Module 12 & 14 Blog Post 1

•Discuss one or more questions or confusions that you have from reading the module (on social cognitive theory). You should comment on these within others' posts.

I have learned about algorithms and heuristics before, but would someone explain the difference between the two of them to me again? I believe this is the only part of the chapters that was a bit confusing to me.

-Describe in detail how you could involve metacognitive knowledge and regulation (such as self interrogation or theory of mind) while teaching within your content area. Metacognition in music and art education, for example, should look very different from reading comprehension strategies.

The students should first attempt to understand what their best learning style is, whether they are a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner. This will greatly determine how they should go about attempting to learn a second language. Perhaps a student would learn the language better if they took their own notes on what they learn in the classroom and what they learn through their homework. Because language acquisition is a complicated process, especially for younger learners, students will need to be constantly engaged in learning process. Simply attending class will not teach them anything. Students will need to learn the effectiveness of participating in class in order to be able to learn the language more effectively. Students should also create their own learning goals, even if it is something simple like, “By the end of this week, I will learn how to properly use the present tense of Avoir, Etre, and Faire.” (3 common French verbs). Before beginning to learn a lesson, the students can prepare for the learning. This could involve creating a plan of action for learning. Then the students can figure out what their best learning style is. Throughout the learning process, they should constantly be checking back and monitoring their learning strategy to see whether or not it is effective. Perhaps the student can work with a few different strategies. Teachers can help here by providing various teaching methods to adhere to each learning style in the classroom (lecture, class project, group work, etc.). Finally, the student should reflect to see whether they learned anything and evaluate the strategy they used. In learning languages, more than one metacognitive process may be used at one time. Foreign language instructors should teach metacognitive skills and allow the students to reflect on the strategies they use to learn. Teachers should make sure that students are motivated to learn the language by providing activities that are fun and engaging (especially to the younger students). I’m not sure if this answers the question posed above. I understand the terms from the perspective of a student, but I guess I don’t know what role the teacher plays in the metacognitive skills of the student.

•Critical thinking involves primarily the control of information, the ‘analysis, synthesis, and evaluation’ of information to solve a problem or reach a goal. Metacognition involves the control of thinking, or monitoring and evaluation of thinking and learning strategies. Which do you feel is more relevant to your content area? Why? Give an example if possible.

I believe that using Metacognition would be more beneficial in my French classroom. In order to learn the language, the students will need to be able to understand English first, and then apply the French language to what they already know about the structure of the English language. I can use Task knowledge (one of the three categories of Metacognitive knowledge) to give the content background to my students about what the lesson will be about (for example, I would say that this lesson will cover vocabulary of the basic colors). Let’s say that I am teaching a first grade class. These students understand that it is easier to learn when you’re studying fewer items at a time, which is why we will study just the basic colors (red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, pink, brown, black). Students can engage in self-questioning, by asking, “What do I already know about the basic colors?” (They should be able to see a color and identify it). I can have the students think out loud while learning the new vocabulary words (which would also help with pronunciation of the French words). In order to remember the vocabulary words, we would engage in both maintenance rehearsal (repeating the words over and over so that we learn what they are), and also elaborative rehearsal (connecting the new information to our previous knowledge about the colors). Students can also engage in person knowledge by telling themselves, “I can…remember the vocabulary words” or “I know the colors in English and I can learn them in French as well.” While learning vocabulary may not be that complicated of a task, the students can still engage in reciprocal teaching with the teacher. I can provide notes to the students with information on it about the terms and the colors they correspond to. The students can also take their own notes in the class while we learn the terms, further helping them to remember the terms and how they are spelled. I can ask them at the end of each lesson if they understand the information which was presented to them. I can teach them to reflect on the lesson to see whether or not they fully comprehend everything as well.