Author: Mr D WARREN

Issue 8 Autumn 2022

Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Meta-what?

bowdenc@wellandparkacademy.com

Henry Ford famously said ‘Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.”
Ford has a point! The challenge with thinking—indeed, with metacognition—is that it cannot be taught overnight. It is a skill that students need to develop gradually, applying to different areas of life and learning until it becomes ingrained.
Metacognition has been referred to as ‘thinking about thinking’, but that doesn’t do it justice. It must be more deliberate, more purposeful than this. An example of this from Tom Maynard is outlined below—the Year 8 Science students have to actively, purposefully, think about what they are being asked to do, what they already know, and what they have done. Students, like all of us, need to be self-reflective and conscious in our work. Only then can true progress be made.
There are many ways to support students with this, some shared overleaf, some to be shared throughout the year at the Teaching & Learning Group, Inset, and across departments. Keep sending me what you have done so far!
The next T&L Group is Tue 4th October—see you there.

Encouraging Metacognition in Homework
Tom Maynard

Issue 7 Spring 2022

bowdenc@wellandparkacademy.com

Tips for Developing Metacognition

Use a stepped approach to a task - pre-task thinking, planning, doing, assessing
Assess students’ Independent Behaviours (RAG)
Ask questions at each stage that encourage thinking
Take the EEF’s 7 Step Approach:
Teachers should acquire the professional understanding and skills to develop their students’ metacognitive knowledge
Explicitly teach students metacognitive strategies, including how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning
Model your own thinking to help students develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills
Set an appropriate level of challenge to develop students’ self-regulation and metacognition
Promote and develop metacognitive talk in the classroom
Explicitly teach students how to organise and effectively manage their learning independently

Issue 7 Spring 2022

bowdenc@wellandparkacademy.com

Resources to help

Learning to learn
Mobilising Metacognition
Approaches to Thinking
(The above three require a Teachit Subscription—downloads can be found in the T&L folder in the Shared Drive and in Teams)
Metacognition Guide
EEF on Metacognition
Metacognition & Learning
How to Use Spaced Retrieval Practice to Boost Learning
Implementation of Metacognition

Issue 7 Spring 2022

bowdenc@wellandparkacademy.com

Staff Library: new books

Read something inspiring? Or heard about an education/ leadership book that you’d like to read? If you’d be happy to write a short review for the next issue, let me know. There’s a selection of books in the staff library section of the LRC, or we may be able to order it in.

Year 8 Science Homework with support to encourage metacognition.
Below is a Foundation (Grade 1-5) and Higher (Grade 5-9) level of task. Both are based on the command words for the Topic 8.2 assessment. The task uses questioning to get the students to think strategically about their answer.
Foundation: Describe your journey to school.
Think of the following questions when answering.
What does describe mean? How would I answer a describe question? What is the task?
What do I already know about my journey to school? Is it easy or hard? How long does it take and how do I get there? What do you already know?
How will you start to describe your journey to school? Where do you start?
Once you have started, can you recall the events on your journey to school in enough detail that someone else could follow it? Plan out your journey and answer.
Review your answer, have you completed all the steps mentioned above? Have you described your journey to school? Review, have you been successful in answering the question?
Write up your homework in your book. Be sure to take up no more than a third of a page.
Higher: Evaluate whether taking either a car or walking to school is best for you
Think of the following questions when answering.
What does evaluate mean? How would I answer an evaluate question? What is the task?
What do I already know about my journey to school? How do I already get to school? How suitable is walking or taking the car to school for me? What do you already know?
How will you start to evaluate your journey to school? Where do you start?
Once you have started, can you compare the strengths and weaknesses of using each method of transport and come up with a conclusion as to which is the best method for you? Plan out your journey and answer.
Review your answer, have you completed all the steps mentioned above? Have you evaluated your journey to school? Review, have you been successful in answering the question?
Write up your homework in your book.