Thinking Moves A-Z: Metacognition Made Simple

Product Information

However, when it comes to the skills of thinking and learning, there is no common language and the concepts are shrouded in misconception. Do children learn visually, kinaesthetically . . . ? Are there different levels to learning? Based on the belief that we are all thinking and learning all of the time, Thinking Moves has been implemented at Alfreton Nursery School. Thinking Moves provides the language to explain the process of thinking and has thus provided a common framework on which to master learning. 1. Develop and model a shared vocabulary Metacognition is embedded throughout continuous provision and is accessed by all children through personalised interactions. Enhancements are offered across the curriculum and metacognition forms a vehicle on which targeted teaching is delivered. For example, by combining thinking moves together, we have created thinking grooves. By using certain moves together, the flow of thinking is explicit. Within our maths enhancements we use the maths QUEST approach. A session begins with a Question, e.g. “How many will we have if we add one more to this group?” Children Use their mathematical understanding and Explain what they will need to do to solve the problem. The answer is Sized, “Are there more or less now?”, and then this is Tested to establish the consistency of the answer. Maths QUESTs now underpin our mathematical enhancements, allowing children to consciously use maths and metacognition simultaneously. 5. Embed within progression planning

Stephen Walshe is the Co-Principal of the Fortune Kindergarten in Shanghai, and an accredited Thinking Moves trainer. Thinking Moves training provides an accessible language with icons linked to Sign Language to explicitly teach metacognition to students of all ages. Comprehensible. Simple activities are provided to allow each move to be practised and to allow people to make meaning of the move. This is supported by a list of synonyms and associated vocabulary for each move that helps people to build a more nuanced understanding of the acts of thinking it denotes. For example, to think AHEAD is also to ‘predict’, to ‘aim’, to ‘look forward’, to ‘expect’, to ‘hope’ and to ‘target’. Special synonyms for EYFS children are provided;Metacognition is everywhere and in everyone from birth. It was when I started researching metacognition that I realised just how amazing brains and thought processes are from birth to five. I genuinely think that from birth to five our minds make more rapid development than in any other time in our lives. Even from age 3-5, a child’s brain will make more metacognitive progression than that of a student undertaking a PhD. It is this that led me to create a metacognition approach to teaching, and my complete daily and weekly approach in my preschool class is now based on metacognition. In particular, an approach called Thinking Moves. I use the PICTURE move the most. I use it when I read to help me imagine what is happening in the story. I use it when I need to set out my work neatly - I can picture what my finished work should look like.”- Maria aged 8 Teachers have expressed their enjoyment incorporating the Thinking moves in their classes. They have remarked about how easily they can be embedded into any topic and how students are now able to use them naturally and without prompting. New teachers to our school are always very impressed at how well the students can remember them and how the students are able to continue using them over the span of their primary school journey.” Over time, as confidence grows, the use of metacognitive language becomes a natural part of daily discourse. Whether in the staffroom over lunch, planning the timetable or sharing a jigsaw, metacognition has become a part of daily life. 4. Use to support targeted teaching across the curriculum Show you how to enrich inquiry based learning programmes, such as Philosophy for Children (P4C), by incorporating Thinking Moves;

Thinking Moves A – Z is a vocabulary of 26 types of thinking. The Moves are understandable, comprehensive and memorable. They make metacognition simple for teachers and learners, bringing big benefits in school and everyday life. After a little modelling such as that described above, it was over to our ATs to make their own connections between the A-Z and the curriculum, and they rose to the challenge wonderfully well. As a KNSTE tutor and Thinking Moves trainer I modelled the use of the Move CONNECT to support the generalisation of concepts connected with changes of state using the activity illustrated below. Take getting dressed this morning, for example. How did you decide what to wear today? You probably looked at the weather, decided how comfortable or formal you wanted to be, thought about the task and plans the day ahead held for you, evaluated what was in the wardrobe and what was in the wash, possibly made decisions based on the impression or aesthetic you wanted to project. In this one simple task, you used a range of metacognition skills. In thinking now about what your thought process was you have just done a good piece of metacognition analysis and self-reflection. We can then reflect on the Thinking Moves or a particular Move we have used, like, thinking ahead and ask ourselves, when it is important to use such a move and how we can get better at this kind of thinking. Thinking Moves and sign language

Reflect

Thinking Moves A – Z is a vocabulary of 26 types of thinking. The Moves are understandable, comprehensive and memorable. They make metacognition simple for teachers and learners, bringing big benefits in school and everyday life. Watch this video to learn more…

School Improvement Liverpool (SIL) supports educational settings to enable children and young people to be safe, develop, learn and achieve. To this end, we have developed a collaboration with Dialogue Works with a view to enhancingacademic progress, especially for lower attaining and disadvantaged students.The learning environment critically supports the children’s use of metacognition. With each word comes a symbol. These symbols are used to visually illustrate Thinking Moves. Children use these symbols to explain what type of thinking they are engaged in and what they need to do next. As soon as I started using them, it became a central part on how I structure notes, plans, and answers. They help with prioritising and putting together GROUPS of information, creating links between one topic and another. The variety and depth of them. When you think about what thinking move is being used there is always a perfect one to describe your actions. The experiment continues at KNSTE as, sadly, some of our ATs are still compelled to spend more time than usual out of school. But the project itself is a reminder of how adversity can be the mother of creativity; Di Swift had very little time to VARY a teacher education programme to function in the absence of regular opportunities for teaching in school, and yet FORMULATEd a plan that will, I think, after some careful WEIGHing- UP, lead to a lasting improvement to our programme.