Cambridge -Metacognition and Effective Classroom talk

A workshop on Metacognition and Effective Classroom Talk, organized by

Cambridge Assessment International Education in Bangalore, was attended by Ms Anuradha, from our school. The workshop was conducted by Ms. Lin Whyte who is an

independent education consultant and a former head teacher.

Metacognition is a way of empowering our learners with the skills wherein they will be able to

plan their aim through the strategies they choose, monitor their own learning, evaluating, making

changes and reflecting on to their own learning behavior. Depending upon the kind of the learner, strategies that should be followed before, during and after a learning experience in order to improve metacognition and develop an environment where

learning thrives.

“Too often, we teach students what to think but not how to think.”

This is possible by developing their metacognitive skills. Effective classroom talk serves as a tool to implement metacognition in classrooms.Metacognition strategies in the classroom can be modeled using effective classroom teaching.Effective classroom talk can improve learning where the flip class practice can be followed and the class would be student driven. Each and every individual learner has its own ways of thinking and there is no right and no wrong.

In today’s learning, silence is as important as effective dialogic talk. On one side it is important

to share and on the other it is also important to reflect.

Dialogic talk harnesses the power to talk to simulate and extend children’s thinking and to

advance their understanding and learning. It also enables the teachers to diagnose and assess.

Dialogic teaching is distinct from the question-answer- tell routines aiming to be more

consistently searching and more genuinely reciprocal and cumulative.

Students will get an exposure to various strategies and practices like:

De Bono’s thinking hats

Think-pair and share

Diamond nine

Silent debate

PMI(Pluses, Minuses and Improvements)

Pose-Pause- Pounce-Bounce

Socratic questioning

See-Think- Wonder

Flowscaping

Digging deeper

Forcefield analysis

Piaget’s stages of development

Metacognitive talk

Talk for learning

Collaborative talk

Exploratory talk

Effective talk

Thunks

IRF (Initiate, Reflect and Feedback)

Dialogic talk and many more.

This would not only help in a better understanding of learning but will also make Cambridge

learners at DRS International School more confident, responsible, reflective, productively engaged and innovative.