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Winning at Learning

Continuing the Adventure of Learning How to Learn

Winning at learning from Fran Toomey
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Children’s Voices

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“…but all kids have a voice and they deserve to express it.” Michelle Hammond

 

Excerpts from CASEL post received  on July 18, 2018–just I was planning an Executive Function post on “Student Voices”  

https://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/SEL-Trends-Youth-Voice.pdf

”TRENDS CASEL • Empowering Youth Voice 5 Empowering Youth Voice Washoe County: Even Kindergartners Have a Voice This year, Washoe County School District (WCSD) has worked to utilize student voice at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. “We know that the best information we have about supports and obstacles in our system often comes straight from the students.” says Laura Davidson, the district’s director of research and evaluation.

”Student voice looks different at the elementary level, but it’s equally important,” says Michelle Hammond, student voice coordinator. While high school students tend to focus on issues like bullying and school climate, elementary students look at issues close to their classrooms. They’re helping change school rules to reduce behavior problems in the cafeteria. In one elementary school the Student Advisory Council addressed equity concerns by changing the gift policy for teacher appreciation week so that all students had something to give. “A lot of what we see in our student voice work is geared toward high school students, so we are exploring what student voice in elementary schools can look like. We know student voice fosters social and emotional learning, so let’s start early in life to lay positive groundwork,” says Hammond.

A unique feature of Washoe County’s work is the Strength in Voices Symposium, now in its fourth year. Attendance has grown to 400 participants attending the Spring 2018 event. Elementary, middle, and high school students lead all breakout sessions, which focus on a variety of topics like equity, assessments, analyzing results from climate surveys, and the challenges that issues like poverty present to students. In each session, students provide recommendations for change, and adults are present to capture that input.

“One of the best things about this event is that we work to ensure a representative sample of students so we have all voices at the table. We provide schools with a randomly selected list of 15 students from which eight are selected to participate,” says Hammond. “When it comes to leadership opportunities, we often default to students perceived to fit certain criteria, but all kids have a voice and they deserve to express it. If we’re really trying to drive change and improve, we must have students with diverse experiences at the table.” That’s one of the implementation challenges the district is addressing. Getting educators on board isn’t always easy because they have so much on their plates. “We are working with teachers to embed student voice into their existing practices, including SEL, so it is not seen as one more thing,” says Trish Shaffer, the district’s MTSS/SEL coordinator. …”

 

 

 

 

 

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All Kids DESERVE To Be Readers

All Children Deserve to Be Readers

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Metacognitive Development 1

I am backtracking to earlier posts on Metacognition Development.  I will follow this post with a few others on Development from 2017 Postings.

 

The Development of Metacognitive Knowledge in Children and Education

The Development of Metacognitive Knowledge in Children and Education

Author: Noboru Kobayashi, M.D., Pediatrician, Director, Child Research Net
Hirotaka Kataoka, Researcher, Benesse Educational Research and Development Center, Benesse Corporation
Issue Date: October 30, 2009
Section: Brain & Education

http://www.childresearch.net/projects/brain/01_08.html

A short excerpt:

Not surprisingly, the development of theory of mind and metamemory are clearly shown to be strongly influenced by language. Moreover, language abilities at the ages of 3 and 4 significantly contribute to metamemory ability at the age of 5. It has been demonstrated that the early acquisition of high theory of mind competencies affects the acquisition of metacognitive language (vocabulary), for example, in the use of words such as “guess” and “think.”

Metamemory that is expressed in language, or declarative metamemory, is already present in preschool children and is thought to develop in stages during the elementary school years. It is related to the declarative knowledge that recalls facts in language, as mentioned above. Here, declarative metamemory refers to metamemory mediated by language and is opposed to what is called procedural metamemory. Even after entering puberty, metacognition is thought to continue to develop to enable the reading, comprehension, and memorization of complex texts.”

 

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Executive Function: Beginning with a Definition, Moving to Challenges and Interventions

Here is a series of posts on Executive Function from Understood

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/understanding-executive-functioning-issues

For example–excerpts:

“Executive functioning issues are weaknesses in a set of important mental skills that are key to learning. Kids with executive functioning issues often struggle with working memory, flexible thinking and self-control.

What are executive functioning issues? They’re not a learning disability on their own. Instead, they’re weaknesses in a set of important mental skills that are key to learning.

Executive functioning challenges are complex. This overview can answer your basic questions about challenges with executive function, and show you what you can do to help your child. It can also lead you to the more in-depth information you’ll need throughout your journey. You’ll find expert tips and strategies to help your child, plus the latest research and guidance on how to work with your child’s school.

If you think your child might have executive functioning issues, here are steps you can take. If you recently learned your child struggles with these executive skills, find out what to do next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYi2EzPkErs  A 3 minute video

In this video, Stephanie M. Carlson, Ph.D., professor and director of research at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, explains what you need to know about executive function skills. Learn why some kids struggle with executive functions and what you can do to help nurture your child’s executive function skills”

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Metacognition: A 28 Minute Video from The Annenberg Learner Site

From Annenberg Learner

Thinking About Thinking – Metacognition.  Understanding the Concept of Metacognition (Executive Function)  This is a wonderful resource!

https://www.learner.org/courses/learningclassroom/session_overviews/metacog_home9.html

9. Thinking About Thinking – Metacognition
“We can teach children to think about their thinking in ways that help them understand what they know and what they don’t know and what they’d like to learn, and to help them reflect on their learning and to evaluate their work against a continuum that they’re on. All of those kinds of thinking actually make the learning process more powerful.”
Linda Darling-Hammond

 

Key Questions:

  • How can people learn by reflecting on what they know and do?
  • How can teachers help students think about their own thinking?

Learning Objectives:

  1. Defining metacognition – Teachers will understand what metacognition is and how it improves learning. They will become familiar with two aspects of metacognition: reflection and self-regulation.
  2. Developing metacognitive skills – Teachers will understand what it means to develop a culture of metacognition in the classroom. Teachers will become familiar with strategies for helping students regulate, monitor, and guide their learning.

Video Program  28 minutes

This episode explores how thinking about thinking helps students to better manage their own learning and to learn difficult concepts deeply. The episode features two teachers – Kendra Hearn, who teaches senior English at West Bloomfield High School, West Bloomfield, Michigan, and Kathleen Hayes-Parvin, who teaches sixth grade at Birney Middle School, Southfield, Michigan. University of Michigan professor Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Lee S. Shulman, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching provide their insights for teache

“All material on this site has been made available for educational purposes and is intended for personal, non-commercial use.”

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