Literature+Review

toc Reflection is often seen as a precursor for successful learning, so to foster students’ reflection on their own learning and development, portfolios and student-led conferences have been increasingly embedded in education (De Rijdt, Tiquet, Dochy, & Devolder, 2006). It is important for teachers to understand the keys to successfully implementing these metacognitive strategies in their classroom. Teachers, students, and parents at Esterhazy High School will recognize that this implementation is being driven by an abundance of educational research.

=**// Metacognitive Learning //**=

In an information-rich world, it is more imperative than ever to promote metacognitive strategies in classrooms. Metacognition can be used to help students “learn how to learn” by “thinking about thinking” (“Metacognition,” 2004). A student’s ability to use metacognitive approaches in their learning varies greatly from student to student, yet according to Corbin Dwyer and Patterson (2001), there are three essential skills of metacognition: emphasis on planning, monitoring, and evaluating one’s own learning processes. This breaks down even further to knowing how to learn, being able to monitor your own understanding, being reflective about what you understand and do not understand, and being able to strategize about how to resolve your confusions.

There are many terms used when dealing with metacognition and they all overlap. Self-regulated learning refers to an individual’s ability to take control of his or her learning. This process involves goal-directed activities that students initiate, modify, and sustain in order to help students attain their learning goals (Schunk, 1990). Goal setting involves establishing what you want to try to accomplish, a goal, and modifying it as necessary. Feedback and formative assessment should be used to empower students as self-regulated learners. Ultimately, effective self-regulated learners actively produce feedback, as well as interpret external feedback, to help them assess their progress towards their goals (Nicol, 2006).

Research done by Tanner (2012) shows that evidence indicates that individuals will perform less well academically than peers if they have poor metacognitive skills. He recommends two essential strategies to increase attention to metacognition:

1) clearly and openly teaching students metacognitive strategies, and

2) modifying what we are already doing to build a classroom culture grounded in metacognitive strategies.

Some active learning strategies that help build metacognition are pre-assessments that encourage students to examine their current thinking, opportunities to challenge students to identify what they are most confused about, and how their ideas about a topic have changed, and provide the chance to reflect about their thinking and learning strategies.

It is a more subtle approach to build a classroom culture grounded in metacognitive strategies; thinking about your language and habit can become part of everyday classroom culture. For example, use think-pair-share opportunities, use a variety of types of homework assignments, add an additional question to quizzes or exams, or change the language of questions asked (focus on the learning process). You don’t necessarily have to change the assignment, just the nature of the assignment (add some reflective questions).

Saskatchewan curriculum writers have incorporated metacognitive skills and abilities in all renewed curriculum guides. By doing so, it is no longer just a “good idea” to embed metacognition in your teaching. At each grade level, the ELA curriculum has a strand of outcomes dedicated to assessing and reflecting.


 * Grade 9 ELA Curriculum **// Guide //** (all ELA curriculum have Assess and Reflect outcomes) **

Outcome: AR9.1a

// Assess personal strengths and needs as a viewer, listener, reader, representer, speaker, and writer and contributions to the community of learners, and develop goals based on assessment and work toward them. //

Outcome: AR9.2a

// Assess own and others’ work for clarity, correctness, and impact. //


 * 1) Evaluate and modify own roles in group interactions in a variety of contexts.
 * 2) Establish and use relevant criteria and relevant vocabulary to evaluate group process and personal contributions and propose suggestions for development.
 * 3) Use criteria/rubric to evaluate oral presentations including purpose, delivery techniques, content, visual aids, body language, and facial expressions.
 * 4) Monitor progress in achieving language communication goals.
 * 5) Reflect on attainment of personal goals for effective language learning and use.
 * 6) Review and refine speaking, writing, and other representing skills and strategies, through reflection, feedback, and self-assessment.
 * 7) Determine personal language strengths.
 * 8) Determine personal language learning goals.
 * 9) Articulate performance related to viewing, listening, and reading processes and strategies and reflect on growth as viewer, listener, and reader of texts of increasing complexity.
 * 10) State appropriate and achievable improvement goals based on self-analysis; choose and apply strategies appropriate to improvement goals and reflect on progress in achieving those goals.
 * 11) Use criteria to examine qualities of own and others’ work.

http://www.curriculum.gov.sk.ca/index.jsp?lang=en&subj=english_language_arts&level=9

The Saskatchewan math curriculum has four goals that are common throughout all grade levels, and the one below has a focus on self-assessment and reflection.


 * Math 6 Curriculum Guide (one of the aims of the math curriculum across all grades) **

Mathematics as a Human Endeavour - Through their learning of K-12 Mathematics, students should develop an understanding of mathematics as a way of knowing the world that all humans are capable of with respect to their personal experiences and needs.

Developing an understanding of mathematics as a human endeavour requires students to engage in experiences that:


 * value place-based knowledge and learning
 * value learning from and with community
 * encourage and value varying perspectives and approaches to mathematics
 * recognize and value one's evolving strengths and knowledge in learning and doing mathematics
 * recognize and value the strengths and knowledge of others in doing mathematics
 * value and honour reflection and sharing in the construction of mathematical understanding
 * recognize errors as stepping stones towards further learning in mathematics
 * require self-assessment and goal setting for mathematical learning
 * support risk taking (mathematically and personally)
 * build self-confidence related to mathematical insights and abilities
 * encourage enjoyment, curiosity, and perseverance when encountering new problems
 * create appreciation for the many layers, nuances, perspectives, and value of mathematics.

http://www.curriculum.gov.sk.ca/index.jsp?view=goals&lang=en&subj=mathematics&level=6

As teachers, we must be metacognitive about our learning and teaching – think about how you think about teaching – self-analyze your own ideas about teaching (Tanner, 2012).

=**// Portfolios //**=

A portfolio has usually been associated with a collection of an individual’s work – usually in the the art field. In the last 20 years, the idea of portfolios has been tossed around the education world, however even though the concept is well-known, the successful integration of them into the classroom has been disappointing (van Tartwijk, Driessen, van der Vleuten, & Stokking, 2007). With the recent research into metacognitive learning, it has been stressed that portfolios are an important strategy for connecting students to their learning.

A portfolio is a collection of student work meant to demonstrate progress, and its main purpose needs to be to contribute to the students’ learning and development, rather than merely to assess their learning for summative purposes. This process helps to encourage students to be self-regulated learners (Odabasi Cimer, 2011). In order to be effective, it can’t just be used as a folder to collect students’ work. Important strategies for successful use of portfolios include: guiding students both at the beginning and during the process, providing continuous and prompt feedback during the process, and making self-reflection an essential part of the process. Odabasi Cimer (2011) concluded that the two components that make a portfolio a valuable learning tool is self-reflection and continuous and immediate feedback throughout the process.

Reflections are pieces of writing that require students to articulate and evaluate the process and/or products of their portfolio components. They are a critical component of the portfolio because students learn to scrutinize their own performance, come to terms with what went wrong as well as what went well, contemplate strategies to enhance their success in future work and take responsibility for their learning (Fersten & Fernsten, 2006). Additionally, portfolios facilitate a community of learners as parents and significant others have the privilege of observing and commenting on successes or areas for improvement (McDonald, 2012). Students feel empowered from this recognition, which helps bring value to their own contributions.

The reflection needed during the portfolio process is somewhat of a self-regulated process, so it is important for students to create intrinsic goals, in contrast to extrinsic, to motivate this process. Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie argue that self-regulation tasks, such as reflection pieces, generally involve a more demanding level of engagement, because of their complexity, and students must be motivated to invest extra time and effort (as cited in De Bruin, van der Schaaf, Oosterbaan, & Prins, 2012).

Again, all too many times, portfolios become a “pretty book” that is a collection of work that goes home to parents on the last day of school. In order to prevent this, and to help students see the connection to their learning, teachers need to be sure the goals that the portfolio is supposed to help realize matches its content and structure. Also, the learning environment in which the portfolios are used, as well as the context of their introduction, needs to be grounded in metacognitive, self-initiated learning (van Tartwijk et al., 2007).

It is important to promote student self-assessment and self-understanding, and portfolio assessment is meant to enhance the total assessment process. This can be a source of motivation for students, because in the changing face of assessment, even students are recognizing that a good deal of traditional testing is often not authentic. McDonald (2012) brings forth the idea that portfolio assessment lends itself to collaborative assessment involving the learner, facilitator, peers, and significant others. Corbin Dwyer and Patterson (2001) state that personal reflections, records of accomplishments, and notes on skill development or construction of projects, all collected over time, shows solid evidence to determine student achievement. Instead of creating a snapshot of where the student is at, as many varieties of traditional assessments do, portfolios create a motion picture of the student over time.

=**// Student-Led Conferences //**=

In many school divisions, parent participation in traditional parent-teacher interviews drops off significantly in middle school and high school (Black, 2005). This format does little to recognize the need for students to assume greater control of their academic process or to facilitate dialogue between parent and child (Hackmann, 1997). Fortunately, student-led conferences offer a positive alternative to this tradition.

The central concept of the student-led conference model is that the student is in charge of the academic conference with the parents, and the teacher simply serves as a facilitator to aid discussion when needed. In other words, students take the lead on sharing goals they’ve set for themselves, reflections on samples of their work, and discussing the next steps for the learning. Conderman, Hatcher, and Ikan (1998) assert that this approach, through the use of portfolios, combines authentic assessment with greater student involvement, ownership, and empowerment.

According to a presentation done by Keith (n.d.), student-led conferences encourage students to accept personal responsibility for their academic performance, they teach students the process of self-evaluation and reflection, and they promote students, parents, and teachers to engage in open and honest dialogue. Kinney (2005) also lists seven important benefits of student-led conferences:

· greater accountability in students for their own learning

· increased pride in achievement among students

· increase confidence

· increase independence

· more positive student-teacher relationships

· increase parental participation in school life

· improved communication with parents, resulting in deeper understanding of and confidence in what happens at school (as cited in Keith, n.d.).

As with most educational processes, with all the advantages and benefits, come a few disadvantages. It is important to recognize these so they can be addressed during the process. Cromwell (2010) addresses two such downsides: first, parents are accustomed to using conference time to talk solely to the teacher to get their view and perspective on their child. This request can be accommodated by making separate appointments to discuss issues with teachers. Second, although parent attendance appears to be higher for student-led conferences opposed to traditional methods, not every single parent will be able to attend. This can be addressed by having a staff member be a replacement, as well as by having the student and parent complete the conference at home. Again, this is a big change, and many parents feel they are a bit of an “expert” in the education field, because they saw success themselves through the system. With this said, the advantages more than outweigh the downside. All stakeholders involved need to believe in the process, and sometimes need to see success to help them do this.

Several researchers, such as Countryman and Schroeder (1996) and Little and Allan (1989) suggest that the student-led conference process typically consists of three phases: 1) preconference preparation, 2) the actual conference, and 3) post-conference evaluation (as cited in Hackmann, 1997).

The preconference preparation is a lengthy process that is vital to the effectiveness of the student-led conference. This is the time for students to reflect critically on their learning, to select specific pieces to put in their portfolio to share during the conference, and to practice sharing with peers and teachers before the conference. This preparation helps teachers build a classroom build in metacognitive strategies. This is also the time to not only prepare students for the conference, but also to prepare parents for the upcoming change.

The conference itself is a time for students to share their reflections and feedback about their learning with their parents, and the post-conference evaluation and feedback is a continuation of the reflective process. It is important to the process for all stakeholders to reflect on the conference. This will help all involved see the shared commitment to our students’ education.