This metacognition teaching resource uses the essay-writing process to teach students the metacognitive cycle—planning, monitoring, evaluating, and regulating—while simultaneously improving their essay-writing skills. Designed for multiple (x12) one-hour learning sessions, the resource includes an interactive PowerPoint presentation and an accompanying information sheet on metacognitive strategies for essay writing. Through subject-specific and general reflective essay topics, students gain metacognitive knowledge and develop self-regulated learning skills. The resource also promotes learner autonomy by guiding students to create their own assessment criteria, integrating this into the planning stage of the metacognitive cycle. With a clear structure encompassing planning, writing, and reflective evaluation, this tool supports metacognitive growth alongside academic skill-building.

This metacognition teaching resource serves two primary functions:
 
To teach students how to use the metacognitive cycle (planning, monitoring, evaluating and regulating) in relation to essay-writing: developing essay-writing skills
To use essay-writing tasks as a way to encourage metacognitive reflection and help students gain metacognitive knowledge: developing metacognitive and self-regulated learning skills
 
The download includes an interactive PowerPoint presentation that can be used for multiple (x12) one-hour learning sessions as well as an accompanying information sheet about using metacognitive strategies for essay writing.
 
The learning sessions guide students through the essay writing process and dedicate time to planning, monitoring, evaluating and regulating the essay writing process. Twelve metacognitive/ self-regulated learning reflection topic options are provided with hints as to what students might want to include in their essays. The topics are:
 
Building On My Strengths & Weaknesses in This Subject
Effective Revision & Exam Preparation Strategies
How To Learn More During Lessons
How My Behaviour Impacts My Learning & My Rate of Progress
How Do My Emotions, Moods & Attitudes Impact My Learning?
Metacognition, Self-Regulation & Independent Learning in This Subject
 
What Could I Do Differently In Order to Maximise Learning?
How To Boost My Learning Power
The Ideal State of Mind for Learning & How I Can Cultivate It
My Obstacles to Learning & How I Plan To Overcome Them
Factors That Influence My Ability to Learn and Remember Learning
What Approach to Learning Works Best For Me
 
Essay topics 1-6 are subject-specific and can be used by teachers of any subject to foster metacognition and lead students towards metacognitive knowledge their particular school subject whilst essay topics 6-12 are general metacognitive reflection rubrics.
 
Aside from metacognition and self-regulated learning, we hope to work with educators towards building greater levels of learner autonomy in students: to this end the essay-writing session instructions also guide students towards developing their own assessment criteria that they (at the end of each session) will use to evaluate their own work. This approach ties in neatly with the ‘planning’ stage of the metacognitive cycle and helps students to consider the task requirements before engaging with it.
 
Teacher instructions are included (integrated into the PowerPoint file), the general lesson plan when using this tool is as follows:
 
Introduction/Lesson Objectives
Assessment Criteria Creation
Essay Planning Stage
Essay Writing Task (With Monitoring Break)
Evaluation Stage
Regulation & Target Setting Stage
 
The resource will help students to cultivate essay-writing skills whilst fostering metacognitive reflection: steering students towards metacognitive knowledge about their own learning processes and how to improve them.
 
This resource is useful because it:
 
 
Helps students integrate the metacognitive cycle into essay-writing tasks, fostering deeper understanding of planning, monitoring, evaluating, and regulating learning strategies.
Encourages reflective learning through a variety of subject-specific and general essay topics designed to enhance self-awareness of strengths, weaknesses, and learning strategies.
Promotes self-regulated learning by guiding students to develop their own assessment criteria and reflect on their progress throughout the essay-writing process.
Enhances independent learning by enabling students to identify factors affecting their learning, cultivate effective strategies, and set actionable goals for improvement.
Provides structured, teacher-supported sessions that combine skill development in essay writing with the cultivation of metacognitive and reflective practices.