Monday, September 21, 2009

Alex Lew Metacognition

The way that I organize my thinking, when it comes to reading and writing has changed over the years. I remember in seventh grade taking a study skills class where the teacher told us to highlight what we thought was important in reading and to only write down what we think is important when taking notes. I began implementing those strategies, and did not realize till years later that that teacher was trying to make us think about our own thinking and strategies. Throughout high school I would take notes only on important points during lecture and would make notes in my margins by my highlighted text to remind me why I thought that particular point was important. Once I got to college however, my strategies for metacognition changed. I now highlight important ideas (bullets, main points, etc.) when reading and only make notes in the margins if it is a very important piece of information. When taking notes in class I write everything down, mainly because I am worried that I will omit a piece of information that I did not think was important and will then find out that it was a main idea. I like to make sure that I have all the information I need, and would rather have too much information on a page than not enough.
When writing in high school and the beginning of college I hand wrote every paper, assignment, etc., and then would go back and type it. This helped me because I knew that my least favorite part of writing was editing, therefore this process forced me to read my own writing and make changes as I typed. I soon realized though that at the college level this was not efficient, so I changed my way of organizing my thoughts. I now begin an assignment by jotting down key words that will trigger my memory about what I wanted to include in the assignment. I begin by typing it out and then force myself to take a break from working and then go back and re-read it when I am more refreshed and willing to edit and think about my writing. Overall, the strategies I partake in that help my metacognitive process have changed over the years, and I am sure they will change again when I find more beneficial and effective ways to organize my thinking.

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