How do you help students improve their self awareness? According to the Sutton Trust, teaching students metacognitive skills has "consistently high levels of impact" for pupil premium students. Alex Quigley of Huntington School recently wrote a blog suggesting that these skills might be some of the most important for students towards learning with a growth mindset. So what does the science say about how to improve your self-awareness? What are the three cheapest, quickest and simplest ways of improving your metacognition?
We all have Automatic Negative Thoughts, or ANTs as we like to call them. These ANTs give a voice to your fears, doubts and worries. If left unchecked, this can reduce persistence and concentration, as well as increasing stress. The better your students are at spotting their ANTs, the easier it is to crush them.
This got us wondering: what does the world of science or sport know about improving self-awareness? To get the process started, all you need are some paperclips, a pen and paper and a rubber band...
For more info and research on the subject, check out our page How to Improve Metacognition.