Outline: Paris and Paris “Classroom Applications of Research on Self-Regulated Learning”

1. Strategic Reading and Writing

· Cognitive research in the 1960’s and 70’s focused on student’s development of memory

· This memory based research was tied directly to student’s reading and writing strategies

· Researchers found that many elementary aged students had difficulty with pre-reading/writing strategies such as making inferences about text and brainstorming before writing.

· Teaching these pre-reading/writing techniques has been proven to benefit students greatly

· Researchers also observed that students (especially elementary age) tend to take text literally instead of elaborating on what they read and gathering their own meaning from it.

v Teaching Strategy: Encourage students to put what they read into “their own words”

v Teaching Strategy: Develop students’ effective revising strategies such as getting advice from fellow classmates and re-reading their own work from many different viewpoints.

· Teaching students to use a more strategic technique in reading and writing is beneficial from a self-regulated learning standpoint. It allows students to associate strategies and personal success and also helps them to choose helpful strategies.

· “Programs of strategy instruction” are proving to be very successful

v Teaching Strategy: Teach several different types of strategies that students can use in different situations. Also use these strategies in daily activities so students have the opportunity to practice them constantly.

v Teaching Strategy: Make sure that students really understand “how, when, and why” to use the strategies you suggest to them

v Teaching Strategy: Emphasize the fact that students’ improved results are due to the strategies they have been using

v Teaching Strategy: Encourage students to learn and try strategies from their classmates

2. Cognative Engagement

· Students will be more interested in a task if they can understand the information in many contexts and are able to become “immersed” in the assignment.

· Student self-engagement can be promoted by presenting information that relates to students’ “intrinsic interests,” allowing the students to feel a sense of “ownership,” and is related to real life.

v Teaching Strategy: Don’t be afraid to let students collaborate.

v Teaching strategy: Always set high expectations and provide “consistent support” for students to be able to meet them.

· According to researchers, it is important that assignments provide students with a chance to make their own decisions, set their own goals, and work with others.

· If students’ needs are met in the categories of “competence, autonomy, and relatedness” then they are more likely to be engaged in the classroom

3. PBL (Project/Problem Based Learning)

· “specific task-based approach” to learning

· Students are at the center of these projects

· PBL is facilitates self-regulated learning because it forces the students to research information on their own, it makes the student responsible for working with others, it requires the student to actually understand the material and meet personal goals

4. Self Assessment

· Assessment is crucial to learning. Not only does the students’ work need to be assessed, the strategies or “process” also needs to be assessed in order for learning to occur.

v Teaching strategy: Ask yourself the following three questions: “what is known, what requires additional effort, and what skills are effective?”

· In order for students to self-assess they need to understand the “standards” that they are trying to meet

· Self-assessment includes internal and external factors. Internally, students need to reflect on their work and to keep tabs on their personal progress. The external factors include curriculum and assessment activities (tests)

v Teaching strategy: Have students develop their self-assessment by having them compile a portfolio. In it they can reflect and comment on their actual work, but also the process they used to create that work

5. How do students become self-regulated?

· Every person has their own idea of what it means to be a self-regulated learner

· Researchers have found three prominent ways that self-regulated learning is developed in students:

o Students can begin to develop SR characteristics through repeated experiences at school

o Teachers can instill these characteristics through “explicit instructions”

o Students can acquire these skills by practicing skills that involve them in self-regulation...aka require them to make their own decisions.