Week 6 : Engage Students in Metacognition and Reflection

 Week 6: Engage Students in Metacognition and Reflection

November 23, 2023

In Chapter Six of Rigor by Design, Not Chance, Karin Hess discusses the importance of engaging students in metacognition and self-reflection throughout their academic careers. Metacognition refers to the ability to think and create about one’s thinking processes and be aware of them. Planning, monitoring, and developing personal strategies can help boost individual learning. “Metacognition happens “in the moment” during learning” (Hess 2023). This will allow students to look at their own learning, review what evidence to look for, and make a statement on how to move forward in the best possible way. 

Karin stresses the importance of engagement and how we must bring a better focus into the classroom. I found it interesting as she discussed engagement and how students are usually minimally engaged or slightly interested in what is being taught. Students look for teacher grades and not necessarily the content itself. Below is a picture from the book to explain the continuum of engagement. 

It is interesting to see such categories placed on a scale. As a student in high school, I would be in the participate category but sometimes slide into the withdrawing category. The graph shows that students can slide from one area to another, and is never permanent. “Berry’s research concluded that as students became more engaged, they learned more” (Hess 2023). Engagement has been the top priority in my experience. I try to get the students moving and find new ways to learn information that pique their interests and corporate activities. 

Hess also discusses collaboration strategies with structure in order for students to learn in different ways. Students working with peers or groups are essential because they will deal with other people and their opinions/ideas in and out of the classroom. A framework called GPS-I helps explain how to use discourse and helps students understand active engagement. 

• Group Processing: Students will be placed in groups, and group members will establish roles and guidelines for everyone to follow. Such as who is working on what, encouraging everyone to contribute, and staying focused on the task. 

• Positive Interdependence: Students address that group members will work together and depend on each other. Offering ideas, allowing positive critique, and using each other to solve problems. 

• Simultaneous Engagement: The group will create different roles based on the amount of people working with them. Usually, students and the teacher will provide guidance on who may fit the best role. Students grow social skills and work with other members face-to-face. 

• Individual Accountability: The group, as well as individuals, are accountable for the end product. If someone does not pull their weight, others should not be affected by this. Should be provided to state what is needed from each member or what the presentation should include. 

The last thing to know is how self-reflection emanates from student-driven learning and how they can improve overall. Typically teachers model what self-reflection looks like and how many decisions to make, stating that there’s always room to improve. “When educators know what to look for and when students understand how to “look back” reflect on their learning, a beautiful thing happens”(Hess 2023). Soon, problems that they want to dress in narrow down their focus on what went right, what went wrong, and what they can improve on. there’s so much for students to learn, but knowing that no student is perfect and having students reflect on their results will ultimately be beneficial for everyone. 

To discover more about interdependence and education, I took to research formal and informal stigmas to be applied in education. Andries-Simona Melnic and Nicoleta Botez had some really interesting thoughts and a chart that describes each category like a rubric. They state, “Every experience has, without any doubt, a formative effect on the development of the human being, in the way one thinks, feels and acts”( MELNIC & BOTEZ, 2014). Describing that every student is essentially different, and we must apply these instances for students and consider how they think, feel, or act. How to integrate these different forms by creating team of teachers, as stated in previous discussions. Allowing various possibilities, resources, and research about the benefits of interdependence, and allowing supportive environment to generate interest for students. Below is a chart from the article: 

These are categories that are analyses of forms of education. In short, this describes the effects and categories that fit under interdependence while having advantages and disadvantages of using this framework. 

I see a lot of similarities between Hess and this article written by Melnic and Botez. Discussion about self-reflection and student-led activities. Describe how students can work together to solve problems and how students respond to positive feedback. There’s so much to uncover with the strategy, but with more research and digging deep, we can find ways for students to build their understanding through themselves. 

Hess, Karin. (2023).  Rigor by Design, Not Chance: Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment. ASCD ASSN SUPERV CURR DEV, 2023.

MELNIC, A.-S., & BOTEZ, N. (2014). Formal, non-formal and informal interdependence in education - UGB. Formal, Non-Formal and Informal Interdependence in Education. https://www.ugb.ro/etc/etc2014no1/18_Melnic__Botez.pdf