Metacognitive strategies refers to methods used to help students understand the way they learn; in other words, it means processes designed for students to 'think' about their 'thinking'.
Teachers who use metacognitive strategies can positively impact students who have learning disabilities by helping them to develop an appropriate plan for learning information.
The activities of Metacognitive strategy selection and application include those concerned with an ongoing attempt to plan, check, monitor, select, revise, evaluate, etc.
Plan / Organize
Before beginning a
task:
• Set goals.
• Plan the task or
content sequence.
• choose strategies.
• Preview a text. Identify Problems While working on a task:
• Check your progress on the task.
• Check your comprehension as
you use the language. Do you
understand? If not, what is the
problem?
• Check your production as you use
the language. Are you making
sense? If not, what is the
problem?
EvaluateAfter completing a task:
• Assess how well you have
accomplished the learning task.
• Assess how well you have used
learning strategies.
• Decide how effective the
strategies were.
• Identify changes you will make the
next time you have a similar task
to do. Manage Your Own Learning • Determine how you learn best.
• Arrange conditions that help you
learn.
• Seek opportunities for practice.
• Focus your attention on the
task.
Think-Aloud
Great for reading comprehension and
problem solving. Think- alouds help
students to consciously monitor and reflect
upon what they are learning. This strategy
works well when teachers read a story or
problem out loud and periodically stop to
verbalize their thoughts. This allows
students to follow the teacher's thinking
process, which gives them the foundation
they need for creating their own strategies
and processes that can be useful for
understanding what they are trying to
comprehend.
A cognitive strategy is a mental process or procedure for accomplishing a particular cognitive goal. For example, if students' goals are to write good essays, their cognitive strategies might include brainstorming and completing an outline.
The cognitive strategies that students use influence how they will perform in school, as well as what they will accomplish outside of school. Researchers have found that effective learners and thinkers use more effective strategies for reading, writing, problem solving, and reasoning than ineffective learners and thinkers.
Cognitive strategies can be general or specific (Pressley & Woloshyn, 1995). General cognitive strategies are strategies that can be applied across many different disciplines and situations (such as summarization or setting goals for what to accomplish), whereas specific cognitive strategies tend to be more narrow strategies that are specified toward a particular kind of task (such as drawing a picture to help one see how to tackle a physics problem). Specific strategies tend to be more powerful but have a more restricted range of use. Effective learners use both general and specific strategies.
Strategies have been distinguished from skills. Although skills are similar to strategies, they are different in that they are carried out automatically, whereas strategies usually require individuals to think about what strategy they are using (Alexander, Graham, & Harris, 1998). Effective learners develop the ability to use strategies automatically while also reflecting upon those strategies when necessary. People who are able to reflect upon their own cognition and cognitive strategies are said to have metacognitive awareness.
The use of cognitive strategies
can increase the efficiency with
which the learner approaches a
learning task. These academic
tasks can include, but are not
limited to, remembering and
applying information from course
content, constructing sentences
and paragraphs, editing written
work, paraphrasing, and
classifying information to be
learned.
Content Enhancement
Impacting both the task and the learner using cognitive
strategies is referred to as Content Enhancement. Bulgren,
Deshler, and Schumaker (1997) highlight three important
teacher activities in their model of content enhancement:
• Teachers evaluate the content they cover.
• Teachers determine the necessary approaches to
learning for student success
• Teachers teach with routines and instructional supports
that assist students as they apply appropriate
techniques and strategies.
• In this way, the teacher emphasizes what the students
should learn, or the "product" of learning.
Content Evaluation
When a teacher is comfortable with the
content he/she is teaching, he/she
knows which parts are the most
important, the most interesting and the
easiest (or hardest) to learn.
The use of cognitive strategies can increase the efficiency and confidence with which the learner approaches a learning task, as well as his/her ability to develop a product, retain essential information, or perform a skill. While teaching cognitive strategies requires a high degree of commitment from both the teacher and learner, the results are well worth the effort.
TASK-BASED
STRATEGIES… (USE
WHAT YOU KNOW)
Use Background
Knowledge
Make
Inferences
Make Predictions
Personalize
Use Cognates Paraphrase
Use Background
Knowledge • Think about and use
what you already know to
help you do the task.
• Make associations
between new information
and your prior
knowledge.
• Use new information to
clarify or modify your
prior knowledge.
Make Inferences
• Use context and
what you know to
figure out meaning.
• Read and listen
between the lines.
• Go beyond the text
to understand its
meaning.
Make Predictions
• Anticipate information to
come.
• Make logical guesses about
what will happen in a written
or oral text.
• Make an estimate (math).
• Make a hypothesis (science).
Personalize
• Relate new concepts to
your own life, to your
experiences, knowledge,
beliefs and feelings.
Paraphrase • Use a synonym or descriptive
phrase for unknown words or
expressions.
Use Cognates
• Apply your linguistic knowledge
of other languages (including
your native language) to the
target language.
• Recognize cognates.
Use Images
• Use or create an actual or
mental image to understand
and/or represent
information.
• Use or draw a picture or
diagram. Use Sounds
• Say or read aloud a word,
sentence, or paragraph to help
your understanding.
• Sound out/vocalize.
• Use your “mental tape
recorder” to remember
sounds, words, phrases,
and/or conversations.
Use Your
Kinesthetic Sense
• Act out a role, for example, in
Readers’ Theater, or imagine
yourself in different roles in
the target language.
• Use real objects to help you
remember words, sentences,
or content information.
TASK-BASED STRATEGIES…
(USE YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS)
Apply Patterns
Classify
Take Notes
Use Graphic
Organizers
Summarize
Use Selective
Attention
Apply Patterns
• Apply a rule.
• Make a rule.
• Recognize and apply
letter/sound, grammar,
discourse, or register rules.
• Identify patterns in
literature (genre).
• Identify patterns in math,
science, and social studies.
Classify
• Categorize words or ideas
according to attributes.
• Classify living things;
identify natural cycles.
• Identify order and
sequences in math,
science, and social
studies.
• Sequence events in
history.
Take Notes
• Write down important
words and ideas while
listening or reading.
• List ideas or words to
include in speaking or
writing.. Use Graphic Organizers
• Use or create visual
representations (such
as Venn diagrams, time
lines, webs, and charts)
of important
relationships between
concepts.
Summarize
• Create a mental,
oral, or written
summary of
information.
Use Selective Attention
• Focus on specific
information, structures,
key words, phrases, or
ideas.
TASK-BASED STRATEGIES…
(USE A VARIETY OF RESOURCES)
Access Information
Sources
Cooperate
Talk Yourself
Through It
(Self-Talk)
Access Information Sources
• Use the dictionary, the
internet, and other
reference materials.
• Seek out and use sources
of information.
• Follow a model
• Ask questions
Cooperate
• Work with others to
complete tasks, build
confidence, and give
and receive feedback.
Talk Yourself Through It
(Self-Talk)
• -Use your inner resources.
Reduce your anxiety by
reminding yourself of your
progress, the resources you
have available, and your
goals.
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