Why Is Metaacognition Important In Classroom Learning

Part I: Teaching Statements and Philosophies

I believe that effective student-centered teaching should encourage students to reflect on what they are learning and how they are learning it

Knowing what you know and what you do not know is one of the most important skills a person can have. Instructors should take pains to encourage students to reflect on and evaluate what they have learned, processes falling under the umbrella term metacognition. Metacognition is the awareness of and our control over our cognitive processes also, known as “Knowing about knowing” (Eggen & Kauchak, 2013, p. 261-262). One type is meta-attention which is basically the ability to pay attention (Eggen & Kauchak, 2013, p. 262). Metacognition plays an important role in classroom learning, students who are metacognitive learners know how they study

When dealing with elementary schools their attention is limited, being an elementary teacher you want to start off the class with a go-getter you want to grab the kids’ attention at the beginning of class all the time. In order to get the little kids attention you must maintain the learning activities to be short and frequently changed. As a young child they tend to be concrete with things, so it is better to illustrate with concrete and personal example. When dealing with middle school kids they are beginning to understand how their metacognitive abilities influence their learning. Many students are still thinking concrete when the topic is new or abstract, meaning you will still need to use concrete examples and analyze those using questions (Eggen & Kauchak, 2013, p. 265). Lastly, a high school student can use sophisticated learning but they are uncommonly used due to the fact that the strategies are modeled and encouraged. Teaching these students you will need to use the process of encoding strategies; organization, elaboration, and imagery to promote students within the