reflective writing~Allowing Time for metacognition
This sequence is meant to take place over the course of several weeks while the writing and research processes are taught and practiced.
Christie Anderson. Spokane Falls Community College
1. Instructor and/or Librarian models using on-line research tool/s, such as ones Library Article and Reference Data Bases.
Christie Anderson. Spokane Falls Community College
1. Instructor and/or Librarian models using on-line research tool/s, such as ones Library Article and Reference Data Bases.
- Students find an article focused on “metacognition,” using their institution’s Library Article and Reference Data Bases. (Find examples in Works Consulted.)
- Students read and annotate their articles.
- Students share out the main ideas and what they learned about metacognition. Students create a document of their shared knowledge, keeping track of sources.
- Students practice metacognitive thinking in pairs or small groups. Listeners write down questions as they occur to them, giving them to the speaker for later reflection.
- Students, individually, make their own visual, a time line or mind map for example, filling in what they actually did during the stages of the process. Using this visual, students reflect on what they’ve done. Selecting one point in the process, students articulate what they were thinking: What caused them to make the moves they did? As a researcher? As a writer? (This asks students to start small rather than try to articulate what they may have been thinking during the entire writing process. Focusing on each stage then leads to the development of a reflective piece of writing.)
- Students share out their thinking process for a particular stage in the research writing process.
- Students write paragraphs about their thinking process for the research writing process. This can be for one particular essay or work completed over the course of an entire term. As each stage is written about, students can begin to piece together a longer written piece in letter or essay form.