Inmates, Writing, and Metacognition

Written By Amy Smithwick

By Brody Smithwick

One of my creative writing students received a life sentence in prison last week. He knew for months that this would be his fate, but the thunder of the gavel still brought a finality that was hard to handle. We talked about what lay before him several times during our weekly workshops that took place inside his housing unit at the county jail. Helping someone learn the craft of writing when the pen will be one of his only connections to the outside world for the rest of his life brings a certain weight to the work. He has shared numerous times how honing his skills and learning how to tell stories has given him renewed hope. While he knows he’ll die in prison, he believes he can still make a positive impact on the world by creating stories that will encourage people to pursue a different path than his own. He has written two full-length novels, a full-length play, and numerous poems while in our program. He is not my first student to receive a life sentence, and sadly he probably won’t be the last. However, those that end up spending the rest of their lives in a cell are not the norm.

According to the National Reentry Resource Center, “At least 95 percent of incarcerated people will be released back to their communities at some point.” Statistics like these are part of the reason why my wife and I founded Lion Life Community, an arts and education initiative that offers a suite of classes to the incarcerated population of North Georgia. While creative writing programs in prisons and jails are not a new concept, we believe there is new data coming out that will make them, and other art-centric programs, much more vital to the rehabilitative process. 

Some of that new data centers around metacognition. Metacognition is a powerful mental process that, in simplest terms, means ‘to think about your thinking’. By thinking about our thinking, we can gain invaluable information about ourselves that we can use in numerous ways to our advantage. Aristotle wrote about its potential benefits thousands of years ago while scientists today are using it in artificial intelligence modeling. Many studies have been conducted, and copious articles have been written, to explain and support metacognition’s benefits. However, considering that this is not a blog about history or a science journal, I’ll just post some links at the bottom of the page to some of those articles for anyone who might want to nerd-out on the finer points of metacognition. So why should writers care about Metacognition? 

Writers engage in metacognition to some degree every time they write. 

According to Carr, 2002, the physical act of writing plays a large role in developing metacognitive skills. As writers we are regularly flexing our metacognitive-muscles. This type of exercise can pay huge dividends in multiple areas of our lives. The body is a marvel and the mind even more so. There are at least 100 trillion neural connections in the brain; that’s 1,000 times the number of stars in our galaxy. There are literally millions of signals and thoughts running through our brains each day at rates we cannot even fathom. The wild thing about those thoughts is that they motivate all of our actions. So how we approach problem solving, learning, and responding to the world on a daily basis is directly linked to these thoughts. 

With all this activity at conscious and subconscious levels, it can be hard to sort through or even understand everything that’s going on in our own minds. But when we write, something magical happens: All of our thoughts focus to one single point. What happens in the complex recesses of our minds can begin to manifest itself on the blank page and give us a new vantage point to evaluate what’s going on inside ourselves. Do a quick Google search and you will find plenty of articles on the benefits of journaling: decreased stress, increased problem solving abilities, and greater capacity for empathy just to name a few. Metacognition is a driving force behind all of these improvements. These new perspectives allow an individual to work through an issue, whatever that issue may be, in a more productive manner. When we are able to think about and evaluate the lines of thought that drive behaviors, we can effect radical change in our lives. 

What about us fiction-folks and poets? 

Writing fiction and poetry are still, at their cores, mediums of communication. The author of that work is very intentionally evaluating their beliefs, biases, and motives as they craft the narrative. The act of weaving a world-view into a plot challenges the author to reflect deeply on what they believe and why they believe it. This is still metacognition. Whether the author agrees or disagrees with the protagonist of the story or persona of the poem, they must still cognitively make value judgments about the human experience to construct the text. One may even argue that works of fiction, poetry, and art in general may stimulate greater levels of metacognition than personal journaling. Story, especially deals with layers of conflict and tension. When composing a narrative rich in conflict, an author must view issues from multiple perspectives. As a result, an author will find themselves thinking deeply about their characters’ thought processes as well as their own. 

Being aware of Metacognition allows you to maximize its benefits.

While writing naturally begins the process of metacognition, you must be aware of the fact that you can use your compositions as a window into your thought processes to reap the full benefits. Many people write everyday and are unaware that their compositions are mental-artifacts that hold valuable information to be extracted and leveraged for their good. Now that you know about metacognition, you can begin to evaluate your thought processes in a new way. Whatever information you gain will be beneficial.

I teach all of my students in the jail about the link between writing and metacognition because I believe it is a powerful tool that helps equip them to break out of self-destructive cycles. A few months ago, I got together with one of my students after he’d been released to give him some feedback on one of his new projects. At the age of 53, he wrote his first poem and short story in our class. Before he was released, he had written a full length novel. He’s gone on to write three more. He has a natural gifting for the craft. In his newest book, a rancher in the 1800’s tries to keep his cattle safe from greedy men and the natural perils of the backcountry in Wyoming. The writing is good. A natural luddite, he does it all done longhand on looseleaf before pecking it out on the laptop he bought for just such a purpose. The other day he told me about his new found love of research and how he got an I-phone so he wouldn’t have to make so many trips to the library. I asked him how creating fiction had changed his life besides getting him to buy fancy electronics. 

 “Now, I write through my problems. Creating fiction helps me put my mind on paper and evaluate myself and the world in new ways.” 

I didn’t chime in with a quip about metacognition. He’s already heard my spiel. He’s living it out and reaping all the benefits. 

Suggestions to get the most out of Metacognition

  1. Become aware: View metacognition as a tool that you can access! That’s where the magic starts.

  2. Freewrite: Freewriting is an excellent way to see what is happening at the subconscious level. A great exercise is to give yourself an abstract word like Love, Freedom, or Forgiveness and then write everything that comes to your mind. NO EDITING ALLOWED! Turn the screen off on your computer and just go for it! 

  3. Remix #2: You can apply the same concept in #2, but use a particular problem or situation to start.  

  4. Get in a Good Writing Group: I emphasize good here because not all writing groups are created equal. If you leave feeling shamed and worthless, get out of there! If you leave feeling challenged but spurred on to write more, keep showing up. The important thing is that you feel comfortable sharing about your work and the process that brought it into fruition. 

Metacognition Resources

Sources

  • Gammil, D. (2006). "Learning the Write Way". The Reading Teacher. 59 (8): 754–762.

  • “National Reentry Resource Center.” CSG Justice Center, csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc.

Amy Smithwick https://www.smithwickhouse.com
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