Lucie Nguyen's Personalized Learning Portfolio

Executive Function

A personalized classroom is a student-focused learning environment where students are encouraged to take responsibility and ownership of his/her learning. Therefore, it is important to teach and nurture executive functioning skills in the classroom to empower them to be self-directed learners.

Executive functioning influences, among other things, the ability to focus, prioritize, and follow directions. From How Your Brain's Executive Function Works and How to Improve It, Dr. Sabine Doebel explains that executive functioning is our extraordinary capacity to consciously manage our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to achieve goals. Experts from Harvard University's Center describe executive functioning as “a set of skills… that builds [learners’] capacity to plan and meet goals, display self-control, follow multiple-step directions even when interrupted, and stay focused despite distractions, among others.” Therefore, it is critical for educators to model, develop, and cultivate these abilities in the classroom in order to encourage learner agency. Educators do this work by integrating scaffolds and techniques that encourage student growth and confidence.

According to the Understood Team, the graphic to the right shares eight executive functioning skills, concise definitions of each skill, and how it appears in a child. The skills include, but are not limited to impulse control, emotional control, flexible thinking, working memory, self-monitoring, planning and prioritizing, task initiation, and organization.

Students do not inherently possess these skills. Educators must establish effective routines and create positive learning environments for students to practice, improve, and refine their executive functioning abilities. In the article, Helping Students Develop Executive Function Skills, Gina DiTullio shares that "executive function is regulated by the frontal lobe of the brain—the prefrontal cortex. Because humans are born with brains that are not fully developed, children are not born with these skills, but they have the potential to develop them. Some students do not develop executive functions to the same degree as their peers." Students learn at different paces. Many strategies may be effective for one student, but not effective for another. As teachers, it is important to provide patience, space, time, and alternative strategies to help students make decisions about their own executive functioning skills.

However, it is not enough to only provide strategies, we must engage in deep conversations and allow students to take ownership in personalized learning environments. From Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention, Dawson and Guare emphasize that to truly foster and nurture these skills, students should be actively engaged in the process by pinpointing problems and brainstorm solutions to meet goals. Dawson and Guare share that "the goal is to help students become good decision makers."

In the next few portions, I will share research-based strategies that support executive function and a few digital tools that can be used to foster executive functions. Lastly, I will redesign my curriculum to incorporate the strategies and tools. A brief description of my implementation is included to share how I implemented the strategy and how it supports executive functioning in my classroom.

Dr. Sabine Doebel

How your brain's executive function works -- and how to improve it

Harvard University

Executive Function & Self-Regulation

Edutopia

Helping Students Develop Executive Function Skills

P. Dawson & R. Guare

Explore Research-Based Strategies to Support Executive Function

Checklists

Executive Skills Addressed: Task Initiation, Task Completion, Time Management

Checklists are powerful instructional tools that can support student learning and performance. Well-designed checklists effectively break down complex tasks into manageable portions. Kathleen Dudden Rowlands states in her research that "checklists scaffolds students’ metacognitive development and fosters the confidence and independence needed for internalizing these steps for future tasks."
When creating a checklist, it is essential to look at the overall goal and expectations, and divide the task into manageable chunks. It is most beneficial to model and involve students in the process of creating checklists. This encourages students to prioritize tasks and group related tasks to achieve the overall goal. The goal of utilizing a checklist is to reduce a student's cognitive burden; therefore, the items on the checklist should be well-crafted and simply stated. Checklists can be designed simply on a sticky note, paper, or crafted using technology.
Checklists can support executive functioning skills because it foster accountability and encourage students to begin and complete complicated tasks. When paired with a timer, this can also help students manage their time wisely.

Timers

Executive Skills Addressed: Task Initiation, Task Completion, Time Management

Time management is having a precise awareness and understanding of time and making decisions in order to complete activities on time. Visual timers are effective tools to support executive functioning skills because it allow students to visually see the passage of time and monitor their progress during the tasks.
A classroom timer can also benefit students that have difficult starting tasks or maintaining time on task. Many timers include colors or chimes to indicate when limited time is left for the task. This strategy can be used in conjunction with a checklist to help students pace their task and complete tasks in a timely manner. Timers provide structure and help students see a defined beginning and end to tasks.
The teacher can project a timer or provide timers for students to help them progress during work sessions. Using timers throughout the independent work time can also pace students as they work. One way to engage students in strengthening their time management skills is allowing students to predict how much time they will need to complete the task by setting a goal, promptly setting the timer, giving time warnings throughout the work session, and lastly reflecting on the work sessions. It is crucial to reflect and engage in conversations with students about the productivity of each work session because it allows students to understand time management and maximize work sessions. It is helpful to identify and reduce distractions to help manage time more wisely.

Self-Reflections

Executive Skills Addressed: Self-Monitoring, Emotional Control

Self-monitoring is an executive functioning skill that refers to your capacity to assess your own actions, performance, and make necessary modifications in order to succeed. It is important for students to self-monitor in a personalized classroom because it builds independence and create productive, reflective students.
Self-reflections can be used in a variety of ways. Students can rank their abilities based on a rubric or scale. Self-reflections can also be open-ended where students respond and reflect to a series of questions. It is necessary to model to students what productive reflection looks like to maximize the work. The goal is not to grade or judge the reflection process, but rather encourage students to elevate their circumstance and set goals to reach higher levels of learning. For example, if student self-reflect and choose to place their writing at a two out of three stars on a micro-progression, teachers can ask... what actions or work needs to be done to elevate your work to a total of three stars? This is productive because it doesn't diminish their current work and encourages them to goal set.
Self-reflections can support executive functioning skills by providing space and opportunities for students to actively monitoring and reflecting on their actions and building awareness to plan and meet goals.

Explore Technology Tools to Support Executive Function

ToDoIst

ToDoIst Link

ToDoIst is a productivity tool that students can use to create checklists, plan projects, brainstorm lists, and design boards to support time management skills. It is easy to sort and move tasks based on due date, priority, project, and more.
This tool supports executive functioning skills because it helps students prioritize tasks, and create checklists that will help break tasks into manageable parts.
This tool is available on iOS and Android devices and syncs easily to ensure students can maneuver between mobile devices and computers.

Classroom Screen

Classroom Screen Link

Classroom Screen is a digital tool that allows teachers to display visual widgets to maximize and manage student work time.
This tool is easily customizable and allows educators to choose backgrounds, randomly choose student names, manage sound levels, include QR codes, display work symbols, project timers and clocks, and also include media or text boxes with specific directions.
Classroom Screen supports executive functioning skills because teachers can project a to manage work sessions in the classroom. It provides a visual for students and chimes when the timer is completed.

Google Forms

Google Forms Link

Google Forms is a web-based software that allows users to design surveys and quizzes to gather data.
Teachers can use Google Forms to write open-ended questions, multiple-choice questions, or questions that require students to rank their actions and work based on a scale. It is easy to collect information and can be used over and over again.

In a personalized classroom, Google Forms can be used to support students with self-reflections. This work allows them to monitor their own abilities and supports executive functioning skills.

Redesigned Curriculum

Checklists, classroom timers, and self-reflections are research-based strategies that can support executive function in the classroom. When these strategies and tools are used effectively, it has the power to enhance and support student learning and performance. In the next three sections, I will redesign my curriculum to incorporate the strategies and tools. A brief description is included to share how I implemented the strategy and how it supports executive functioning in my classroom.

Classroom Timer Artifacts

Digital Timer during Science Experiment

In science, students worked in partnerships to explore forces of gravity. A classroom timer is displayed to help students pace their experimental process. This helps students manage time effectively.

Monster Race Timer

This is a classroom favorite. I use this timer during breaks, indoor recess, or during transitions to engage students and track time. Students cheer on classmates and it helps student monitor time during breaks.

Digital Timer During Social Studies

In social studies, I used a Classroom Screen can be used to project directions, display visuals, and present a visual timer. The timer includes a progression with red and green indicators to show students the amount of time that is remaining. This helps students maintain time on task.

Self-Reflection Artifacts

Check-In Form

Check In Form

This is a check-in form that I place on my Google Classroom for students to reflect on their week. The form includes an exercise where students share a rose, bud, and thorn. This supports executive function because students are reflecting on their actions and behaviors.

Micro-Progression for Growing Ideas (Inferences)

This is a micro-progression that I use for inferencing in reading. This micro-progression includes criteria for each level of mastery and allows students to reflect on their sticky notes or journal entries based on their independent reading.

Reading Notebook Reflection

Students write reading notebook reflections based on a rubric provided. Students share with me in a letter format what they are proud of, what they wish to improve, and determine an overall score for their work. This allows students to reflect on their work throughout the week and set goals for next week.

Student Self-Reflection during Collaborative Groups

During collaborative groups, one area of focus for my students is engaging in meaningful and productive conversations with peers. After our strategy group, students use this self-reflection progression chart to evaluate their listening and speaking skills.

Checklists Artifacts

Morning Checklist

This is a checklist that is displayed during arrival to help students prepare for the day. It serves as a reminder and ensures that students set up their day for success.

Checklist for Book Buzz

This is a checklist that I used to guide students in the process of designing a book buzz to share to their peers. The checklist include important criteria for the book buzz. This helps students manage different portions of the assignment.

Friday Tasks Checklist

At the end of the day on Friday, students are given time to complete activities and a checklist can help students visually see the tasks that they have already completed and plan for activities that are not completed yet.