Thinking about Your Thinking Coach Writing Partner (Select when involved with revision)

Metacognition is fostered when writers are encouraged to

examine processes they use to think and write in a variety of disciplines and contexts;
reflect on the texts that they have produced in a variety of contexts;
connect choices they have made in texts to audiences and purposes for which texts are intended; and
use what they learn from reflections on one writing project to improve writing on subsequent projects.
“Habits of Mind” in Frameworks for Success in Postsecondary Writing

Thinking about your thinking (Metacognition)
Know your knowing! Being aware of your own thoughts, strategies, feelings and actions and their effects on others.

Thinking about your thinking is something that we all do — a way for us to become more aware of our thinking and, as a result, take charge of it. When we talk to ourselves as we think through a challenge, we are using metacognition. For example:

Athletes often talk to themselves about the strategies they want to use before the game.
Musicians are aware of their performance as they are on the stage as they work to line up with the overall sound.
Engineers review how a prototype worked to see how they can make it work better.
In each of these instances, the individual is aware of their thinking in relation to their performance – either before the performance when planning, during the performance when they are monitoring, or after the performance when they are modifying for the next time. In other words, they are thinking about their thinking.

You can use your brainpower to create a cycle to improve your thinking. As you become more aware of it, you are more able to take charge of your thinking. This metacognitive capacity distinguishes us from all other living things — to plan and execute a strategy, to monitor your own steps, and reflect and evaluate how it went. Try it next time you are faced with a challenge and you are not sure what to do.

Think strategically by asking:

What are my specific goals before I begin?
What might be a strategy to start with?
What have I learned from other problems like this one?
Is there a different strategy when the one I am using is not working?
Have I considered many of the options when solving this problem?
What do I really need to do to get the best results?
Ask yourself periodically, “How am I doing in achieving my goals?”
How can I use what l’ve learned from this problem when solving future problems?
Anyone can become a stronger thinker by using metacognition to handle more complex, creative, and interesting challenges in school and in your life.

Habits of Mind for Students by Bena Kallick, Art Young, and Allison Zmuda

Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition): How did you organize your thinking? What was the process you used to begin your writing? Know your knowing!
Example: You receive a literature analysis essay assignment and feel completely overwhelmed due to the lack of knowledge about the process of literary analysis. At this point you know that you need to figure something out. When problems arise like this, try this checklist:

Take some time to research the issue you are having
Search out some examples of good high school-level literary analysis essays
Talk with friends/peers about the issue
Ask the teacher questions
In my personal past, this was most successful in helping me understand what I needed to do in order to be successful. I know myself and what works best for me!

An Inclusive Approach to a Reading and Writing Workshop with the Habits of Mind By Daniel Vollrath and Scott Einhorn

Questioning and posing problems
How do you know? Having a questioning attitude; knowing what data are needed & developing questioning strategies to produce those data. Finding problems to solve.

Asking questions and posing problems can be a signal of your genuine curiosity and commitment to a topic. In addition, a question might lead to discovering a problem that has not yet been solved. Sometimes you may not know how to ask a question because you are not yet certain what sort of information you need. You may be asking simple questions without realizing that they are leading to more complex issues. You may be looking for a “right” answer when, in fact, you are exploring a topic.

When you ask questions, you are filling in the gaps between what you know and what you don’t know. For example, consider the following categories and related questions to see how it might shape your inquiry:

Request data to support others’ conclusions and assumptions.
“What evidence do you have…..?”
“How do you know that’s true?”
“How reliable is this data source?”
Seek alternative points of view.
“From whose viewpoint are we seeing, reading of hearing?”
“From what angle, what perspective are we viewing this situation?”
Search for causal connections and relationships.
“How are these people (events) (situations) related to each other?”
“What produced this connection?”
Suggest hypothetical problems.
“What do you think would happen IF….?”
“IF that is true, then what might happen if…
Search for interconnections among ideas.
“How might this idea connect to those other ideas?”
“What if we made a synthesis of these ideas?”
Search for puzzles or discrepancies.
“Why is this idea presented here?”
“Is there some greater idea that I am missing here?”
“How might this new piece of information change the way I am thinking?”
Inquiring about others’ emotions.
“What caused you to feel that way?”
“How do you feel when……”
Habits of Mind for Students by Bena Kallick, Art Young, and Allison Zmuda

Questioning and Posing Problems: Are you asking other people questions?
Example: Before you begin workshopping and writing your feature article blog, make a list of questions you have in relation to the style of writing. Pose some problems to your peers or teacher about issues that might occur in the writing process. The idea is to get a clear understanding of the writing style before you begin.

In another way, you have to do a video essay, but you’ve never done one and have no idea what software to use or how it works. Don’t throw your hand up in confusion or put your head down in despair; ask your peers within the class as well as your friends outside of the class if they know something about video essays. Fifteen years ago it would stop here, but times have changed. What do I mean? Ask YouTube.

An Inclusive Approach to a Reading and Writing Workshop with the Habits of Mind By Daniel Vollrath and Scott Einhorn