Facilitating Executive Function

How-To Navigational Videos

I have created several how-to videos for navigating the course, how to approach the course, finding due dates, etc. (image on the right above). The videos that are most important, I have scheduled to "push-out" to students at appropriate times as announcements (image on the left above). They support and develop the following executive functioning skills in my students:

• • Organization

  • Task initiation - if you don't know where to start, you can't start.

  • Learner agency - informed students are more likely to feel "okay" with the course and "ready to work"

Module Organization

The organization of modules in my course supports learner agency and planning and prioritizing for my students. They can see reminders to review the content in order or to read the lab tips before starting their assignments. This organizational scheme supports and develops the following executive functioning skills in my students:

• • Organization

  • Planning and prioritizing - "review in order"

  • Learner agency - helps them become more self-sufficient in this and subsequent courses

  • Task initiation - the course doesn't seem so overwhelming because they know where to start

Practice Tests and AP Classroom Review quizzes. These help students monitor their progress and understand what they know and do not know....yet in terms of the course content. This helps them prepare for the summative assessments in the course. I particularly like these, academically, because students have the opportunity to reflect and improve BEFORE the summative assessment rather than after (test corrections, for example). These review activities support and develop the following executive functioning skills in my students:

• • Reflection/metacognition

  • Self-monitoring

  • Planning and prioritizing

  • Learner agency

Review Guides

These review guides not only provide key concepts for the students, but they encourage students to reflect on what they've learned and apply the concepts they've learned in the course. They also learn how and what to study. They can also use these to monitor themselves and focus their studying. These guides support and develop the following executive functioning skills in my students:

• • Reflection

  • Planning and prioritizing

  • Task initiation - knowing what to study

  • Learner agency

  • Self-monitoring

  • Flexible Thinking

Measuring Student Growth

There are a few ways I can measure growth in my students. First, if they were struggling in specific areas of executive functioning, I could see if these areas improved after using one or more of the strategies above. For example, if a student was struggling to keep up with assignments and due dates, I could introduce the checklist. If, after using the checklist, the student started submitting work on time, I could infer that the checklist was working. To really see if the student internalized that strategy and built on their planning/organization/learner agency/time-management/self-monitoring, it would be interesting to "track" that student in future courses to see if they carried that strategy with them or adapted it to best fit their needs.

Second, I could use an executive functioning self-assessment similar to the one available in the book Teaching Twice Exceptional Learners (Kircher-Morris, 2020) at the beginning of the semester and the end and see if students have improved in targeted areas. Additionally, the beginning of the semester self-assessment could help me better target supports and resources for my students.

References

These titles helped frame my understanding of executive functioning and how to help students develop these skills, even if not directly cited above.

Greene, R. W. (2014). Lost at school: Why our kids with behavioral challenges are falling through the cracks and how we can help them. Scribner.

Karanzalis, L. (2019, December 5). Executive functioning - ADDvantages learning center: South Jersey. Addvantages Learning Center | South Jersey. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://addvantageslearningcenter.com/executive-functioning/

Kircher-Morris, E. (2020). Chapter 6 - Executive Functioning. In Teaching twice-exceptional learners in today's classroom. essay, Free Spirit Publishing Inc.

McCabe, J. (Ed.). (2019, March 28). Why is it so hard to do something that should be easy?. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo08uS904Rg

Paulette, P., Wilson, L. W., and Laurie, L. (2022, January 3). 13 executive functions assessment new! Seth Perler. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://sethperler.com/efassessment/

Reber, D., & Mahan, B. (2021, July 3). Episode 225: ADHD essentials for parents, with Brendan Mahan. Tilt Parenting. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://tiltparenting.com/2020/09/08/episode-225-adhd-essentials-for-parents-with-brendan-mahan/

Reber, D. & Perler, S. (2021, April 21). Episode 85: A conversation with executive functioning coach Seth Perler. Tilt Parenting. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://tiltparenting.com/2017/11/28/episode-85-a-conversation-with-executive-functioning-coach-seth-perler-part-1/