In chapter 9, I enjoyed reading about metacognition (thinking about thinking) and the different learning strategies. There are three essential metacognitive skills; planning, monitoring and evaluating. Planning involves giving a specific task a time frame. Looking back on my past I was always very efficient with my time and would plan ahead knowing how much time I had to complete whatever I was doing. I was very orderly at a child. Monitoring is having real time awareness. Asking yourself things such as does this make sense? Or am I trying to go to fast? As a child I was always a fast reader and felt proud of my ability to read at a fast rate. Over time I learned this was negatively effecting me as I wasn't retaining as much information. The more I would allow myself to slow down and comprehend what I was reading enabled me to absorb more information than if I read really fast. Evaluating involves making judgments about the process and outcomes of thinking and learning. Questions such as should I get help? And give up for now? Relating back to me being a fast reader and not comprehending the material read, I often found myself asking these questions over and over again. I have nothing against putting something aside momentarily and coming back to it with a fresh mindset, but to give up is never an option. Thinking about the times I struggled in school I wish I asked more questions and sought help when needed.
Another section in Chapter 9 I really enjoyed was reading about the different types of learning strategies. There are many different strategies to approach when learning new material and each and every one of us learns differently. One strategy that works best for a particular student might not work best with another. We all learn in our own ways and as future teachers it is our responsibility to shed light on all strategies and find which best suites each individual student. Underlining, highlighting and taking notes went a long way with myself when it came to studying and retaining information. Notes seem to be the norm for students when trying to organize important ideas from the lesson being taught. Taking that a step farther and underlining, or highlighting certain key words worked exceptionally well with me. It allowed me to use visualization by focusing on those key highlighted or underlined words and I was able to retain that information much longer.
Chapter 10 discusses social and cognitive constructivism, designing constructivist learning environments, and collaboration and cooperation. One constructivist view of learning states "social interactions are important in this knowledge construction process (Bruning, Schraw, & Norby, 2011; Schunk, 2016). Vygotsky emphasized this idea stating that social interaction, cultural tools and activity help shape individual development. Personally speaking, I strongly agree with social interaction aiding in a child's learning development. I feel as if it creates comfort amongst students and also allows them to develop skills they'll need for later in life. As a future teacher I will definitely implement group activities with the students as well as individual work.
Lastly, Chapter 11 discusses social cognitive views of learning,motivation, self-efficacy and self-regulated learning. Self regulation is the process of activating and sustaining thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in order to reach goals. When those goals involve learning we discuss self-regulated learning. Self-regulated learners have combined skills of self-awareness, academic learning skills and motivation. To help influence self-regulated learning students must have knowledge and motivation. What I enjoyed reading about was the teacher stress dealt with self-regulated learning. During a teachers first few years it can become stressful to the point of burnout if we don't learn to develop coping strategies to handle the extreme pressures. As a future teacher I understand that I will have to develop coping strategies to deal with the stress that comes with the job. I'm a fairly laid back individual and don't have much stress in my life, so I know when my time comes as a teacher I will need to develop a plan to help keep me mentally strong.
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