teaching

Before attempting to understand the power of metacognition, we must first understand what the term means in the context of education.

It is a self-awareness where you are thinking about your own thinking. It relates more specifically to the procedures used in organising, keeping track of, and evaluating your own knowledge and thoughts.

Metacognition can help students in their learning as it enables them to peel back their thoughts and arrive at a better understanding of themselves and their learning

It provides critical knowledge of your thinking, helping you learn, and identity as a learner.

After being initially researched for its development in young students, the scope of research quickly turned to work professionals. It has primarily surrounded exhibiting metacognitive thinking and how novices might be taught similar thought processes to enhance their learning.

Given the attention it has received within acedia, metacognition might be a tool you might want to consider employment with some of your own students.

This is certainly something that would help you to stand out as an educator and would be positively received by students who often grow all too familiar with traditional teaching methods,

Following a positive response to an email we recently sent to our clients with the subject line "How to educate intelligence," we decided to post it on our blog for all to see. This article addresses how to teach the concept of metacognition to your students.

How to teach intelligence - The Power of Metacognition

One of the most powerful tools available to educators is the principle of metacognition - thinking about thinking, knowing "what we know" and "what we don't know".

Students who are able to assess their own learning and understand how they learn best, do far better than their peers. The good news for teachers, tutors and students is that metacognition can be learned.

So how can you help?
Ask questions! Questions spark imagination, conjure emotions and create more questions. You can help your child open up their mind to free thought, bringing about innovation and better understanding.

Help your child build a picture of how they learn. Ask them questions about their homework, books they are reading, current affairs and day-to-day situations:

Approaching a problem
What issues or problems do you see here?
What do you think about what was said?
How would you agree or disagree with this?

Self-reflection and how does the student come to a decision?
How might you convince me that your way is the best way?
Why didn't you consider a different route to this particular problem?
Why does your answer make sense to you?
If you were [friend's name], how would the situation be different?

Making connections - how do problems/situations relate to others?
How does this relate to daily life?
Which problems seem familiar? Why?
Did any of the characters or events remind you of yourself? Why?

Thinking about how others think
Why do you think that character/your friend behaved like that?
What if this story was written from another character's perspective?

If you are going to get your students on board with the idea, you will likely have to be able to explain the benefits that the practice will have on them as learners, let's take a look at some.

Storytelling can be extremely effective in helping students to understand a topic.

How can it help with learning?

Metacognition can help with a student’s learning and can also result in them becoming better critical thinkers. This is a desirable competency in almost every career path imaginable so it is definitely worth trying out.

The practice helps you to adjust your learning to different situations and activities. You will achieve this by developing an awareness of things beyond the subject content; you’ll likely find yourself considering the circumstances and tasks of various learning scenarios as well as yourself as a learner.

If you do decide to engage in metacognitive activities you can expect to become more conscious of your abilities as a reader, writer or team member. Recognizing other limits of your own knowledge or skills and subsequently working out how to improve is the most crucial component.

This can also help to provide some intrinsic motivation for your study. You will likely find that you are no longer learning the material as a means of satisfying your parents or teachers. Rather, you will see your learning through the greater scope of self-improvement and education.

The aim of teaching metacognition is to help students think more about how they learn (which won't happen overnight!), it helps to focus their attention, derive meaning and make adjustments if something were to go wrong. Learning metacognition will have a positive long-term effect on their education and the rest of their lives!

You can opt to teach metacognition or even incorporate it into the learning objectives of your classes if you opt to become a private tutor. This will provide you with a great avenue to improve as an educator and delve further into Metacognition.

Whether you're a teacher, student, or education enthusiast, don't miss out on these top 10 educational blogs.

Teach intelligence to students on Superprof

This is a skill that you will be able to take with you into the classroom once you have found success implementing it on a smaller scale and what works best with students.

Visit the Superprof website if you're interested in offering your own tuition sessions. It shouldn't take you very long to create your own profile on the platform. Simply list your education, experience, and the subject(s) you'd want to tutor in. Soon after you are set up, prospective clients should contact you.

If you have the necessary time, and abilities, and choose a subject that you feel needs to be covered, tutoring could be a good career choice for you.

You can always fit some tutoring into your weekly routine, no matter how busy you are. Whatever number of classes you are able to enrol in, you can easily fit it into your schedule because of its remarkable flexibility.

In order to draw in new students, you will be heavily results-driven and eager to build an excellent portfolio, therefore you should make every effort to enhance your student's educational opportunities. You should administer a test to see what your student has retained, and then base your new plans on the results of this evaluation.

Investing time in honing this ability will also help you stand out from the crowd. When a student hears from some of your former pupils about how fascinating and captivating your teaching methods are, they will be sure to sign up for some sessions of their own.

Get teaching intelligence through metacognition and self-awareness and mindful thinking to your students in a more digestible manner from today onwards. Sign up for Superprof if you haven’t already.

The overlap between teaching, coaching and mentoring is an interesting discussion in education.