(exhilarating music)
- [David] Welcome to our video
for high-leverage practice number 14,
Teach Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies
to support learning and independence.
There are 22 high-leverage practices
for students with disabilities, spread across four domains.
Teach cognitive and metacognitive strategies
is the instruction domain.
The major source for content in this video,
is the chapter by Shannon Budin
and her colleagues from SUNY Buffalo State College,
in the book, HLPs for Inclusive Classrooms,
published by Routledge and CEC.
This video is split into two parts.
In part one, we provide a definition
and rationale for teaching cognitive
and metacognitive strategies
to support learning and independence.
In part two,
we highlight two key principles
for effectively using this HLP
and demonstrate teachers using them in action.
Let's start with an introduction.
Using cognitive or metacognitive strategies,
includes two main components.
First, students learn strategies
to address a specific academic task
or social behavioral concern
and then they evaluate the effects of the strategy
on their performance.
Cognitive strategies, address the application
of an approach,
whereas metacognitive strategies,
focus on student's self-evaluation
and the effectiveness of the strategy.
To use and evaluate a strategy,
students must be explicitly taught the purpose,
functional steps, mental actions
and evaluation process for the strategy.
Both types of strategies are used to support student memory,
attention and self-regulation of learning and behavior
and simultaneously help them keep one eye
towards how well everything is working.
In so doing,
the strategies help students
become self-directed, independent learners.
In other words,
when students learn and use a strategy,
they are essentially learning how to learn
and then how to use the strategy
to execute a skill or process.
It's important to note, that strategy in this context,
is not merely a set of step-by-step instructions,
but instead, is an instructional technique
that can facilitate learning
and generalization across a number of situations,
contexts and types of academic content.
Strategies can also scaffold success
for students across academic
and behavioral domains at the same time.
Strategies help students become better problem solvers.
That is, through learning and using strategies,
students become more adept at identifying problem areas,
developing and using solutions to address the difficulties,
monitoring their learning and progress
and reflecting on how well the solution worked.
The teacher plays a critical role
in student use of strategies.
The high-leverage practice of teaching students
what, how and when to engage in cognitive
and metacognitive strategy, uses the key.
Thus, strategies must be explicitly taught,
in order to be effective.
While some students may be able to develop
or figure out strategies on their own,
students with disabilities
and others who struggle,
often need instruction in specific strategies,
including when and how to use them,
coupled with practice and feedback.
Using the principles of explicit instruction,
including clear language, modeling,
guided practice, providing feedback
and independent practice,
teachers should help students understand what cognitive
and metacognitive strategies are,
as well as how and when to use them effectively.
Please see video number 16 in this series
for more information on explicit instruction.
In addition to being explicitly taught,
cognitive and metacognitive strategies,
should be embedded in academic and non-academic lessons,
so students can experience the various ways
in which these strategies are used,
to learn specific academic content.
Integrating cognitive and metacognitive strategies
into content, helps students monitor
and evaluate their performance
during authentic tasks
and can help them generalize strategies
to other content and settings.
One example of a cognitive strategy in mathematics,
is the Solve It! method of problem solving.
This requires the student to read a problem
for understanding, paraphrase the problem
into their own words,
visualize a picture or diagram of the problem,
make a plan to solve the problem,
estimate the answer,
do the arithmetic to solve
and then check it to make sure everything is right.
While using the Solve It! strategy for problem solving,
students self-monitor by asking themselves guided questions
after performing each step in the strategy procedure.
For example, after reading the problem,
students are taught to ask themselves,
"Have I read and understood the problem?"
By asking and answering guided questions
after each step in the Solve It! procedure,
students learn to monitor and assess their work.
When students use a metacognitive strategy,
they self-monitor their learning or behavior
and evaluate effectiveness.
An example of a metacognitive strategy is self-regulation,
in which students learn to organize their thoughts
and make decisions about using various skills
in order to learn and then monitor progress
towards a learning goal.
In sum four part one,
cognitive and metacognitive strategies,
are designed to help students become self-directed
and independent learners.
Teachers have an important role
in facilitating this process,
by including strategies and their instruction
and directly teaching students when and how to use them.
These structures, when taught explicitly with modeling
and guided practice,
have been proven effective
across content areas for students with disabilities.
Part two.
Two key principles of teaching cognitive
and metacognitive strategies.
There are two key components of this HLP
for teachers to consider.
Component one is to select strategies purposefully.
Component two is multifaceted,
but revolves around the components of explicit instruction.
First, teachers should explicitly teach the components
of the strategy.
Teachers also need to model use of this strategy
and provide guided
and independent practice opportunities for students.
Component one, select strategies purposefully.
Teachers should select cognitive
and metacognitive strategies
that will not only stick with students,
but that also have high utility,
align well with content being taught
and are appropriate for the functioning level
of the student.
Strategies that are too complex,
or ask the student to complete skills
that are too difficult, will not have the intended impact.
For example, teaching students to use context clues
in the text to determine the meaning
of an unfamiliar word,
could support reading comprehension across subjects.
Teachers should use progress monitoring and feedback,
to determine the extent
to which the strategies are appropriate
for the needs of the students.
This connects with other HLPs from the collaboration
and assessment domains.
The second component of HLP 14,
is to use explicit instruction
to support student learning of the strategy
and readiness to use it independently.
As explicit instruction has several key components,
we highlight three critical components here,
related to explicitly teaching students
how to use strategies.
First, teacher should introduce the strategy
and explain the specific strategy components.
One helpful way to show students
the components of a strategy,
is by using a visual aid,
such as a graphic organizer or anchor chart.
However, regardless of visual aids,
explicit instruction should be used.
The teacher needs to provide clear explanations
and provide examples and non-examples as appropriate.
Teachers should also monitor students' understanding
of the strategy steps and components,
through questioning and opportunities to respond,
during guided practice
and provide specific, immediate feedback
on student use of new strategies or skills.
Other elements of explicit instruction,
are included in the next two components of this HLP.
In this first clip,
Mr. Sean McDonald is working with a student
in a distance environment
because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explicitly introduces a strategy and it's steps.
Note the use of numerous opportunities
to respond and high-quality feedback
that is provided.
- Hi, good afternoon, Megan, how are you?
- I'm good, how are you?
- I'm doing well, I'm doing well.
So, last lesson, we had just wrapped up
creating our own definition of opportunity costs.
So, if you remember,
we came up with the following definition, all right?
So I'm gonna put it on the screen.
First of all, we're gonna just read through it together.
Okay, so opportunity cost is?
- Opportunity cost is the second best choice given up
when you make a decision.
- Great, thumbs up if you're good
with that definition so far, awesome.
So today, we're gonna identify the opportunity costs
of everyday decisions,
using a specific problem solving strategy called,
R.U. Asking.
What's it called?
- R.U. Asking.
- Nice.
So here's a simple example of what the strategy is like.
Okay, have you ever watched a YouTube or Netflix video
in Super HD and then gone back and watched it
in like slow definition?
- Yeah.
- Okay, how do you think the experience would be different
when you switch between the definitions?
- Well, the better one would probably be better quality
of the video and to be able to see things better.
- Exactly, love it.
I love you said see things better, good inferences there.
So, R.U. Asking is an important strategy
because it will help you see word problems in HD.
Okay, and what I mean by that is,
it will help you clearly see the question
and answer after you've broken down the problem.
Okay, so let's do it.
Here's a visual to the strategy steps
of the R.U. Asking strategy, okay?
If you have your graphic organizer,
you can also look at it at this time.
So Megan, as you see,
each letter represents a step in the R.U. Asking strategy.
So, during this lesson,
each step will have a picture
that clearly describes the strategy
and you have your organizer as well with you,
to help you do that.
- Mm-hmm.
- Good, so what's the first step to the R.U asking strategy?
- Read the word problem aloud.
- Exactly, exactly.
How does the picture relate to that step?
- Well, when you're talking,
the volume would show that you're actually saying something.
- Excellent, excellent observation there.
Okay, so let's go to the second step.
Alright, so the second step is U,
which stands for?
- Underline.
- Underline, correct.
I love that you're also using your visual aid
as a reference.
Okay, what are you underlining exactly?
- The choice made.
- You're underlining the choice made, exactly,
the choice the character makes.
This is where you will able to easily spot
the most important event in the story,
when a what is made?
- The choice is made.
- When the choice is made, excellent.
And what will you do,
once you found where the choice is made?
What are you gonna do with your pencil?
- You can underline it.
- You can underline it, exactly.
Let's keep going to the third step, all right?
So the third step, and final step,
starts with an A, which stands for?
- Asking yourself.
- The asking step, exactly,
what you ask yourself.
And what do you exactly ask yourself?
- What second best choices was given up.
- The second best choice given up, good.
The best part of this step, Megan,
is because of steps one and two,
you will be able to see the answer really clearly, okay?
So now that we've explained the R.U. Asking strategy,
let's go ahead and model how to use it
and then we'll practice on our own.
- [David] Another key part
of explicitly teaching the components of a strategy,
is for the teacher to model its use.
In order for students to see the purpose
and application of a strategy,
the teacher should provide models.
These models can be likened to the, I do portion
of explicit instruction.
For example, one effective way a teacher can model the use
of a cognitive or metacognitive strategy for students,
is by using the Think Aloud approach
to provide a verbal description
of what completing each step looks like
and demonstrate when to move on to the next step,
as they work through an example problem.
When using Think Alouds,
students observe the teacher using a strategy,
while narrating the steps,
to show how skilled problem-solvers approach tasks.
This supports students metacognitive ability,
by helping them understand
how to think about their thinking.
In this clip, Mr. McDonald provides a clear model
of how to use the strategy.
But, note how he continues
to monitor the student's comprehension,
so he isn't doing all of the talking.
- Awesome, okay.
So Megan, let's go to the second step.
So, obviously, you see the image, okay?
Using the visual tool on our screen..
What did U stand for, again?
- Underline.
- Underline the what?
- The choice made.
- Underline the choice that Deonte is making, good.
So, I will now locate the choice made
and I can do this best,
by quickly scanning the paragraph
for action verbs, okay?
Action verbs like, decide, choose, making a decision,
so anytime the character is using those actions,
that's where I can best find
where he's gonna make the choice, okay?
So, I'm gonna just sign to find those action verbs.
Another hint, is will Deonte's choice
likely be at the beginning of the story,
or more at the end of the story, what do you think?
- At the end.
- At the end, exactly.
So, I'm gonna start from the bottom
and then move my way up, okay?
So I'm gonna start scanning.
I'm gonna start scanning and look,
I found the action verb, chooses.
So he chooses to stay after school
to get extra help for science.
Can we go ahead and underline
that sentence as the choice being made?
- Yeah.
- Absolutely, excellent.
So I'm gonna go ahead and underline that, all right?
Now, let's go to the third and final step.
- [David] Lastly, it's important to provide guided
and independent opportunities
for students to practice using the strategy.
We can like, in this stage of the process,
to the, we do and, you do parts
of the explicit instruction strategy lesson.
Teachers should provide students with guided
and independent practice opportunities
for each component of the strategy,
or, in other words,
scaffold the learning of the approach.
In addition, students need opportunities
to apply the overall strategy that includes all components.
As students practice,
teachers should provide specific, immediate feedback
to let students know how they are progressing
towards mastery of the strategy.
Giving specific and immediate feedback,
also allows the teacher to correct mistakes
and misconceptions quickly.
To learn more about the role of feedback
in improving student outcomes,
please watch HLPs number eight and 22,
Provide Positive and Constructive Feedback
to Guide Students Learning and Behavior.
For the sake of time,
we do not include the sample guided
and independent practice clip here.
Please visit this website
to see Mr. McDonald use this element of the practice.
You can also see a good example of guided
and independent practice in this unedited clip,
available as part of the HLP video series at this address.
In conclusion, cognitive and metacognitive strategies
are designed to help students become more self-directed
and independent learners.
While some students may be able to develop
their own learning strategies,
students with disabilities,
often need explicit instruction
to learn specific strategies that support their learning,
including when and how to apply them.
Teachers should purposefully
and carefully select the cognitive
and metacognitive strategies they teach,
so that students can be more successful in their learning.
Then, teachers should use explicit instruction,
including modeling, guided practice
and specific feedback to teach students strategies
and monitor student progress towards acquiring skills.
More information about cognitive
and metacognitive strategies
and their role in supporting the needs of students
with and without disabilities,
can be found at www.highleveragepractices.org.
Thanks for watching
and please continue using resources
from this series on high-leverage practices
for special education.