Our reading for yesterday from Improving Adolescent Literacy described metacognition on page 13 as "thinking about one's thinking." It also said metacognition "is being aware of what one knows and does not know." So...where are you after our first couple of inservices? What do you know that you didn't? What areas are still unclear? More importantly, what are you going to do that you haven't tried?
To make this a learning experience, it's best to see these ideas in action. Who's trying some of the strategies suggested? Can you use the Flip Camera to tape a bit of it? Let colleagues know when you're going to be employing any of the strategies described so they can come in and visit. Plan to share with us on the blog and during our inservice time.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
ReplyDeleteThe authors state on page 13 that the reader approaches a reading assignment with "a plan." The authors then go on to outline three parts to the plan: before, during and after reading. But the thing is we know high school students really don't approach the reading assignments we give them with a plan. Hardly! Sometimes, we're just glad they read the assignment. So who is suppose to give them "The Plan?" Who gives their students some kind of plan before they read? Please share with us how you give students a plan for reading. Bruce
I was surprised that I did not find building background knowledge and previewing vocab in the "before" section. Or I just plain misinterpreted it.
ReplyDeleteI know to try to make any assignment relevant/real world/authentic, but sometimes I have a hard time getting the "why" across to students. Their "why" and mine don't always mesh so well.
You're right about the importance of building background knowledge and previewing vocabulary before making a reading assignment. I went back to read page 13 again. I think the intent of the authors is to point out the metacognitive questions the reader should be guided to ask before, during, and after reading. Bruce
ReplyDeleteThanks. If that is so, my unprofessional opinion is that that is putting the cart before the horse.
ReplyDeleteMany of the strategies in the chapter do not lend themselves to the small groups in my special ed room. It does make me realize some of the benefits co-teaching larger groups might offer.
ReplyDeleteI have tried the suggestion about teaching specific math vocabulary (last year) and found that kids did make gains in their ability to translate application problems and chose an appropriate operation to answer the problem. The struggle is to also get them to recognize when an answer is completely illogical and go back, read, re-evaluate, and choose another operation.