Metacognition and Self-Regulation

The idea of metacognition brings back memories of philosophy classes taken years ago. The notion of thinking about thinking is a key role in the practical world as well as simply having a theoretical basis. As discussed in the reading there are two types of learners, novice learners and expert learners. As students go through the educational system they should with experience become an expert. I find with my students most of the students (8th grade) are novices. They know they need to study and that substantial time is needed but in many cases do not have an effective plan to approach the studying. I personally wouldn’t say that I was truly and expert until my senior year in high school, upon learning these skills I immediately noticed a vast improvement in my performance in school. As Halter notes by taking time to thinking about learning and is able to adjust their behavior based on their results. The learners need clear and challenging goals that help them not just evaluate themselves but also to have a point to progress toward. This idea was stated by Woolfolk and Schunk in the reading.
I think that these ideas are both necessary and important in the development of success full students. While the goals need to be realistic and time management comes into play we all need to thing about not just thinking but learning in general.
There are many approaches to applying these ideas in the classroom. Often students learn best from other students. By utilizing technology students can have easy access to what their peers are doing and gain insight into their own behaviors and how to overcome obstacles in order to reach their goals. An example would be to set up a reflective Blog where students can voice their opinions on assignments, give advice on how they study etc. Another way to help guide students would be with teacher directed questions. These questions could be asked as part of a survey or simply in the form of an in-class discussion or debate on learning or a specific topic of some controversial basis that may spark interest. This will bring new insight for many and help to narrow the gap between expert and novice learners.
As educators the process of thought and learning about learning is a cornerstone for success. The sooner students can reflect on this process the better chance they have of meeting the ever increasing goals, in both the short and long term.