Metacognition

One of the new strategies I tried this year was modeling metacognition for my students.  In layman's terms, metacognition is being aware while reading or thinking while reading.

We've had a lot of talks that reading isn't a passive activity and your brain should be actively processing and thinking about what the words on the text mean.

Our very first reading lesson was using 2 bowls to show what was occurring in the text and in my head as I read aloud.

As a teacher, I'm quite used to modeling my thinking for my students.  Granted, the first times I felt a little strange having a conversation with myself but I got over that very quickly.

I modeled reading the back cover of The Lightning Thief since that was our first grade level read aloud.  I pointed to the back of the book when I was reading the text and to my head when I was thinking about what I read.

I had my students keep track of the number of times I pointed to the text and to my head with different colored markers.  Not only did it keep them on task and engaged in the lesson, but it let my wiggly students have a purpose for moving their hands around.

At the end of the lesson, they had way more green "thinking" markers then red "text" ones.  

We talked about how as readers, it's more than looking at the words on the page.  We have to actively process and think about what the words mean.  This lesson spanned a few days and we refer back to our anchor chart often, but I'm really pleased with my decision to start the year off with this type of lesson (since I'd never tried it before).

I'm way more excited that my students not only understand the definition and purpose of metacognition, but actively practice it as well.  When combined with annotating their thinking with stop and jot strategies, they are reading rock stars!  

Annotating Their Thinking...

We've been working on "stop and jot" where students "read with a pencil" to record their thoughts.  Perhaps I've done too good of a job modeling my metacognition and what goes on inside my brain.

I was reading over their most recent tests and here are some favorites:

Text states: "Then, before flying a new airplane, NASA will test it in a wind tunnel to make sure it will fly as it should." (excerpt from What are Wind Tunnels? by David Hitt)

Her response? "oh, that's safe!"

There were also numerous "that's cool" and "that's big" comments, which made me giggle because this student legitimately got that excited on her reading test.

But my favorites:

Text states: "...some wind tunnels are made to test hypersonic speeds.  That is more than 4,000 miles per hour!"

Her response? "Oh, that's like how my mom drives."

Excerpt: "...the rebels didn't have enough gunpowder to shoot back." (from George vs. George)

Her response: "go buy some more, duh".  If only the rebels had it that easy!

Thank you child for your metacognition during testing.  I know you weren't trying to make me laugh, but you did.

Small Groups

Small group reading is my favorite part of my day because I love watching my young scholars get so excited about their novels!

I really like researching about new strategies and trying them with my small groups.  This week we used the stop and jot strategy with post-its:

I had my Number the Stars group focus in on the Nazi soldiers' midnight visit.  They recorded their thinking while reading and then used their recordings to guide their own discussions.

Homework:

I wish I had time to meet with them daily but I simply have too many groups to make that possible.  So we meet every 3 days and they have independent reading and homework in between:

I give them four or five questions to respond to and use evidence from the text to support their answers.  I love when they do such a great job with details!

They also are taking more ownership and creating charts about their novels:

Which we store in a magnetic bin at the front of the room.

I used a regular plastic bin and hot glued on magnets to make it work for my classroom.

I like how my students are so open to new ideas and strategies as well!  It's wonderful to keep learning together :)

Character Analysis

In whole group reading, we've been working on comparing and contrasting characters.  In fifth grade, the expectation is to go much deeper then "one is a boy and one is a girl" responses. 

We've looked at how characters in the same text respond similarly and differently to the same event using Seed Folks as mentor text.

We've looked at how characters from different novels respond similarly and differently to a similar event using Tiger Rising, Because of Winn Dixie and Sarah, Plain and Tall as mentor texts with Rob, Opal and Anne.

We've moved on to looking at Matt and Attean in Sign of the Beaver and how they interact differently with the environment.

As you can see, I broke the reading into three sections.  I modeled the first day, reading the passage aloud and sharing my thinking (metacognition).

They worked with a partner or in a small group of three on part two and on Monday, they'll do part three independently.  They read the passage, take notes since they're "reading with a pencil" and then discuss their ideas.

They're taking notes in the graphic organizer we made in our whole group notebooks:

 While they work, not only are they building their stamina (since testing is a few months away) but I get to see how well they're doing with annotating (stop and jot) as well as analyzing the text. 

 It's a great way to do a quick informal assessment, I just walk around and make notes on a post-it.  I can also do a quick intervention if needed.

Some of them will struggle with this independent task and as I've said before, this productive struggle is perfectly okay.

I'm impressed with how well they're doing!

Stop and Jot, part 2

We've had some trainings on close reading and one of the things I took away was teaching my munchkins to "read with a pencil".

Granted, this wasn't earth-shattering information, but rather an affirmation that I'm doing the right things with my reading groups. It's always a relief to hear that what I'm doing aligns with best practice theories.

Here's our "stop and jot" poster with when students should stop to record their thinking.

As you can see, there's lots of times students should pause to record their thinking!  I'm glad they're getting used to annotating and showing their thinking.

(We did review how to use post-its when it's a book you shouldn't write in as well!  They do love their post-its.)

Stop and Jot

I've had several trainings on Close Reading and having students annotate while reading.  While there is lots of different research, I'm going to zoom in on the importance of annotating.  Basically the goal is to get students to practice metacognition, or thinking about what they're reading while reading.  I want my students to move beyond simply reading the words and into thinking critically about what they read.  I want them to interact with the text.  One strategy is to "stop and jot".

Here's our "stop and jot" anchor chart:

(day 1)

(day 2)

You may notice it's not filled in all the way...that's on purpose!  Instead of teaching them all the symbols at once, they learn 1-2 at a time and immediately practice the annotating within text.  I have them work independently and then collaboratively with a partner!

We've been using this lesson idea in our intervention block.  Using this text, we gave students a different purpose for reading each day.  We stressed the importance of re-reading and I think they've done an awesome job with the lessons!


One of their tasks was to come up with alternative titles:

In doing so, they had to think about the main idea and justify their answer choice.

After day 1:

Students' example after day 3:

I had each student use a different colored pencil so there would be student accountability.

I think they're finally understanding that often times, you need to read the same text multiple times :)