Metacognition is a Learning SuperPower
Dear Parents,
It was wonderful to see so many of our parents attend our workshop about metacognition last week which was expertly led by our Deputy Head of Primary, Mrs. Thomson.
We delved into the ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘what’ of metacognition here at NAIS Hong Kong and along the journey Mrs. Thomson gave us plenty to think about as parents and learners.
In the first instance, the ‘why’, we learned that metacognition would help us all to become more aware of our own learning. In doing so, we aim to make thinking visible for our children, essentially, we aspire to build better thinkers.
The groundbreaking research is underpinned by a unique partnership with Boston College. Implementing metacognitive strategies into our classrooms is a high impact approach to improving attainment. The next phase of the workshop shared ‘how’ metacognition is implemented in classes.
We were introduced to the 6 Learner Ambitions: compassionate, critical, creative, curious, collaborative and committed and the component parts of each one. For example, to be critical, we must learn how to observe, analyse and evaluate. Importantly, Mrs. Thomson then shared Thinking Routines that help children to achieve these strengths.
For example, a Thinking Routine designed to improve observation skills uses the 'See, Think, Wonder' strategy within the classroom. We encourage children to reflect on what they see, what they think and what they wonder. By practicing this strategy, we are helping our children to be better at observing, which is a component of being critical. With careful strategic planning, we ensure that all Learner Ambitions are visible for our children.
The final part of the informative workshop shared our next steps and how parents may use thinking routines at home; future workshops will explore how to further bring these strategies into the home.
I hope that by sharing this research informed practice, I have spotlighted our continued drive to improve outcomes for our children.
Take care,
Stephen Sharma
Head of Primary
