#68 - Metacognition and Me

Hi Everyone

I wondered if I would even have the time to write a newsletter this week as my head has little space left after planning 3 different events concurrently, which will all happen in the space of 8 days. (That’s without reference to the book writing, which will also have to be on pause whilst I fulfil these commitments.)

I’ve only failed to post on 2 occasions over the last 68 weeks, which is not bad going, and I don’t like the idea of not writing anything this week just because I’m busy. For that reason, and remembering that this is a newsletter after all, I thought I would just quickly let you in on what those exciting events will entail for me this coming week, and then leave you to get on with your weekend. (That’s if you’re reading this at the time of posting.)

I’d just like to start though, by thanking the organisation ‘Parentkind’ for inviting me to run a webinar for their parents and carers last week, as I always enjoy sharing what can be done from home to kickstart the development of metacognition in learners. Today I received some feedback, and as well as really appreciating the kind comments from participants, it was great to hear that 100% agreed that they would recommend it to other parents.

I was thrilled to be asked to repeat the same webinar early in the new year, and am in the meantime looking forward to delivering another event for Parentkind next month as a follow up to last week’s webinar. I’ll be going into more details about about how parents/carers can help, by focusing more on their child’s ability to ‘learn’ generally, rather feeling a bit on the back foot when it comes to the curriculum. It’s all about focusing on what you CAN do (which is actually quite a lot), rather than getting frustrated by things that you have little control over.

So back to this week. Today, it was exciting to create links with yet another school outside of the UK, delivering my teacher training course; Metacognition – The Key to Successful Learning, for staff at an international school in the Netherlands.

The on-line version of this course is quite intensive, and packed with really valuable information which has been divided into the 3 main areas that we need to think about when introducing the development of metacognition into school, namely; Inside the Learner’s Head, Getting the Classroom Environment Right, and Teaching Practice that Develops Metacognition.

At the end of the session, it was great to hear participants thinking through how they were going to make a start on the new project, appreciating that they’re now in possession of all the information they need to make a successful introduction to developing metacognition in school.

This coming Monday, I’ll be speaking at a conference in London with an audience of specially invited International School Leaders from Africa. I’m very grateful to Angelina Ikeako from Golden Links Consultancy for asking if I could provide a presentation, and for adding; ‘can you do your usual thing and wave your brain around at regular intervals’? She was referring to my model brain (I have 2 in fact) which earned me the nickname ‘brain lady’ in local schools.

I might point out that I don’t just wave my brain around randomly, it’s a prop that I use to illustrate the importance of understanding basic neuroscience when talking about learning. We’ll be looking at the connections between accelerated learning, critical thinking and metacognition, as you can’t have the first two without the latter. The importance of developing metacognition for effective learning can’t be over-emphasised.

The big question is, how do you do that in practical terms? I’ll be using 18 different methods of engaging with the audience during the 1hour presentation/workshop to model in real time how to get students more involved with their own learning. We need to make sure that they don’t switch off, so as to become more independent thinkers who can take responsibility for their own learning. The final challenge will be seeing how many of the methods I've used registered with conference participants, and whether they can list some of them at the end of the presentation! (Maybe I need to add 'retrieval practise' to the list!)

I’ll be travelling later in the week further north from where I live, to one of my favourite parts of the UK, namely Yorkshire, for a day’s training with staff at a Primary School who have just appointed a coordinator to manage the introduction of metacognition into classrooms there.

It’s always fun to deliver in-person events that will have a significant impact on learners, so I can’t wait to share a really interactive day with everyone there. This school has recognised the need for a whole school approach and what better way than getting everyone together to consider how they achieve that.

Well, that’s my week sorted and glad that I could deliver a newsletter after all. Let me know if you would like to talk about how I might be able to help you too, but just keep in mind it might be a week or two before I’m free to get on a call.

Take care till next time.

Warm regards

Liz