A review of a comprehensive guide to using metacognitive strategies to tackle everyday classroom challenges.
Reviewed by Kat Cauchi
Teaching Hacks: Fixing Everyday Classroom Issues with Metacognition is a problem-solution book with each chapter written by a different education expert exploring metacognitive classroom strategies. In each of the 14 chapters, a problem is presented (e.g., ‘dealing with students’ lack of motivation and resilience’) and the metacognitive strategies are given as guidance to help resolve it. The book is very practical, giving specific examples of strategies and how to use them in your teaching practice.
How the book works
Following an introduction of the authors and editor, the book opens by asking the reader: “Have you ever wondered how that teacher just down the corridor always manages to get students to write pages and pages when they set essay questions?” 1 Opening with a question like this instantly grabs the reader’s attention, which is held as Burns continues to explain perennial issues in school and how some teachers have cracked them, ‘often with the power of metacognition’. 1 This is a great way to introduce the concept of metacognition as a problem-solver, before Burns gets into the following section which focuses on the purpose of the book and the theory and rationale behind metacognition, illustrating its impact in the classroom by referencing research-backed evidence. Because of this, you know exactly what the point of learning these strategies (and therefore reading this book) is. Burns also gives a clear explanation of metacognition and addresses some key misconceptions.
The book is then split into chapters, each written by a different author covering a different issue. They pose questions to get you to think about your own practice before giving the metacognitive strategies to help you resolve the issue. The chapters finish with key points to help you put the strategies into practice, along with a summary and references.
Book highlights
Varied expertise
Because each chapter has a different author, you get a range of specialisms with the ‘right’ expert matched up to the issue – someone with really great subject knowledge in that specific issue or topic. The experts vary geographically and in the ages they work with too, giving a wider coverage so there is something for everyone. The book mentions multiple times that not every metacognitive strategy can be applied to every lesson or subject; it needs to be specific to what you are trying to teach or the issue you are trying to solve. Therefore, having the right experts to provide these specific examples is crucial.
Clear explanations
Metacognition is something so often misinterpreted or misunderstood. There are a lot of misconceptions about it, despite the wealth of research. I’ve heard many explanations of it over the years and some have been overcomplicated and unhelpful, whereas here, that is not the case. The concept of metacognition, why it works and how to teach it is very clear. It also isn’t overwhelming. As I said, there’s a huge amount of research out there so you could go down a very deep rabbit hole into it, but Burns et al. have ensured to only focus on key research relevant to the specific issues they cover, leaving it to the reader to explore further if they so desire but giving them plenty to work with.
Practical examples
What I really like about this book is how it has really practical examples of how to use metacognitive strategies, so it’s much easier to actually put what you are reading about into practice. For example, in the How to integrate metacognition into the curriculum chapter, Muijs gives example lesson plans that include metacognitive strategies, so you can see exactly how you could weave something similar into your own lesson planning.
In one example, Muijs gives you a plan of three KS2 history lessons about Viking invasions throughout England and it includes the materials you need, an introductory activity, main activity and then a metacognition activity (in lessons 2 and 3 there’s also a recap activity for the start of each lesson). The metacognitive strategies are specifically linked to the content, for example, “Ask children what they think they already know about the Vikings and what they wan to learn. Write their thoughts on the board. Provide metacognitive prompts like, ‘What do you think you will find most interesting about the Vikings? What do you think will be challenging to understand?’.” 1
As an aside, I think this was an important chapter to include in general, given that when an educator is presented with yet another idea of something they could do to improve their practice, they will of course wonder how it can fit with what they are already doing and how they can make space for it in the curriculum they need to deliver. Although, really, all of the chapters show you how to make room for metacognition to support your students in a multitude of ways to tackle a variety of classroom challenges!
Summary
Whatever age group you teach, Teaching Hacks – Fixing Everyday Classroom Issues with Metacognition is a useful and practical book for enhancing your classroom practice. The book is clear, well researched and written by experts to ensure you are getting the most out of each and every page.
References
- Burns, N (2025) ‘Teaching Hacks: Fixing Everyday Classroom Issues with Metacognition’. London: Corwin
