Student Voices « learntolearn

Metacognitive Development 1

by Fran

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

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.”

Beliefs About Learning Foundational Beliefs Student Voices

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Executive Function and Designing Your Own Learning

by Fran

What if young people designed their own learning?

From: Conversation”

https://theconversation.com/what-if-young-people-designed-their-own-learning-59153

A few short “excerpts”…that reflect a model that emphasizes Context-Based Instruction, that Begins with a Plan to Understand and Collaborate with Individual Children

Why schools need to change

“The current system is clearly not working for a large number of students. Levels of disengagement within schools are high and increase as students pass through secondary school.

To carry on batching children into year groups and teaching them the same content partly explains why there are high levels of disengagement, stress and underachievement.

Schools recognise that today’s complex world needs students who are capable in different ways” …..

“CUREE found that independent learning could improve academic performance, motivation and confidence. Studies showed some students in particular, such as those with special learning needs and socially excluded children, felt more engaged in their learning.

However, learning needed to be scaffolded with support and feedback. Teachers played a key role in facilitating students’ independence. Further empirical evidence would strengthen understanding of the size of the effect…..”

Read more in the series here.

Beliefs About Learning Executive Function Learning How to Learn Metacognition Student Voices

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Connecting Executive Function (Metacognition) to Learning

by Fran

In conversations with students about their learning, we need to understand what they know about the “topic” of learning. We need to ask where they acquired their knowledge of the topic of “learning.” Ideally we hope they will compare their beliefs against their experiences as learners.

I believe that there is an expectation that teachers in their preparation (training) were required to “take” a course on learning. What do teachers take away from such a course and apply to their teaching? How does a teacher’s knowledge base about “learning” change over time? Do teachers and students believe the same things about learning? Do they talk about those beliefs?

As a starting place, I have researched recent articles on the topic of learning. Over the next few weeks, I will blog about a few of these.

I start with a series of videos about learning featuring Linda Darling-Hammond and published by the Annenberg Foundation. Here is the link:

https://www.learner.org/resources/series172.html

This is a series of 13 videos about learning covering a range of topics

The first is “How People Learn – Introduction to Leaning Theory and focuses on a discussion with teachers.

https://www.learner.org/courses/learningclassroom/session_overviews/intro_home1.html

Beliefs About Learning Dialogue Executive Function Feedback Frameworks/Research Learning How to Learn Metacognition Student Voices

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Feedback and Learning How to Learn

by Fran

Feedback pp from Fran Toomey

Beliefs About Learning Executive Function Feedback Learning How to Learn Metacognition Student Voices

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Growth Mindset (4M’s) that goes beyond “effort”

by Fran

One of the best Growth Mindset postings I’ve read!

Four Teaching Moves That Promote A Growth Mindset In All Readers

By Katrina SchwartzAPRIL 3, 2017Mind Shift

https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/03/four-strategies-that-promote-a-growth-mindset-in-struggling-readers/

Some short excerpts:

“Most often teachers spend their time assigning what students should read and how they should show what they read, monitoring to make sure students have done what was asked, and making decisions about what students will do and how they will do it. Those roles make the teacher the main driver of the learning. In order to step back from those traditional roles, teachers have to replace them with new strategies.

“There’s a place for those three, but when that’s our main role there isn’t space for ownership and to develop that growth mindset,” Goldberg said. She coaches teachers to think of themselves in four very different roles, and to step back from constantly stepping in when students struggle. A big part of that is making it clear that struggle is part of reading, not a unique experience to students learning to read. It’s common to start a book and be confused, or to read a passage and miss something, but teachers don’t often make it clear how universal that experience is, no matter one’s reading level. Rather than being assignors, monitors and managers, Goldberg coaches teachers to see themselves as miners, mirrors, models and mentors”

I encourage you to watch the 7 minute video where Goldberg teaches us how to be miners, mirrors, models and mentors. The article continues with a description of these 4M roles.

Beliefs About Learning Executive Function Feedback Meta Teachers Student Voices Teacher Suggestions, Stories, Qs

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Feedback and Student Voice: Critical to Executive Functioning

by Fran

Courtesy of D. Bassett…from Mindshift site

How Students Critiquing One Another’s Work Raises The Quality Bar

http://dbassett.blogspot.com/2017/03/here-is-great-article-on-learning-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ReflectionsOnMeta-cognition-ForEducatorsByEducators+%28Reflections+on+Meta-cognition+-+For+Educators+by+Educators%29

Too often, when students produce schoolwork, they turn it into a teacher for a grade and move on. And after the teacher spends time evaluating the student’s work, many students never look at the feedback, a cycle that frustrates both parties and isn’t the most effective way to learn.

Several schools are trying a different model — one that takes more time but also helps students feel more ownership over the quality of their work. Called peer critique, students follow clear protocols that remind them to “be kind, be specific, and be helpful” in the feedback they give to peers.

Student to student feedback video via sMindShift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8FKJPpvreY 4 minutes

Dialogue Executive Function Feedback Student Voices

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Student Voice and Choice: A Few Teacher/Learner Considerations

by Fran

Here is an excerpt from a teacher’s point of view about student voice. For me, this raises a lot of questions:

How do age/grade level impact student voice/choice?

How are choice and teacher mandates (CCSS, for example) related?

How does knowing “what it means to learn” influence student voice/choice.

Here is one starting place – from a high school teacher’s point of view:

Do We Give Students Too Much Choice? By Brian Field

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/08/24/do-we-give-students-too-much-choice.html

August 23, 2016

A few brief excerpts:

There is an increased focus on student choice in K-12 education today. This focus has created more student-centered classrooms that use problem-based learning and differentiation of instruction to give students agency in what and how they learn. As a high school teacher, I understand why teachers feel the necessity to cater to all of their students’ strengths by providing opportunities for student choice. But, as schools try to incorporate student-centered initiatives into the classroom, there is often a lack of critical consideration for the potentially negative effects increased choice may have on student learning…..

The new question now becomes: What degree of choice should we have? Though these studies apply to retail, they have grounds in the field of education regarding student choice. As these studies help to show, the current debate surrounding this classroom strategy is not whether students should have choice, but to what degree student choice is effective…..

I have learned in my own experiences that effective feedback takes copious amounts of time when all students complete the same assignment—and the greater variety of student choice only increases that time. There needs to be a balance between an appropriate amount of student choice and the ability of the teacher to impart the feedback necessary to reach maximum student growth in a timely manner….

Beliefs About Learning Collaborative Learning Dialogue Executive Function Individual Differences Learning How to Learn Meta Teachers Student Voices Voices and Choices

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Connecting Student Voice, Thinking and Learning

by Fran

A few more of the links from the Reading Sage post on Oracy

http://reading-sage.blogspot.com/2017/02/developing-oracy-with-daily-dialogue.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ReadingSageReviews+%28Reading+Sage+Reviews%29

Just a few of many links on oracy from the Reading Sage posting

Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk | Edutopia Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk | Edutopia
Teaching oracy means putting more intention behind how you guide and organize your students’ talk. When they gather for group work or …

Oracy: The Literacy of the Spoken Word | Edutopia
Teaching oracy is instrumental to better reading and, in particular, writing. In developmental terms, humans acquire oral language first — a …

Oracy Assessment Toolkit : Faculty of Education
In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the need to help young people develop their abilities to use spoken language effectively. Employers …
Teaching oracy means putting more intention behind how you guide and organize your students’ talk. When they gather for group work or …

Beliefs About Learning Collaborative Learning Dialogue Executive Function Learning How to Learn Student Voices

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A Simple Q About Student Voice(s)?

by Fran

Is there a difference between what “successful” and “unsuccessful” students tell us about their learning?

Does this question lead us to other questions? A few examples:

*Does it matter why the student is not successful (a) In the learner’s view? (b) in the teacher’s view?

*Does it matter at what age a child begins to see him/herself as unsuccessful?

*Does history of “success” or “lack of success” matter…over a grade? Over several grades?

*Does it matter how “success” is determined and documented?

*Do we have examples of student-teacher dialogue to begin to answer these questions?

Beliefs About Learning Executive Function Individual Differences Learning How to Learn Meta Teachers Metacognition Student Voices

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How, When and Where Do Students Begin to Use Their Voices for Learning?

by Fran

I just finished a post on my Dialogue blog about being “Open to Learning” that was addressed to Educational Leaders. It consisted of excerpts from a pdf and video by Viviane M J Robinson,

The University of Auckland, an expert on school based communication. This particular link addresses the ways in which educational leaders/administrators can communicate with teachers about learning.

file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Open-to learning_Conversations_Background_Paper_In%20(1).pdf

As I finished the post and began to think about students’ voices, I began to wonder where the awareness of having a “voice” in one’s education/learning begins. When and How do students learn to speak about their learning to those who have the power to respond to their views, interest and concerns? And when/where to they learn to be silent?

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately in preschool and kindergarten. Maybe that is a good place to start to understand how children/learners (students?) begin to think and talk about learning, their learning.

Beliefs About Learning Collaborative Learning Learning How to Learn Preschool Student Voices

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