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The first reading by Amy Mulnix focused on the importance of metacognition in helping
students to learn, and the excitement that comes with it. She focuses on the importance of having
student engagement in the classroom versus lecturing. Students reflecting and discussing in class
is where deep learning happens and through this engagement metacognition grows. Mulnix
addressed the idea of metacognition and the importance of understanding yourself through a
story about her as a dog trainer. She thought she was a very knowledgeable dog trainer and that it
was not her method but other external factors that were causing her failures. She later realized
that she was not approaching the situation correctly. She needed to trust her dog and the training
process, which later extended to her work as a professor. She needed to give the students the
tools then “let them go to work” and they would figure out the details themselves. Eventually,
they would get to the answer on their own — this is how this deeper learning happens. The
journey Amy goes through from being the learner to the novice to the teacher really resonated
with me because I feel I am also on that journey. Every day I feel like I am learning new things
about myself especially in the classroom as a new mentor. I find myself wanting to be in control
at every moment and forcing my students to the answer, like Amy did in the beginning with
Digby, instead of letting them prove they could do it themselves. Amy’s journey perfectly
reflects the process of my UNIV class and what inquiry based, self-directed learning aims to
accomplish. I feel like I am learning to ‘guide on the side’ more and prompt questions that help
students to get to the answer themselves. Sometimes, I still find myself giving them the answer
too easily when they don’t grasp the concept. I really want to take Amy’s story and learn from
her mistakes rather than waiting till I make them on my own. Therefore, moving forward this
week I really want to challenge the students to think more for themselves by asking open ended
questions, and working 1 on 1 with them during group projects to promote autonomous learning.
Their whole semester is based around their ability to critically analyze information as well as
their ability to consider anyone/thing that is impacted by their proposals. This is why I think it is
imperative to work on letting go and letting them figure out the problem on their own, with only
The second reading is a more practical article focusing on activities to produce active
application and evaluation, each subsequently testing higher levels of cognition. As a peer
mentor I think this resonated most with me because it is the easiest way I can improve my
mentoring to foster the two higher cognition levels. When I ask my students questions on their
readings they are stuck in the remembering level where they just spit facts back at me, but they
don’t understand what they’re telling me. I want to work on asking more open-ended questions
or phrasing my questions in different ways when it becomes apparent students are lacking an
understanding on these topics. In doing this, I will help them to better understand the material
and will elevate their understanding of each concept to the next cognitive level. The article also
focuses on small group activities such as pair-share, buzz groups and the three step interview.
For my class I think the most effective activities is pair-share or buzz groups because it allows
students to work in smaller groups where they all have a chance to participate and gain a better
understanding of the topics. On the other hand, the three-step interview is a long process of
questioning each other and then sharing the results, which is time limiting in our short class. The
third part of the article focuses on whole class involvement. First, the professor gives a short
lecture check. If too many students get the lecture check wrong they discuss the topic in small
groups. Next, if too many students still fail to understand the concept, the professor knows it is
probably valuable to revisit these concepts. Secondly, whole class debates are an activity where
groups are assigned a side and they must find compelling arguments for their side. Finally, in
role-play debates students are cast different roles in a real-life situation to help demonstrate how
concepts work. The UNIV class does not include lectures or debates because every concept is
abstract. Thus, each students’ process, project and journey in the class are different, so whole
class activities are ineffective compared to small group work. Finally, the article speaks about
two different writing activities: closed reading — where students learn how to properly interpret
passages; and classroom assessment technique -— where students are given small paragraphs to
write which prepares them for the topic and to be active listeners, this process allows more
permanent learning to occur. In the UNIV class I would like to implement a combination of these
moment to privately gather their thoughts and ideas, then in their groups to share these ideas
jotting them down on the board. Lastly, students do a gallery walk to allow their peers to see
what each group has come up with, which will hopefully stem different ideas for them in their
own work. This should help students to take the ideas of others and make relevant connections in
their own proposal, which should lead them down new paths where they can collect more pieces
of their puzzle.