#100 Follow the Magic

Hi Everyone

If you’ve been with me from the beginning, then congratulations and thank you for your loyal support. We’ve been doing this for just over 2 years and have reached the milestone of the one hundredth issue. My mission hasn’t changed, the purpose of this newsletter is to get everyone thinking more deeply about the importance of metacognition to personal success, and you’ll understand the reference to 'following the magic' later.

Over the last 2 years we’ve looked at metacognition from just about every angle; it’s vital role in decision making for everyday life, it’s impact on academic progress, how parents can develop it in their children to enhance their ability to learn, how teachers can develop it in their students to promote academic progress, and how schools can successfully have a whole school approach to improving results.

Over this time, I’ve really appreciated all the personal messages received from people who’ve said how much they've been enjoying this kind of content, and the impact it’s had on their lives. I'm also regularly asked questions privately from individuals with a specific area of interest, and although I’ve replied to everyone personally as the questions have come up, I’ve also, where possible, included the topic in a newsletter in case more of you had the same query.

For those who don’t know the story, I’ve been researching the science behind learning for around 40 years now and obviously over that length of time, modern neuroscience has gradually improved our understanding of how learning happens, so it's been a fascinating journey.

My interest was sparked by watching the way in which my first child was constantly interacting with the world around her, and how quickly she learned through a natural curiosity in her surroundings. I remember my Health Visitor shaking her head and saying ‘she shouldn’t be able to do that’ as we watched in disbelief whilst my newborn keep lifting her head to see over the top of the carrycot, obviously afraid of missing something!

Over the 25 years that I’ve been involved with education in one form or another since then as; a science teacher, advisory teacher, training development manager, curriculum designer, teacher trainer, educational lead, and success coach, my practice has always involved advocating on behalf of the learners. The environment we provide as teachers, the experiences we plan for our students and the attitudes we display in our relationships with them, can make a world of difference to what they can achieve.

It was during conversations with school staff in more recent years around the rapid progress made by every student who worked with me using my ‘Learner Success Pathway’ that metacognition first became a significant part of what I stand for. It was a bit of scientific jargon that had finally made its way into people’s consciousness, so I felt more relaxed about openly using it without having to explain myself.

I had developed the Learner Success Pathway, firstly with a view to helping change a student’s mindset about themselves as a learner, and then to inspire them to engage more effectively with the curriculum. Focusing on the development of metacognition was a big part of that, (although I never mentioned the word to students), and it involved using strategies which I had previously employed successfully in the classroom many times, so knew that they worked.

I served a range of schools for six years as an independent Success Coach, and found that every child or young person responded positively to the process, with most going on to rise beyond their own expectations. Comments from parents and teachers often demonstrated genuine surprise that the students they had been so worried about (enough to pay me in the hopes of achieving a transformation), were capable of that level of progress.

That brought back memories of a previous role as Educational Lead for a team supporting young people in care with behavioural difficulties (the result of trauma), where I often heard the comment; ‘Liz has worked her magic again!’ It wasn’t magic though, it was metacognition. And here it was, yet again, creating magic moments of success for students who thought they never would.

For anyone new to the topic; metacognition is the ability to rummage around inside your own head, recognise what thoughts are not really working for you and change them for something that leads to better results. That’s an essential mentality for achieving success in any endeavour and we all have that potential magic inside us. ?There are however lots of reasons (which have been discussed previously) why some of us don’t get the opportunity to develop a metacognitive way of thinking which leaves us at a definite disadvantage.

So, as a life-long advocate for ‘the learner’ I am convinced that to support the development of metacognition in a child or young person greatly improves not only their educational chances right now, but also gives them a better chance of success in life itself. Hence, the reason why we’ve reached the 100th issue of this newsletter and I’m still banging on about it. It’s heartwarming to know that you’re also still listening, so thank you!

This may be a celebratory issue, but it’s not the last, so take care till next time.

Warm regards

Liz