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Moira Messick's picture

Metacognitive Thoughts

 I first learned about metacognition in graduate school.  We were asked to do a "moon journal" where we recorded nightly thoughts about the everwaxing and waning moon.  I was never really sure where the "moon" came in...I suppose it was just a starting point for our own thought processes.  This is an example of where I would have liked to see a clear objective on a learning goal before or afterhand.  It would have given me a connection between the activity and the end goal.  Anyway, within the moon journal, we thought about our thinking.  It does relate to the Inquiry Institurte in that we are being asked to take the time to meaningfully reflect on our own learning.  This enables us to reveal fallacies in our thinking and determines directions for new growth.  Metacognition helps with more than just content...it defines your learning strengths/tools that you can draw upon to make learning happen. 

There is not necessarily anything still unclear about metacognition for me, I would, however, like to learn more.  Allison's lesson was a wonderful application to my own metacognitive awareness of how I learn.  It did model metacognition in a linear way for me.  I do wonder how I could specifically apply her format to particular content area rather than a philosophy. 

Do I appear to be "unenlightened" because I keep coming back to "core content"? I am really searching for a balance between content and inquiry here.  There just seems to be a disconnect between the two, like there is a missing step needed to marry the best teaching practices to required content.

As always, I would appreciate your feedback.

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