The Crowded Curriculum and Metacognition: Is there room for thinking about thinking?

I wanted to address the idea of overcrowding in the curriculum by discussing the new expectation that has been added to the new curriculum. I also would like to offer some personal solutions I have used to integrate this idea, as well as combat the issue of crowding.
My title reflects the subject of this entry, but I suppose it is a bit misleading. Metacognition, or “learning about learning” is a practice that many qualified English teachers had already added to their usual teaching responsibilities. It was never a distinct expectation until 2007 though. Upon perusing the old curriculum, which can be found at this link: http://www.smcdsb.on.ca/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6/Image/High%20School%20Curriculum/english1112curr.pdf. I realized that there is a strong emphasis on literature, writing, oral communication, media, as usual, but the idea of reflecting on one’s own learning is not even mentioned.

Metacognition is an important aspect of developing a student’s education. Defined as both reflecting in action and reflecting on action, it is a student’s assessment of his or her own learning. This style of learning is not new, and on the website by Joel English, he talks about this style of learning as useful to writers, but its also applicable to any student at http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/3.1/features/english/metacog.html. He frames this idea as not only educational, but necessary for any learning. His MOO style approach (you’ll have to read the website for the anagram) offers a fresh insight into this idea.

But is adding this component going to tip the scales towards padding an already overloaded curriculum? Is it one more thing an English Teacher has to manage? Will something else be sacrificed to include this expectation? I say not so.

The new curriculum has streamlined and simplified its expectations for the reader; they are revised but not changed. The introductions to every strand clearly state three or four major expectation to be accomplished. The task of metacognition is for students to integrate reflection into their education. What I have done as an English teacher to help meet this expectation is to include a six question Journal at the end of every major assignment. The students are asked specifically, based on my comments on their written assignments, what they feel they did well and what they feel they need improvement on. The assignments are returned with no rubrics, so the students will focus and not simply look at the mark and ignore the comments. This has proven successful, and takes very little time to do.

It is creative integration techniques that will help an English teacher deal with the overall expectations. Teach by strand is a popular trend that our Public boards have adopted, but seems to create a shorter timeframe to accomplish tasks. By making assignments and lessons hit several expectations, you can combat the overcrowding.

The next website was recommended by a colleague, and although it is about Biological Science, it offers a three step approach that I feel blends my ideas about the need for metacogntion, and how to manage a crowded curriculum. The site is http://www.bioassess.edu.au/bioassess/go/home/pid/43. The threestep plan is as follows:

1) Make every assessment task a valuable learning exercise
2) Use assessment to prepare students for lifelong learning
3) Assess the most important aspects of the course

I feel that it is up to the professional to implement these ideas, and metacognition, though an addition, is necessary. I believe this expectation hits all three of these steps. If students are in the dark about the way they learn and think, or if mistakes will constantly be repeated, than the quality of learning goes down.