EP336 4 routines to help students notice and adjust their thinking
Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers
Angela Watson
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 October 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
Metacognition — "thinking about your thinking" — is one of the most powerful skills we can teach students, and it doesn't require adding anything new to your already packed schedule. In this episode, you'll learn four simple, one-minute routines you can weave into your daily classroom flow to help students notice, analyze, and adjust their own thinking.
We'll explore:
How to use attention checks so students can redirect focus in the moment
Why brain break signals teach learners to connect physical energy with mental clarity (and how to manage them without chaos)
How mistake moments reframe errors as valuable information
A fresh take on end-of-day brain checks that builds awareness of learning strategies, not just content recall
Whether you teach kindergarteners or high school seniors, you'll walk away with concrete ideas for creating a classroom culture where students take ownership of their learning process.
Plus, I'll share how my Finding Flow Solutions K–12 curriculum can give you ready-made, no-prep lessons to teach these skills — and where to grab your free downloadable sample lesson.
Get the shareable article/transcript for this episode here.
This episide is brought to you by Listenwise and MiaTiagoBooks.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to episode 336 of Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers. I'm your host, Angela Watson, |
| 0:08.0 | and I'm here to speak encouragement into the hearts of educators and get you informed and energized for the week ahead. |
| 0:15.0 | Today, I'm sharing simple classroom routines to help students build metacognitive skills and think about their thinking. |
| 0:23.1 | Visit truthforteachers.com for an easy-to-read, easy-to-share version of this podcast episode. |
| 0:30.8 | Today's episode is brought to you by ListenWise, a provider of short, high-quality, age-appropriate podcasts for grades 2 to 12. |
| 0:40.3 | You can save time with pre-made lessons designed to build students' background knowledge |
| 0:44.3 | and academic vocabulary, or keep students on grade level with scaffolding and differentiation. |
| 0:50.3 | Use ListenWise's ELD Lesson Library forIDA and state ELD standards-aligned podcasts and video lessons that are built for English learners, from emergent to reclassification. |
| 1:04.0 | ListenWise gives you comprehension tools like quizzes, interactive transcripts, graphic organizers, and a text to speech |
| 1:12.1 | toolbar with translations in over 15 languages. Start a free trial today at listenwise.com. |
| 1:20.1 | That's listenwise.com. |
| 1:24.9 | Today I want to talk about something that doesn't usually get its own place in the pacing |
| 1:29.7 | guide, but quietly influences almost everything our students do in the classroom, and that |
| 1:35.2 | is metacognition, the ability to think about your thinking. |
| 1:39.8 | Now, that can sound a little abstract, especially if you teach at the elementary level, but it's not |
| 1:45.4 | too early to start, and it's not too late either. Whether you are teaching K2, upper elementary, |
| 1:52.1 | middle, or even high school, you can embed small daily routines that help students pause, reflect, |
| 1:58.4 | and choose how to respond to challenges. In this episode, I'm going to share four |
| 2:03.4 | simple classroom routines that you can introduce to build metacognitive habits. I'll give you |
| 2:09.0 | concrete examples from my Finding Flow Solutions curriculum, which is a K-12 product line that |
| 2:15.2 | helps students understand how their brains learn so they can manage |
| 2:19.2 | their own time, energy, and focused attention. |
... |
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