Topic of discussion: Metacognition and Effective Teaching

On the first Staff Development Day, Mr Taco Cheng, Project Supervisor of Harmony House, was invited give a talk on family violence, followed by a workshop on Metacognition and Effective Teaching given by Dr. Chan Chi Wai and Dr. Eric Cheng, School Development Officers of the Hong Kong Centre for the Development of Educational Leadership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Mr Cheng, who has many years of experience in family affairs, began the first Staff Development Day this year by sharing with teachers his concern about the prevalence of family violence in Hong Kong, particularly in Kwun Tong, which ranks third in Hong Kong for cases of family violence.Mr Cheng explained the causes and effects of family violence, and reminded teachers that family violence is a delicate issue, and not easily detected, because the victims do not always report their case to the police, or seek help. Teachers should therefore be aware that women and girls are sometimes being abused in the home, and of what they can do when this happens to their students.

The workshop given by Dr Chan and Dr Cheng was both theoretical and practical. First, Dr Cheng discussed with teachers the concept of metacognition, theories proposed by psychologists, why metacognition is useful in education and how it can be taught to enhance teaching and learning. In the second part of the workshop, Dr Chan focused on the application of metacognition in the classroom.Dr Chan suggested to teachers a lot of useful learning strategies to help students to improve their learning skills, such as planning and time management, making a summary of what they have read, making notes, learning examination skills and learning how to write. There are also activities that teachers can work on both in and out of the classrooms to help students set their life goals and learning targets. These activities include reading biographies; voluntary work and visits to charitable organizations, universities and large organizations; and collaboration with parents.

In the group discussions, teachers were given a few tasks to discuss with reference to the theories of metacognition.They also had to reflect on their own teaching methods, and consider the teaching methods they can use in the future in the classroom to stimulate students’ thinking.

The workshop will be followed by further discussions among teachers and class visits in the coming months.