Amberly Austin Ed Psych

Metacognition in particular is very important to learning in my opinion.  Evaluating learning and how you learn is crucial to becoming a lifelong learner.  I can't think of specific examples of metacognition from my field experience but one conversation I had with my uncle does come to mind.  He and his wife went to a parent teacher conference for their 8 year old son Alex.  The teacher asked Alex what 2+2 equals.  He quickly replied four, and the teacher then asked how he got his answer.  Alex didn't know how he knew the answer he just did.  Alex wasn't quite able to evaluate his learning.  My aunt and uncle were both upset that the teacher thought this was important.  They didn't understand the benefits of Alex being able to evaluate his learning.  The ideas behind metacognition of planning monitoring and evaluating learning are crucial in turning learners into problem-solvers.  This specific example goes over evaluating but each step of the process is important. Li

Miss. F is definitely a constructive teacher.  When I first started observing her class I noted that she doesn't spend very much time lecturing her kids.  Much of the activities they do in class are centered on working together to solve problems.  There was one particular day when Miss. F sent the students on an adventure.  They were in the middle of a Huck Finn unit and loved it.  They were able to collaborate together in small groups and go on an adventure anywhere on school grounds.  Once they returned to class they were asked to reflect on the experience and write a short personal narrative.  It was so interesting to hear them return from their adventure excited and enthusiastic to write their narrative.  In this particular instance, and often in class I have noticed that Miss. F does not do a great job of mentoring the students.  For instance, with this Huck Finn adventure she simply went inside the classroom and waited for the students to come back.  The lesson would have b