UCLA SMP EdNews, June 2005

by John Otterness, UCLA SMP Faculty

In her book, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, Margaret Wheatley postulates that true learning and growth occurs when we are "Willing to be Disturbed."  However, the truism that "my shock at your position exposes my own position," will only happen if I allow it to.

Metacognition is to be aware of your thinking about your thinking and use this understanding to begin to change your thinking.  Education is about change.  If students leave our classes thinking about the world and their place in it the same way they did when they entered, we haven't educated them — but we may have trained them! Felipe showed up in my Kindergarten class one day and said, "I went home last night and I started thinking. Then I started thinking about thinking. And then I started thinking about thinking about thinking. Then I got tired and went to bed." Felipe was well on the way to metacognition!

In life, of course, we can't walk around thinking about our thinking; we might get hit crossing a street or even never get to cross a street, all because we were too busy thinking.  So we have to become aware of when it's important to be aware of our responses and when it's not necessary. The clues to when we need to pay attention to our thinking come from our responses to ideas we hear from other people and from situations we find ourselves in.  Most of the time, our responses are well adapted to a comfortable understanding of the world and the people we interact with.  But to change and improve the world, we need to think about how we think about that world.

In their article, "Intuitive Test Theory," Henry I. Braun and Robert Mislevy look at the way a novice and an expert looks at physics.  For example, "intuitive physics works well enough for playing catch with your dog or for building a birdhouse. But it doesn't work for constructing a bridge or shooting a rocket to the moon."  The novice is unaware of their thinking, while the expert knows when to change their mode of thinking.  They do this by being aware of their thinking.  This is metacognition!  This is education!  The rest is merely training!

As you explore your own metacognitive understanding, here are a few resources which you might find useful:

• Metacognition: An Overview provides an introduction to some of the concepts and strategies that are entailed in becoming aware of your own thinking and learning.

• The Sharing & Metacognition Activity Guide outlines a simple process that can help you and others begin to explore the ways in which you think and to open up new avenues of thought.

• UCLA SMP faculty member Dennis Parker brought to our attention this article, which rank-orders 28 factors that affect student learning.  "Metacognitive Processes" is #2 on the list.  "Synthesis of Research / What Helps Students Learn?" by Margaret C. Wang, Geneva D. Haertel and Herbert J. Walberg. Educational Leadership, December 1993/January 1994 | Volume 51 | Number 4.  This article is only viewable on the ASCD web site if you have a membership; however, a synopsis can be found here.

In our last issue, we asked our readers, "How has a particular instance of coaching or being coached affected your work?"  Here are two thoughtful and encouraging responses:

Richard Alonzo, Superintendent of LAUSD Local District 4, writes:

"Is coaching valuable?  It certainly is and at any level: teacher, coordinator, school-site administrator and even superintendent.  My long-term professional relationship with Dr. Patricia Martinez-Miller moved from mentor to coach a couple of years ago.  My contract with UCLA SMP calls for regularly scheduled monthly meetings with Pat in which I focus on a challenging leadership issue that I am currently facing, then work out action steps based on the critical questions:

• What do I want to accomplish as an outcome of this action?
• What evidence will I provide that will indicate progress towards meeting the goal?
• What will the impact of this action have on the learning community?

I find my time with Pat reflective and therapeutic. It's difficult for a superintendent to find time to get to the essential question of how do I improve my practice.  Coaching provides me with clarity and purpose of what I'm trying to achieve. My relational work with Pat is built on mutual trust, respect and affection.  I hope that she's learned from me as I have learned from her.  I know that I have become much more thoughtful and effective in handling very difficult situations, complex initiatives and critical personnel issues.  I look forward to each coaching session and usually present Pat with, 'Which one shall we tackle today?'"

Taguhi Artunyan, North Hollywood High School, writes:

" 'Coach, teacher, mentor, colleague—sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. What a good thing!'  After reading this sentence in the article about coaching, by Patricia Martinez-Miller, I knew that this is how I felt, and here is my story:

My name is Taguhi Artunyan.  I am a Community Representative at North Hollywood High School.  I have been in this position for 18 months.  Even though I was working hard and loved my job, I was not able to make any difference for the first nine months.  This affected my confidence, and I became less and less productive in my work.

Nine months ago, Mr. John Ralles became an assistant principal in our school and started coaching me (I got the right term "coaching" after I read the article).  He has been helping me to learn and acquire skills that are necessary to accomplish higher goals in my work.  Now, when I look back I can say that the most significant reasons for my helplessness at work were the lack of leadership and communication skills.  Today I feel comfortable, confident and I am excited about my job and I am making a difference. 

In one of his speeches, Mr. Ralles said, "We all need good people in our lives to help us GROW."  I believe that all coachees who are lucky as myself will join me to thank their coaches.

Thank you coaches for being that good person in our lives and helping us grow."

For this month’s topic:

"How has an 'Aha!' moment led you to a deeper, metacognitive
understanding of your own thinking and learning?"

Tell us about some of your experiences with metacognitive practices and their effects on your thinking, learning, and teaching.  Please click here to add your responses to this month's combined brainpower.  We will share some of your ideas in a future issue of EdNews.

In June 1998, LAUSD received a federal grant earmarked toward any LAUSD school that had not previously participated in a specialized, professional development training program.  The LAUSD School Reform / LEARN Office determined that monies from this "Goals 2000" grant would be spent on the 37 non-LEARN School-Based Management (SBM) schools.

All qualifying SBM schools were invited to share what the individual needs of their school communities were and what they would like to see in a training program.  As a result, the School Reform / LEARN Office designed a "Core Professional Development Program" and a "Support Options Program" to support these 37 SBM school communities during the 1998-1999 school year.

Each SBM school was awarded a certain dollar amount to spend on training, coaching, and other school needs (including Powerbooks), and all school principals were asked to complete a "Budget Sheet" outlining where they would spend their allocated funds.

UCLA SMP was asked to provide the "Core Professional Development Training" (CPDT) for all 37 SBM schools.

"It isn't what people think that is important,
but the reason they think what they think."
—Eugene Ionesco

UCLA SMP EdNews is published monthly.  If this newsletter was forwarded to you, and you would like to subscribe for yourself, please click here to contact the EdNews Administrator with either “HTML” (if you prefer to receive HTML emails -- that look like web pages) or “NO HTML” (if you prefer to receive plain text emails) in the subject line. Likewise, if you are already subscribed, but merely wish to change your HTML or plain text preference, please follow the above protocol. You may also contact the Administrator if you would like to unsubscribe from EdNews, with “REMOVE FROM LIST” in the subject line. Any email requests to the EdNews Administrator not pertaining to subscription issues will be ignored.

If you have questions or comments regarding the content of our newsletter, please direct them to the EdNews Editors.

A nonprofit school reform initiative of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and The Anderson School, the UCLA School Management Program (UCLA SMP) is devoted to the sustainable transformation of public schools into learner-centered organizations where all students can achieve at high levels.

UCLA SMP works with educators, administrators, and community members to create well-managed schools, to enhance teacher effectiveness, and to improve student achievement through professional development leading to personal transformation and community building.

Since the program was launched in 1992, UCLA SMP has worked with over 700 schools in districts throughout California.