Why are we practising this? How will you use that outside of class? If you get stuck, what strategies can you use? Is it ok to make mistakes?
Have you ever asked yourself why you ask these types of questions when teaching? Well, the answer is metacognition – the process of thinking about thinking. John Flavel, the American psychologist, was the first to introduce the term ‘metacognition’ and argued that if children consciously understood the process of learning and what happens when they learn something new, learning would be better supported. Learning how we learn, and practising those key non-academic skills creates successful, resilient learners.
