Modeling Metacognition

The concept of metacognition is one that I find fascinating for several reasons. It is a process that I complete all the time, but rarely stop to think about or label. Metacognition involves asking questions that I asked as a student often: "What strategies work me?" "Why don't I understand this?" "How can I better understand this?" The concept of "thinking about thinking" isn't a new concept for me-the issue I had as a student was that I didn't always know the answer to those questions. I would imagine many of my students feel the same way. Both articles mentioned encouraging students to practice metacognition in class. "Apprenticing Adolescents to Reading in Subject Area Classrooms" in particular focused on reading apprenticeship, or encouraging students who are struggling with an academic text to reflect on their process. In my own classroom, I have seen that having students read a difficult text out loud greatly increases my understanding and their own understanding of where they struggle.

"Apprenticing Adolescents" also greatly stressed teacher modeling of our own reading strategies. This is a strategy that has worked for me, but sometimes it does make me feel vulnerable. When I began my career as a teacher, I first took a position as a long-term sub, covering for two teachers who were on maternity leave. I taught freshman academic (which is, I think, my school's fancy way of labeling those students "ordinary), sophomore academic, freshman honors, and, most daunting, junior advanced placement. When teaching such a wide variety, I was often reading the texts for the first time as well. Freshman honors students read fairly difficult texts. The textbook was at a junior level, and covered such readings as "The Declaration of Indepedence" and "Walden Pond." In other words: quite a thrilling course. Looking back, modeling did help this process a great deal. I would read a text, often for the first time, or at least the first time in a while, and show my reading strategies. It taught my students that these were difficult, but meaningful texts. It taught them to question these great and historic words, and relate these works to their own lives. My favorite moment was occurred when we were discussing transcendentalism and how this related to questioning authority. Suddenly, a student's hand shot up. "Ms. Paoletti-can I question Emerson's authority in this essay?" she asked. "I think it would be wrong if you didn't!" was my answer. "It's just that-I don't know why he thinks his beliefs should be imposed on everyone," she pointed out. "That's what I feel like when I read this, anyway." It was a moment where I knew the students really grasped the concepts, and were applying them at a deeper level. 

However, looking back on my experience, I can't help but think that I "dropped the ball" a little when teaching junior AP. It was intimidating to be in front of upper classmen as a twenty-three-year-old, not to mention that I often felt that at least one of the students was smarter than me. I would have to very closely analyze texts to make sure I was gaining all the insights necessary, because AP requires a much more thorough analysis than honors. I felt as if I were in the class too-I had to "do my homework" and "study" to keep up-especially since I had never taken AP in high school. However, I would never have told my students that. I made sure to appear as an "expert" every day. There were already parents who were wary of a brand new teacher instructing their children in such a high stakes class. I couldn’t risk appearing as if I didn’t know the material. Looking back, the modeling activities discussed in the articles would have been so meaningful. Students' stress levels were at all-time high as they competed for admission into top colleges; though they seemed brilliant to me, I know they often felt nervous about being inadequate. If the students had watched a teacher model reading strategies, and occasionally struggle through the text, but still succeed, that might have been a perfect learning experience. But while it was easy to make myself vulnerable to little freshmen who already thought I was "old," and therefore experienced and wise, I was terrified to reveal the metacognitive strategies that I used to students whom I already felt were questioning my authority.

I've learned over the years that if approached correctly, admitting I don't have ALL the answers (most, but not all) actually makes me more approachable and relatable to students. Now, I often encourage my students to use metacognition but rarely label it as such. I start off every new novel by reading the first few pages and thinking out loud (like we did in class) to show how I would read the text effectively. I then encourage several students to read until we've read at least the first chapter. I am always looking for new visuals to assist my students, so I found several posters online that could be displayed in a classroom (pictured below). There is a fancy store bought one, but also a homemade poster that I actually found on Pinterest. It would be a good reminder for students to use these strategies constantly.