Thinking About One 's Own Thinking

“Thinking about one’s own thinking” is how metacognition is defined. (Darling, 2003, p.158) When educators are able to reflect on their own work, they become better teachers to their students. Good educators know that “there are two aspects of metacognition: reflection—thinking about what we know and 2) self-regulation—managing how we go about learning.” (Darling, 2003, p. 157) Therefore, a good educator can only be as good as their own metacognition when teaching others.

A good educator knows that “we direct our own learning when using metacognition is everyday life. Individuals who lack these skills are usually beginners who have yet to master these skills because of lack of guidance.” (Darling, 2003, p.157) Hence, younger students will need more guidance on appropriate ways to learn ways of reflecting on their work. Yet, sometimes older students have not been given proper guidance in the ability of metacognition and will need to learn new strategies of self-reflection.

I truly feel that “Teachers must create the classroom equivalent of the mirror on the dance studio wall or the videotape of the golf swing.” (Darling, 2003, para 4) for students can see what they are doing well at and have an insight on areas they need improvement. Not everything an educator teaches is black and white, there are many areas that are the grey that prevent a student from understanding the fundamentals of a lesson.

As children learn through their educators, they are capable of “learning in specific contexts, the better they become at using them across domains.” (Darling, 2003, para 11) For instance a child who learns their letters first by saying them, then by seeing them and finally by writing them can learn in a way that is a bene...

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...ave to agree that, “it is also important for teachers to reflect on their own teaching with their students and with other teachers.” (Darling 2003, p. 164) The fact is an educator never truly knows how good they are educating others until they are able to get feedback from their students and their fellow teachers. When an educator has “activities that encourage a reflective and strategic stance toward learning should be embedded in the regular activities of a classroom” (Darling, 2003, p. 164), students are taught from the beginning how to learn and critique themselves then as time goes on there is an easier process in learning from an educator versus the struggle of knowing what is expected by the educator in the classroom Metacognition is only as good as the one who is thinking about one’s own thinks as is a student is only as good as the educator who taught them.