Metacognition is the concept of “thinking about thinking” in which teachers can teach their students to think about the process of how we think and learn. It would be very helpful to teach students how we read and gain comprehension and understanding from reading because students would then be aware of reading as a process. Most students are not aware that reading is a process where the reader questions, predicts, and backtracks in order to gain meaning and comprehension. Once students have learned about this effective reading process they are then able to develop it and use it for themselves in order to become better and more efficient readers, which will help them to gain knowledge and confidence in school and in life.
In their book, “But Will It Work with Real Students?,” Alsup and Bush describe a wonderful activity where the teacher reads aloud a passage that he has never read before to the students. Then he shares with the class as he is reading his thoughts on the reading and his reading process. This activity demonstrates to the students first hand the reading process and that even good readers, such as their teacher, do not always immediately comprehend what they are reading the first time. This activity will be beneficial to the students as it will build their confidences in their own reading and their further knowledge of the reading process.
I wonder if there are any downfalls to teaching Metacognition or with this activity or if anyone has any other thoughts on this subject matter?
1 response so far ↓
1 Angela // Oct 25, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Michelle,
Actually, my mentor teacher used this type of comprehension in our class yesterday, and today the students participated in literature circles. Personally, I was amazed at how well the students responded to both strategies. I have never seen them so engaged with a lesson before. I think they felt as if they were being allowed inside their teacher’s mind when she modeled her reading process for them. Today in literature circles they were even able to help each other out with their own comprehension problems. I’m sure there are drawbacks to using these strategies, just as there are drawbacks to just about any strategy, but over the last couple of days I have seen how well Alsup and Bush’s strategies can work.