Tag: metacognition

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Sticky Notes, and Reflections (updated)

Originally published September 2018, updated spring 2020.

I miss my classroom.

I imagine many of you do too.

Weeks into remote teaching, I miss the familiar rhythms and tools of classroom teaching.

As we approach the end of the school year, socially distanced, I miss the big celebrations and rituals.

And, I miss some small things, like this reflection.

But, it’s also one of the small things that’s giving me comfort:

Because I have years’ worth of good advice and touching reflections to read through. And they warm my heart every time.

Title: the best thing I learned in math class... Photo of a sticky note, handwritten: "that I'm actually smarter than I thought"

Because next year we’ll be back to sticky notes and normal, and I hope I remember this year, and appreciate what I have (Because, Joni Mitchell was right)

Because, reading these questions: What helped? What advice would I give for next year? What did I learn? helps me make my missing, productive and proactive and grateful.

What helped: Taking action, letting go of expectations.

What did I learn: How to use all the video conferencing. What’s important. What I value in teaching.

Advice: Its too soon for advice, I think, beyond ‘enjoy’ and ‘be grateful’. Maybe next year.

This reflection is available in my Metacognition Bundle (along with some of my other favorite reflective tools)

I’ve done the same reflection at the end of each of the last three years.

I post some questions (best thing I learned; what helped me this year; and always ‘advice for next year’s students’.) and give students 3, 4, 5 sticky notes each. One note per answer, on whichever questions move them.

The number of notes depends on the class (read: how willing I think they will be to participate, how long it will take them to fill their post its, my willingness to push them to be reflective)

There is a bit of confusion, and some grumbling from my resident curmudgeon, and then there are answers. Some are prosaic “the best thing I learned is fractions” some are philosophical “The love of math”  The are all stuck on the wall by the appropriate prompt, and we do a gallery walk reading and adding stars of agreement (and giving me an easy assessment of points of consensus) I think we all get a much needed boost from so much positivity.

Sometime between graduation and the arrival of new students, their post its are transformed. Typed large in a pretty font and colored paper, I tape them carefully to the wall. Three years in, I have a  happy word-cloud of student advice and wisdom hovering over us at all

Three years in, I love cycling them this way – the end of the year to the beginning, old students to new.

And, three years, in, I see themes.

The biggest, most consistent theme: grit.

“Even if you’re feeling overwhelmed, trying to call it quits. Don’t!! it will pay off in the end.”

“Keep striving and never give up”

But also, general wisdom

   “Love yourself”  and “Don’t be hard on yourself! Give yourself credit!”

And, notes to melt a teachers’ heart

  [The best thing I learned is] That I’m actually smarter than I thought.

(That one actually lives on the bulletin board right above my computer, a constant reminder of why I love this work)

So, as the new school year starts,  I’m taking energy and wisdom from last years’ students. <3

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Thinking about Metacognition….

Metacognition is in my blog name because it’s one of my absolute favorite things. (See metacognitive routines , and tips and reflections and goals)

But, it sounds daunting, if you’re not already doing it.

Or, you’re many teachers, and you’re already doing so many other things, that adding anything else sounds daunting, doesn’t matter what it is (if so, stick around, I’m also working on a workshop about self care and balance)

But, I would (do!) argue that adding metacognition to your teaching doesn’t have to be hard.

One of the easiest ways is by adding a log to something you’re already doing.

My classes use two logs a day for our spiral review and for our homework and they’re super simple, no frills, but really helpful.

Why logs?

They build a habit of stopping, reflecting, checking in on learning. But also, gaining the insight that comes from the metacognition.

Bonus points: They document patterns of progress or challenge (especially valuable that it’s in a form that students can see, because, ummm… they wrote it. This is helpful for the folks in my classes who insist on doubting their own abilities)

Bonus, bonus points: As a teacher, its so helpful to get insight into students experience/thinking about their learning.

Free metacognition teaching resource! Classroom log. Date, What I did, how it went, next steps

How to:

Decide what to log:

Anything you do repeatedly, that you want your students to thinking about is fair game: homework or independent studying are great because it also loops you in to a students progress but you could do a general log every Friday about the week, or at the end of every unit, or convert your exit tickets to a log entry, or, or, or…

Set up:

I love folders. They keep things just that much neater and easier to find. (Also, I have bright yellow for one and bright green for another and the odds that a log accidentally wanders home in the bottom of a backpack have decreased.) But, folders are totally optional. A chart is nice. I made one for you. But if you don’t like it, make a simple one you do like, or use lined paper.

Here’s a (free!) reflective log template to get you started.

Content:

I go for frequency rather than depth. You might want more specific questions, but a good starting place is:

  • Date
  • What I did (What homework? What unit? Whatever thing this entry is about)
  • How’d it go? (Self assessment and reflection)
  • Next steps? (Planning and organizing)

I like to keep the entries small, to keep the intimidation factor down, just a line or two.

Want some more support? I made a (Free!) teacher planning guide

Adding Metacognitive Routines: Classroom Log Planner Preview

( PS. This post is inspired by a workshop I planned for the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education Network Conference in April.

NETWORK has been cancelled for public health reasons. I respect the decision, wish everyone good health… and am going to be offering a digital version.

n up to receive information about a digital workshop from mathacognitive: “Thinking about Thinking: Easy Tips to Boost Metacognition”

Here’s the workshop description: Many adult learners enter ABE programs with big goals, and a desire to achieve, but little understanding of how to learn/study effectively. We’ll explore low-prep classroom routines and activities to help students understand their own learning, practice metacognition, and become more skillful, independent learners. 

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Pre-Exam Wrappers, or Reconciling Goals

One of my struggles is goals.

Not coming up with goals (if anything I’ve got too many: see goals, and more goals, and one more for the road) Its not even, really, about carrying them out.

The challenge is DIFFERENT goals in the same classroom. My goal is to help students become confident skilled, self directed learners. Their goal is to pass a high stakes test as quickly as possible.

These aren’t necessarily in conflict, but they certainly aren’t the same, so a class that meets both takes some thought. I’ve written about this before. I’m always looking for new ways to square the circle.

My latest attempt: pre exam wrappers.

Exam wrappers make so much sense to me. Except, I don’t give exams. (yay for ungraded classes!)  On the other hand, ETS gives one heck of a summative assessment.

So, my new pre exam wrappers plan: when students do HiSET practice problems (their goal) we follow it up with some reflection (my goal)  

I’m asking them about how prepared/confident they felt, which questions are harder or easier for them, what makes those questions harder or easier and what they’ll need to do to feel prepared.

I tried it out for the first time in not quite ideal circumstances: with some of my middle level folks (so students who are a ways from the exam) with not quite enough time left in class.

And some faces started out with expressions that said something like “How would I know?”,… but then they settled in and started to do the thinking.

So, I’m hopeful.

And, also thinking this will be a skill we have to build through repetition. But then, most skills are like that.

If you’d like to join me, I’m sharing a free PDF of my questions with email subscribers. Click to sign up

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Class Evals: Why I’m glad I bothered

Sometimes, often, especially in the middle of the year, It’s hard to know if you’re having an impact.

I think I am, I try, I believe in my practices. But, day to day, making all the photo copies and dealing with all the things, it’s not always clear.

Even, when I do an eval, it’s hard to know. My students tend to be super grateful, and super kind, and not at all used to giving constructive feedback to teachers, so I take most evals with a grain of salt.

Often, I skip mid-year evaluations altogether. I have my exit tickets, and my end of year reflection, and that’s probably good enough.

This year, I’m doing them, though. Partly, I’m curious to see the results, but mostly I think the act of asking matters more than any answer. When I ask, I get to show I care about their opinions, and its another nudge towards metacognition, and that’s worth a few minutes and some photocopies at the end of each term.

And, I got a lot of evals that were about what I expected. Kind, grateful students writing sweet but general comments. I’m definitely schedule-sending some of those to myself for when I need a boost. But they’re better for my ego, than for guiding practice. And I know enough to know that they’re not the whole story.

And, then, sometimes, in between all the grain of salt taking, and the commitment to process, and the sweet, vague comments … they show me something is working.

For once, I said nothing about brains.

But they did.

Multiple students in one class (the class full of people I’ve had Iongest) talked about their brains. They told me they liked a challenge, liked to level up, liked to review… liked homework even (#adultlearnersarethebest)

Student evaluation: "I like how we recap and transition to something new at a steady rate. Whenever I get use to a formula we up the notch to challenge my brain more."

We talk about brains all the time, and about productive struggle, and about how practice grows your brain.

And, I’m never sure if they care, or if it makes sense, or makes an impact. They’re tired working adults who carved out a few hours to learn the math they need to pass a high stakes test, not to geek out about neurons.

But, it turns out they’re listening, and absorbing, and getting it.

And showing me that means so much more than all of the praise they write.

And I wouldn’t have known, if I hadn’t given them an eval and asked.

<3

Simple Class Evaluation | Reflection & Metacognition Bundle

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6 Tips to incorporate Learning about Learning

Ages and ages ago (erm, July) I wrote about a goal for this year: incorporate a little bit of learning about learning in every class.

(Why? Because, I’m with Gretchen Rubin: what you do every day matters more than once in a while)

For me learning about learning encompasses:

  • Information about brains, neuroscience, what happens when we learn
  • Addressing math anxiety, limiting beliefs about learning, growth mindset etc.
  • Study and learning skills (note taking, effective study strategies etc.)
  • Self reflection/exploration/assessment: learning how I in particular learn best

And, halfway through the year, I’m reflecting and happy to report: we’re pulling it off. Some days it’s a little bit, some days it’s the full lesson; some days it really resonates with my students, some days not so much, but every week we’ve done something.

I knew I was having an impact when I did my end of the term evaluation, and without special prompting from me, students wrote about their brains and what works for them.

What’s helping:

Add it to my lesson plan template. I use a google doc, with our routines pre-filled. This year, every time I open it to write a new plan, I see a blank spot labeled “Learning about Learning”. It’s an effective nudge and reminder.

Gather resources ahead. I am so glad I spent some time this summer finding videos. It’s the teaching equivalent of freezer meals: on the busy days, I reach into my playlist, and pull out something good, but easy.

((My playlist of videos))

Explain WHY I am also glad I took time at the start of the term to head off the “Is this on the test, miss?” questions. Explaining to students that this brain science and reflecting in math class will pay off in better and (key for my busy adults!) more efficient learning, was a good use of a few minutes.

Use it as a brain break. Brain breaks make sense, but my students are busy adults. They are not interested in the kinds of fun breaks that work for elementary classes — but a few minutes of switching topics and talking about something other than math. (especially on the video-watching days) That works. It helps break up the class and lets them catch their mental breath.

Short reflections. I’ve already got teeny reflections after our spiral review and on homework, but a couple of times a term, I ask students to do some more reflecting. Early in the term it’s planning for homework, late in the term it’s reflections on progress.

((All my reflection tools bundled together))

Do math about it. (aka, data is your friend.) These are my favorite lessons, when the whole night blends learning about learning with practicing math. The basic formula is: introduce a learning topic (growth mindset, brain based study strategies etc.), collect some data , do math about it (make a numberline, a graph, find a percent, or a ratio, or a fraction, calculate a simple statistic)

((My favorite lessons on this theme))

Infographic: 6 tips to incorporate metacognition & learning about learning. Lesson Plan Reminder; Explain Why; Gather Resources Ahead; Brain Break; Do math about learning.
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Student Choices

No offense to professional development facilitators, but most of my best PD is sitting around a table talking with other teachers. I had that conversation recently at the end of  a workshop, and the conversation turned to giving students more choice in the classroom.

 

Truth: I have a personality that is more inclined than is really optimal to operate on the basis of ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’.

And, truth: my students don’t get much say in the curriculum – either the content or the method to learn it. I used to try surveys and reflections to get input, but it takes more foundation-laying time than I gave it/wanted to put in.  I now take a lot of feedback (exit tickets, lots of metacognitive comments, wish my teacher knew’s) but, truth, it’s mostly after the fact/indirect.

So, there are no genius hours, PBL, makerspaces or many other cool student-driven things. Maybe someday, but not yet.

 

But — pleasant surprise of my PD conversation — I realized we do have  multiple points of student choice in to our classroom culture.

  • Each class when they finish their spiral review they have 0-25 minutes (depending on their speed) to work on anything they want.
  • Unless an activity specifically needs group or solo work, I typically give the option of working independently or with classmates of their choice.
  • I mostly differentiate by starting everyone with the same activity, letting them work at their own pace, and giving different follow up as students finish the first task. Unless a student really needs challenge or review, I mostly let them pick from 2 or 3 related tasks.
  • I’m on my soapbox about homework but they get to choose what work they do.

 

Since ‘naturally flexible teacher’ is clearly not the foundation, I’ve been thinking about what it takes to make these choices work.

It’s not really the logistics. Mostly these choices means making copies of a few different worksheets.  It’s different to implement a homework system where they pick, but I don’t think it’s harder (honestly, now that I’m in it, I’m exhausted by the thought of keeping track of who did page 74, instead of my “did they do something” routine)

 

Mostly, it’s a mindset thing

 

Partly, that’s reminding myself that I neither want nor need to control this particular thing.

Because decision fatigue is real.

Because I really do believe in a democratic classroom.

Because they’re adults and they are perfectly capable of, say, figuring out who to work with.

It helps when I remember that one of my core goals is that they learn how to be strong learners – and they can’t do that if they’re never in control of their learning.

 

AND THEN once I’ve wrapped my mind around this idea, I have to help them wrap theirs around it.

Students who end up in my classes do not have a lot of experience with teachers asking them to make choices about their learning.

Every time I get new students, I go through the same conversation

“Great, you’re done with the review early, what do you want to work on?”

“I don’t know” OR “Anything” (or some variant, usually with a confused look that says the real answer is “Why are you asking me?” and “How would I know?”)

And then my job is to teach them how to figure out what they want/need to work on. Was there something on the review that was hard? Something from a previous class they missed or want to practice? …

Odds are good, we’ll repeat the conversation the next week.

And maybe the next.

But eventually they figure out how to choose something to work on, and that’s a great moment.

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Leveling Up Homework

My homework system challenges students to be independent learners

I like this. But many of my students don’t know how to study particularly effectively. Most students, period, don’t know how to study particularly effectively, but it’s particularly challenging to do it as an adult with competing responsibilities.

This year, I challenged them to try some different study goals and formats. I gave out a list, added it to their homework folder, and asked them to initial/date when they achieved each.

(In the future, I might find a way to integrate my  homework log and this list, but I’m not there yet)

Here’s the current version of our ‘Level Up’ Homework Challenge

(The title was inspired by the power of ‘leveling up’ in Chip and Dan Heath’s The Power of Moments) 

The goal was to encourage them to work more at home, in general. But in particular, to help them become better independent learners by experimenting with different formats (to see which worked for them and/or do something new)

My impression as we went along was that students’ mostly forgot about the list, and certainly weren’t challenged or inspired by it.

Yet.

(that powerful word)

There are some advantages to our frequent first days. Lots of fresh starts and chances to improve.

As we change terms, I’m asking students to review their progress and set some goals for the next trimester.

And I’ve already made a note on my term plan: in a few weeks, we’ll be checking in on our progress, and I’ll be returning a copy of their goals to them as a reminder.

Here’s the check in we used (PDF)

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Homework | Reflection Folders

My homework routine is thoroughly a product of my student body: adults with wildly diverging math preparation/skills, who are motivate by a test/goal with real implications for their lives, but who also lead full adult lives that leave little time for math homework.

I have decided that, in this context, assigning problems x through y, and expecting them all to be done next Thursday is a fool’s errand. (Some adult ed teachers incorporate more traditional homework assignments into their class. But for me/my classes, it just didn’t seem to work.)

We’ve evolved a more choose your own adventure version: I give practice work at the end of each lesson, and we have a lively and well-packed set of milk crates that house materials covering our full curriculum. Students do what they can of what they think they need.

I doubt the choose your own homework system is transferable to many classes (although that’s a shame) What’s more transferable, and where I want to spend more time, is the folder it goes in.

How it works:

Each of my students gets a homework folder. There’s nothing special except a bright color, chosen to cut down on the chance it gets lost in the piles of papers. Inside is a log.

Each week, I collect this folder, and and I ask students to complete their log. Whether they’ve done pages and pages of math, or worked double shifts and done no math beyond tallying their hours, I ask for a note: What did you do? How’d it go? Anything else do you want me to know?

I look at their log, note whether or not math happened, and respond to their comments before returning their folders.

Here’s a version of the no-frills homework log I’ve been using. And the more elaborate log I’m planning to switch to next year.

What I love:

  • It allows a private dialogue for the shy ones, or the ones who are struggling, or out of sync with the class.

(I occasionally get profound comments here that I can’t imagine hearing out loud in class, especially the quiet confessions of ‘I think I’m starting get/like/learn math…’)

  • Answering what ‘did I do?’ is a nice level of accountability. I am not scolding them about homework, but they are looking in black and white and their own handwriting at the results of the week. Every week.
  • But really, I think the crucial element is facing that “how’d it go?” question every time. Even if they give me a one word answer, they’ve had to think back over that work and decide between “good”, “ok” and “hard”. I want to foster this habit of reflection in and out of class, and this is the best means I’ve found so far (it’s also the third leg of the metacognition stool we’re building each week)

The results:

  • The good: I usually have a student or two at a time who winds up with a bit of a correspondence course on some math skills they need, but that is separate (and often ahead of) the regular class. They try X, learn most of it, identify a need to learn Y, I give it to them and we repeat.
  • The bad: The student who decided to take algebra from the crates way before she was ready and came to class the next time on the edge of tears because she had convinced herself she was hopeless.
  • The usual: Some weeks homework happens, some weeks life happens instead. When homework does happen, it’s usually a mix of class topics and review.  The comments are short, mostly prosaic, but they’re there. They get consistent encouragement to work at home, and to reflect on their learning.

Adapting

  • Perhaps you take the folder and log procedure, and use it to reflect on more traditional assignments. (What did you do to complete the problem set? How did that go?…)
  • For my class, there’s no distinction between ‘homework’ and ‘preparing for the test’. I can imagine adapting this to focus on “studying” to encourage good habits; and/or blending the two. (Which might be a great conversation to have with students – ie, that ‘homework’ and ‘studying’ have the same purpose, to promote learning)
  • If your homework routine involves more collecting than mine, perhaps it’s not a folder, but something like a wrapper that gets attached to the assignment
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Habit Stacking: End of Term Reflections

I’m trying out a new end of term reflection.

You don’t know me well enough to know that this is not news.

I’ve tried a new end of term reflection approximately every other term of my teaching career. Obviously, I like the idea, but it rarely feels as reflective/meaningful/helpful as I hope.

This terms’ effort is motivated by three thoughts –

They need more scaffolding if they’re going to produce meaningful, helpful reflection

I need to pick something and stick to it (for my sake, and theirs)

It’s easier to stick to something by building on an existing habit, than creating new habits from scratch (aka habit stacking )

 

So, my new end of term reflection, for now and for future terms, in three steps

  1. Reread all of the metacognition they’ve already done.

I’ve been saving their exit tickets in a big pile on my desk (not sure what I’d need them for, but sure they would be good for something) + their homework folders and their review folders each contain a weekly comment about their progress or process.

Because, data helps.

And because it’s hard to hold a whole term in your head at once, and even harder to see yourself clearly.

  1. Write observations about themselves as learners this term, based on their review of the available evidence.

I’m structuring these as “I notice ____” to nudge them towards the specific, and asking for three.

  1. Give their future selves advice

I’m pointedly not taking these (although I’m taking a look) Instead, I’m asking students to put their advice someplace where they’ll notice it when they need it.

Here’s a copy of my end of term reflection

What I like about this plan:

It feels doable – for me and for them. 10 minutes of class time, I can do that. 3 sentence stems and some advice, they can do that.

It builds on what we’re already doing, so it feels connected. But also, I hope knowing they’ll be re-reading them and using them, nudges students to give more thought to the short metacognitive comments they were already writing.

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Constant Cumulative Review: Pt 4 Implementation Considerations

Read: Part 1: Start with Why , Part 2: Making Materials without Going Insane, Part 3: Putting it into Practice and/or Classroom Routines: You will metacognate for background

Consideration 1: Why I love it…

  • Having a routine buffers the chaos at the start of class, and buys me a few minutes to deal with whatever needs dealing with that day (a student back from an absence, a message from the counselor, laying out materials for an activity) while students are getting to the work of learning. If it were not this, I am now sold on some consistent ‘do now’ activity.
  • Retention – My students’ learning never gets more than a week or two from the top of their minds, and this really does seem to help them retain what they’ve learned. (yay!) This has the side benefit of dramatically reducing frustration, and boosting their sense of competence as math learners. (double and triple yay!)
  • It makes me feel better when a student doesn’t totally grasp something in class. We’re not moving on and leaving them in the dust, they’ll see and try it (and get to ask questions about it) again and again and again until they get it.
  • The metacognitive elements, but especially students taking ownership – correcting, commenting, choosing independent work
  • All the good brain science (more on that below)

 

Consideration 2: But, the time!

I love this system, but, nothing is without trade-off’s. And the big trade-off here is that I devote a lot of class time to this.

The whole routine takes about 30 minutes (out of a two hour class) It could be less, but a) the hazards of teaching adults with jobs/kids/broken down cars  include someone straggling in late b) I time it by watching my slowest students  c) we’re doing a lot during this time.

(Although, also, I imagine that a K12 class might need less time)

For me, the returns in the form of learning are high enough that I’d do it anyways, but I have also learned that we do get some of that time back at a few points:

-Those all-review days– before the test, at the end of the year, at the end of the term etc. – because we’re reviewing as we go, I can have a ‘real’ lesson on those days.

-Some of the time I’d spend on “Ok class, who remembers what we did last time…?”  *crickets* Because we’ve just done a review, I can get to the new stuff faster. (Having the review at the start of class is also a great activator)

-Some of the time I’d spend catching up lost students, or those who take longer, or who had it but forgot, or who just haven’t grasped that one. specific. thing.  They’ll get to work on whatever that stuck point is, as part of the regular flow of class, so we’re not doing (as much) time away from class to address their confusion.

 

Consideration 3: High impact practices

Yes, time intensive, but worth it to me in part because it folds in so many high impact learning practices.

Retrieval practice (remembering what you learned by quizzing etc. )

 (My open notes decision undercuts this a bit but, frankly, most students are not taking great notes so I’m not sure who much help they get and they need the encouragement to take any notes.)

(I’m currently experimenting with a ‘purer’ retrieval practice, adding a question at the end asking them to put away the notes and free write what they remember from the previous class. My template includes versions with and without this) 

  Spaced repetition (aka distributed practice, the opposite of cramming)

Metacognitive Reflection

Interleaving (Studying a mix of topics)

Differentiation/ Student Choice work

Activating Prior Knowledge

(I also have a hunch that this is a sort of informal exposure therapy for the math and text anxiety that run rampant through my classroom. Face a well-supported, low stakes version every week and eventually it gets normal enough to be a little less scary….? I don’t have the research, except a suggestion in this study, if you know more than me, please comment!)

 

 

Consideration 4: Adapting it

Spacing – Perhaps a monthly or bi weekly schedule makes more sense for your class, or maybe you do a (more extensive?) version as a transition between each unit?

Correcting – My classes are ungraded (except for the minor matter of the ultra high stakes high school equivalency exam) Perhaps having students correct themselves wouldn’t work in your school culture. Perhaps you grade them, but maybe pairs exchange papers to correct, or the class reviews results together, or you beat me to the technological punch and use a self-grading quiz program.

Timing – A half hour suits my class, but perhaps you reduce the number of questions, or cut back on the folder comment writing and student choice work to make it quicker. Or, extend it to an occasional full-period activity with more questions and review stations.

Structure – Perhaps this is not your starter, but your end of Friday routine. Perhaps the review sheets go home as homework.  Perhaps pairs or teams work together, instead of solo.  Maybe the process of reviewing is what matters and you drop the folder writing and/or independent work elements altogether.