Executive Functioning in the classroom and your home

Suzie Whalen, Mindy Huston, Susannah Vaughan, Caroline Varner and AnaMaria Guevara

Definition

Executive Functioning refers to the functions in our brain and thought processes that help us:

•  Balance demands and desires, wants and needs, inner voice and external expectations

•  Regulate behavior •  Set goals and meet them

Case Sample

Self regulation Organization & Integration of Information Use and store information for future use

Higher Order Skills Analyze, Draw conclusions, Solve a problem, Predict an outcome, Reason, Evaluate

Concrete vs. Dynamic Intelligence

Gifted Learners with Executive Functioning deficits have the ability to understand and remember academic content

BUT… The deficits show up when they need to regulate their behavior to be able to understand and respond to the demands of the specific situation or verbalize/demonstrate what they have heard or learned

There’s a lot going on…

Students struggling with Executive Functioning skills face compounded difficulties as life becomes more demanding on their ability to plan, sustain attention,

organize information, regulate feelings and act on those feelings.

It is not an issue of MOTIVATION!

•  ‘Typical’ students – allowing them to get low grades motivates them to work hard

•  Gifted students - such natural

consequences do not have a significant impact on their time management, sense of time, urgency and/or organization

More Memory Capacity, yikes!

What exactly are we talking about? Executive Functioning Skills

•  Response inhibition •  Working memory •  Emotional Control •  Flexibility •  Sustained attention •  Task Inihibition •  Metacognition

•  Planning and Prioritization

•  Organization •  Time Management •  Goal-directed

persistence •  Metacognition

How do I get started?

Neuroplasticity

Research shows that as the brain grows, it prunes neural connections – anything not used is lost!

Therefore…

repeated exposure and practice of Executive Functioning skills is CRITICAL

What the teachers at Sage Vista do…

To instill the development of Executive Functioning Skills •  Communicate positively •  Outline clear expectations for standards of behaviors •  Define rules •  Create a space where mistakes and failures can be

made •  Maintain predictable routines

–  Designate turns –  Establish places for belongings

•  Provide frontal lobe support •  Design the classroom environment to allow all this

to happen

Scavenger hunt in Music room, Spanish room and Upper Level Classroom.

Welcome back… Executive Functioning built into the

design of the classroom

• Classroom design compliments and reflects how instruction happens in the classroom

Schedule Time management

• Predictability• Consistency

• Intuitive• Visual

supports

Drop Zone

Space changes with the learning objective:

• Whole group learning• Collaborative learning • Centers• Focused attention

Classroom Spaces

• Whole group learning

• Collaborative learning

• Centers

• Focused attention

Exploration space

Caroline’s tinkering corner???

Routines

We teach students to “READ THE ROOM”

We provide students with an ORIENTATION

Do your students know

what is expected?

Can they do it independently?

We break it down into small steps

GET READY –

GO –

STOP - Reflect

Benefits of incorporating Executive Functioning into the learning

environment • For students:

• Predictability • Flexibility• More energy can be focused on learning

• For teachers:• Classroom management and organization• Meeting 21st century learning needs• More energy can be focused on teaching

We practice and practice = REWIRE YOU HARDWARE

Simple Increase Complexity

Build on Success

Research also shows the whatever we repeatedly sense, feel, want, think is slowly sculpturing our neural structure

In Summary… Sage Vista Teachers develop executive functioning skills in our students by teaching our

students : •  to develop a "memory for the future“ ( read & learn about Attention Building

Strategies) •  to use self initiated organizational strategies to achieve their goals •  to improve their awareness skills necessary to "read a room“ •  to use their reasoning skills to "stop, think and create" an appropriate action plan and

anticipate possible outcomes •  to see and sense the passage of time,

–  accurately estimate how long tasks will take, –  change or maintain their pace, –  and carry out routines and tasks within allotted time frames

•  to help students adopt a mindful approach to homework and to develop personalized study habits