FREE 1-hour class with Mitch Weathers on how to teach Executive Functions.
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First and foremost, educators must understand that executive functions are not actually taught!
They are best learned when students clearly see them modeled while getting daily practice employing them by engaging in the predictable daily learning routine!
The three keys for "teaching" executive functioning skills are: Clarity, Routine, and Modeling.
With these three keys, teachers will be able to help students unlock and improve their executive functioning skills and as a result watch as students dive into the content in new and more profound ways.
I love how the authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip Heath and Dan Heath, describe clarity,
“Ambiguity is the enemy. Any successful change requires a translation of ambiguous goals into concrete behavior. In short, to make a switch, you must script the critical moves.”
We bring about clarity by establishing a predictable daily learning routine that explicitly models executive functioning skills.
A predictable learning routine, ideally one that is shared in common from classroom to classroom across school systems, can be a game changer for these students.
This is because the routine liberates this cognitive energy for students to use to focus on what they are trying to learn.
The opposite is also true. When expectations and routines are inconsistent or ambiguous, teachers increase the cognitive load on students, which ultimately interferes with or inhibits their learning.
For students already struggling with executive dysfunction, this problem is amplified.
Modeling is essential to making a predictable routine explicit for students. Although modeling is the third key of teaching these skills, you will notice that all three - clarity, routine, and modeling - work together.
Routine becomes clear only when it is modeled.
Without a model, we forfeit clarity.
This is why I encourage teachers to maintain a Class Sample Binder so students can always see exactly how their binder is supposed to look.
Students must see executive functions modeled as they get practice employing them by engaging in the predictable routine. Without both routine and modeling, students will be less likely to hone these skills.
The strategy is to bring about clarity by embedding practice with each skill into a predictable learning routine while maintaining a class sample to model each executive function.
I explain clarity, routine, and modeling in much more detail in my book, Executive Functions for Every Classroom. Pick up your copy today and equip your students with executive functioning skills!
Your partner in bettering education,
