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I was familiar about meta-cognition before entering teaching as a second career.  Once I understood what meta-xxx meant it seems to make understanding similar terms easier.  I always felt that reflecting about one's own thinking is good.  I try to encourage and foster the students to think about their own thinking.  It helps each student learn about him/herself, but also helps me learn about the students and adapt the lesson.  I also try to get the students to be critical consumers and producers of the information that they come across.  I also encourage  my students to question (maybe doubt) everything I say.  This way they have to formulate true understaning and lasting meaning.

Metacognition is very open-ended and the results can be all over.  I believe a good teacher will utilize this as valuable input, but it takes a lot of work and time to truly incorporate this feedback.