#109 Spotlight on Metacognition (Part 2)
Hi Everyone
In the last issue I highlighted a recent podcast with Calli Veludos in New Zealand, ans shared with you some snippets from my replies to the first two questions that she raised about metacognition during the hour- long conversation. The first was why I felt it was so important to keep talking about metacognition, and the second was what significance metacognition has on the way that we teach?
This time, I’m going to cover the second half of our conversation for those of you who prefer to read, or are short on time, but here’s the link again in case you would rather hear it all straight from the horse’s mouth as it were!
Calli wanted to know how, in a classroom where metacognition is recognised and encouraged, can neuro-divergent students be effectively included.
I agreed that inclusivity becomes really important in order for every child to make progress in education. That in turn is affected to a great extent by the attitude we show as the teacher, and the environment that we create for them in which to learn.
It’s a good idea at this point, to think more deeply about what ‘learning’ actually consists of. If we take it right back to the basic steps required to learn, it first needs that someone believes that they both ‘should’ and ‘can’ engage with what’s on offer. Then they have to be prepared for the discomfort of being faced with something new and therefore challenging.
Whilst engaging with that challenge, there has to be a willingness to experiment and make mistakes, and once the correct procedure has been discovered, to practise in order to achieve mastery. If you think about it, that process comes quite naturally to little ones as they learn about the world around them through curiosity and experiencing what happens if…
Older students in school have to follow the same process in order to learn, but by then they’ve often lost those natural inclinations. Some no longer believe in their own ability, some run away from challenge, some are afraid of making mistakes, some give up at the first failure and are not prepared to practise in order to achieve mastery. So, if we add together our cohort of neurodivergent students and those who are struggling with some aspect of the learning process itself, we’re now starting to talk about the majority of students and inclusion becomes a must.
Overcoming students’ barriers should be our priority, so we need to create an environment that ensures a level playing field and encourages the natural development of metacognition. Of utmost importance is to have a completely non-judgmental space where neither the teacher nor any of the other students are allowed to put anyone else down.
With that ethos, you can start to create a learning community, or a group of ‘find-outers’ where everyone’s included, (students and teachers), and most of the learning is done out in the open. As discussed previously, the teacher is the one who sets the tone, and provides the activities, but then facilitates a session where students can collaborate, discuss, question, and support each other to work out whatever it is that you want them to learn.
I’ve found that this kind of learning environment automatically improves engagement at every stage of the learning process, especially if you explain to students how it works. You can explicitly encourage; greater self-belief, a willingness to face challenge, an acceptance of mistakes as a learning tool, and the need for practise.
Within this framework neurodiversity becomes less of a barrier as all students are included in the community, and they know that their voice counts. Everyone can contribute by bringing their own particular skill set to the party, for the benefit of everybody else.
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To illustrate this, here are some examples of neuro-diverse students that I’ve worked with over the years who would have flourished a lot sooner if they’d had the opportunity to be part of such a learning community. You’ll have to listen to the recording if you want more details, but very briefly here’s a summary of each.
1)??? 10year old, labelled as ‘non-verbal’ joined my Philosophy for Children (P4C) group and after the very first session went back to the classroom and volunteered to explain to the whole class how she’d achieved the answer in a Maths lesson. She’d found her voice.
2)??? 14year old with ADHD who was constantly thrown out of Maths classes for disruption. Turned out he didn’t ‘get’ the maths, but after a few sessions became able to remain in class and was thrilled he could now answer questions on a test paper correctly instead of guessing.
3)??? 15year old with brain damage declared unable to use fine motor skills to write effectively or remember stuff. I taught him ways of improving his memory, but whilst learning how to create Visual Memory Records (VMR – my version of mind mapping), to everyone’s surprise, he was able to produce very small neat writing along all the branches.
The important message here is that these students were just as capable as anyone else of making progress, but only if we create an environment that enables them to access a more metacognitive way of thinking. My ‘Learner Success Pathway’ helps students; improve self-belief, increase their understanding of the learning process, and overcome barriers to take responsibility for their own progress. Wouldn’t it be better though, if that could be achieved in the classroom.
Don’t forget that the full podcast is available here;
Take care till next time
Warm regards
Liz
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Lead Construction Tutor at St. Edmunds Society
3 个月Liz Keable we had a young 12 year old come to us. His school could do nothing with him and said the liklihood was that we would have the same result. First thing we did was to show him respect. This happened in each trade area. We demonstrated what we wanted him to do in each area, while talking him through it. We asked him if he had any questions, he always said "no". We asked him each time to take his time, and ask for help, or ask any questions. In every area he aced what he had to do. His confidence grew and grew over the few weeks he was with us. We only found out before schools closed that he wouldn't be back as his school couldn't afford to send him to us. We always try to do this for all our students, but never have I seen such a quick response and the student able to produce such a high standard of work.
Co-Founder and CEO at Much Smarter
3 个月Liz, I appreciate your focus on creating a non-judgmental space. This strikes me as a key. The assumption that everyone "should" progress at the same pace and in the same way is crippling. If, on the other hand, the learner operates within an ethos that they can succeed using their own unique capabilities, then they have an opportunity to develop those metacognitive skills that will ensure their long-term success.