If the student has difficulty with this.

consider some of these ideas

Difficulties in the area of metacognition


Use THINK (a planning
process)

Talk to yourself.
How am I doing? & What did I learn?
Involve yourself in your learning.
Notice how you learn best.
Keep track of what works and use it.
Repeat process or proceed to the next challenge!


Use reading to build
metacognition skills


Teach students how to ask questions during reading and model think-
alouds.
Ask students questions during read-alouds and teach them to monitor their
reading by constantly asking themselves if they understand what the text is
about.
Teach them to take notes or highlight important details, asking themselves,
Why is this a key phrase to highlight? and Why am I not highlighting this?

Use writing to build
metacognition skills

Model prewriting strategies for organizing thoughts, such as brainstorming
ideas using a word web, or using a graphic organizer to put ideas into
paragraphs, with the main idea at the top and the supporting details below it.


Use social studies and
science to build

Teach students the importance of using organizers such as KWL charts,
Venn diagrams, concept maps , and anticipation/reaction charts to sort
information and help them learn and understand content.
metacognition skills
Students can use organizers prior to a task to focus their attention on what
they already know and identify what they want to learn.
Students can use a Venn diagram to identify similarities and differences
between two related concepts.

Use math to build
metacognition skills

Teach students to use mnemonics to recall steps in a process, such as the
order of mathematical operations.
Model your thought processes in solving problemsfor example, This is a
lot of information; where should I start? Now that I know____, is there
something else I know?



Use wrappers as self-
monitoring strategy
A wrapper is an activity that surrounds an existing assignment or activity
and encourages metacognition.
Lecture wrappers: instruct students to pay attention to key points as they
take notes. At the end of the lecture, the teacher tells them the three most
important points so they get immediate feedback.
Homework wrappers: Before the student does homework, answer the
question: how easy is this work going to be? After the homework is
completed, ask, now that you finished homework, how quickly and easily can
you do this work in the future?
Exam wrappers: When graded work is returned, have the student complete
a reflection sheet which describes their study strategy for that work, analyzes
the mistakes that were made, and outlines a study plan for next time.

Teach key metacognition
strategies

Have students predict what will happen and then compare those thoughts
with what really happens.
Have students evaluate their work and determine where their strengths and
weaknesses are.
Have students reflect on their learning and how well theyve learned it.
Teach them to ask questions about their work as they do it. Model this in
think-alouds.


A planning strategy for
younger students

What is the problem?
What is my plan?
Am I following my plan?
How did I do?
Have them apply these questions to academic and social problems.