Category Archives: Posts

Peter Doolittle: How Your “Working Memory” Makes Sense of the World

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“A central issue with working memory is that it’s limited. It’s limited in capacity, limited in duration, limited in focus. We tend to remember about four things…”

Have you ever wondered how working memory helps you make decisions and reach goals on a daily basis? Peter Doolittle, professor of educational psychology in the School of Education at Virginia Tech, strives to understand the processes of human learning. In his TED Talk, Doolittle explores how our working memory helps us make sense of the world and offers strategies to maximize our potential to remember.   

  • “We need to process what’s going on the moment it happens, not 10 minutes later, not a week later, at the moment.”
    • Doolittle explains that reflecting upon our actions and reactions is a critical step towards remembering. He emphasizes the importance of reflecting in the moment or shortly after an event or new learning occurs. When it comes to executive function strategies, students can ask themselves a few simple questions about how well a strategy worked for them and how they could apply it next time. By asking themselves what they’re missing and if they have any questions before moving on to the next lesson or topic, students can ensure that they are building their knowledge on a solid foundation. 
  • “We also need to repeat it. We need to practice.”
    • Doolittle highlights that repeated practice is key to remembering. When planning out SMARTS lessons for the year, it can be beneficial for educators to focus on the quality and depth of lessons over quantity. Students will benefit from repeated exposure to a few strategies paired with reflection so that they can start to understand themselves as learners. 
  • “The last one is support. We all started as novices…”
    • Doolittle’s last suggestion aligns with the many visual supports that are included in the SMARTS curriculum. It is important that we draw upon the benefits of presenting information in multisensory ways; providing students with reflection sheets, exit tickets, and time to ask questions can help them process what they are learning. 

“…the take-home message from a working memory capacity standpoint is this: what we process, we learn. If we’re not processing life, we’re not living it.”

To learn more about working memory and how to implement strategies to support your students, check out unit 6 of the SMARTS Curriculum. What working memory strategies can you implement in your life? 

Click here for the link to this TED Talk and to view the transcript and subtitles.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

Build Your Executive Function Toolkit in 2022

Are you interested in building your Executive Function Toolkit? Join us in February and March to hear from EF experts on topics such as metacognition and motivation, strategies to support students with long-term projects and project-based learning, embedding EF in the general education curriculum, and the intersection of EF and social-emotional learning. Learn more and register today. 

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Student Perspective: Interdisciplinary Learning

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What are the benefits of interdisciplinary learning? This student-authored post is part of a series that highlights student perspectives around learning and executive function in the classroom. 

I will start by saying that I have had few encounters with interdisciplinary learning. What I have gathered from those few experiences has led me to a favorable view of the practice.

In my experience, interdisciplinary learning is when students are taught a topic or idea through multiple subjects. For instance, learning about the dangers of climate change from a scientific perspective in science class while reading a dystopian novel based on climate change in English. 

As someone with ADHD, it can be hard for me to focus on anything, let alone the thousands of facts I’m supposed to know in any given week. I feel this becomes more complex because my different classes seem to have no relevance to each other.

For example, this year my English class was reading a book on World War II, while at the same time my history class was teaching us about apartheid in South Africa. This was difficult for me because I would get the dates and facts about the two time periods mixed up in my head. If these two classes had synced up their curriculums, I could have spent less time focusing on remembering mere facts and more time on essential skills.

Another benefit of interdisciplinary learning is that it allows me to link different topics together. In school, teachers will tell me to draw from experiences that I’ve had or issues I’ve already learned about to influence my understanding of what I’m learning. But often, I find that my experience or previous education is not relevant to what I’m studying. Going in-depth on one topic and teaching it through multiple classes would allow me to draw more of those connections, even if I don’t have prior knowledge of the topic.

Join us this November for the 36th Annual Executive Function Conference, which will focus on promoting resilience and equity for ALL students.

  • C. Solomon, Student Contributor

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Student Perspective: A Helpful Way to Boost Your Students’ Reading Skills

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Offering creative reading challenges can help students develop a love of reading. This student-authored post is part of a series that highlights student perspectives around learning and executive function in the classroom. 

People often assume that students with learning differences, especially those with dyslexia, cannot understand high-level material; this is not true. I have found that reading above my grade level has helped build my vocabulary and expose me to ideas that I would not have otherwise encountered.  

Offer Students Choices

When reading at a high level, students should have a say in what they’re reading. When students are interested in what they’re reading, it gives them a reason to keep reading, even when it gets tricky. For me, assistive technology such as audiobooks was a big help, so it is important to remember that using those tools can benefit many students. 

Using upper-level reading material will be hard for some students, so it is important to keep in mind what students are currently reading. You can’t expect them to make too big a leap, like from reading The Cat in the Hat straight to Shakespeare. Also, remember not to put too much pressure on students when asking them to read high-level books. It’s an important exercise to have them do this, but it should be fun. 

Create a Relaxed Reading Environment

As a teacher, it’s essential to make sure that you’ve created a space where students feel comfortable coming to you if they have trouble with a passage or word. Parents can also help expose students to high-level reading by encouraging their children to read or listen to more books that might be a little bit out of their comfort range. By doing this, it will help them build up to more complex texts. 

The goal should be to boost students’ love of reading and expose them to higher-level material. It doesn’t necessarily have to be graded or be made unnecessarily complicated—no notes, no essays, no journaling, no book reports. Just let them read!

To read more student perspectives, check out the Real-Life Experiences with Remote Learning series. If you are interested in building your executive function toolkit, join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 27th, July 29th, August 3rd, and August 5th) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 10th, August 12th, August 17th, and August 19th).

  • C. Solomon, Student Contributor

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Happy 4th of July from SMARTS

Posts, Training, Webinars

Happy 4th of July from all of us here on the SMARTS Executive Function team! We wish you a happy and safe holiday. After a challenging school year, we hope that your summer is full of rest and relaxation.

Summer is also a great time to reflect on the year and set meaningful goals for the future. Many of your students may also be tackling their summer reading lists; here are some strategies that can help.

As you contemplate the new school year, we hope you will find ways to incorporate executive function into your work. Get an early start with our Executive Function Summer Summit and SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop. 

  • Executive Function Summer Summit
    July 27, July 29, August 3, August 5
    The Executive Function Summer Summit will cover topics such as metacognition, organization, flexible problem solving, motivation, engagement, and even math and dyslexia. The four sessions of the Summer Summit (July 27th, July 29th, August 3rd, and August 5th) can be purchased as a bundle for a special price and will be recorded in case you cannot attend live.
  • SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop
    August 10, 12, 17, 19
    If you will be teaching SMARTS next year, join us for the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop on August 10th, 12th, 17th, and 19th. Come spend time with the SMARTS team to explore the curriculum, dig into SMARTS strategies, learn with your peers, and develop a customized implementation plan for a new year. As always, there are discounts for SMARTS users.

Wherever your summer plans take you, SMARTS is here to help. Here’s to a great summer!

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Program Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Effective Study Tips

Posts, Study

Everyone knows the importance of good study habits, but studying and test-taking look very different these days. With remote learning, students often have to figure out for themselves how to study, organize their time, and manage the added distractions at home. What study strategies are best during remote or hybrid learning?

There are many study strategies out there. When tests are a source of stress and anxiety, it can be hard to determine which strategy suits a student’s needs. In SMARTS,  we believe that students should be explicitly taught a range of strategies and then given the chance to reflect and decide which strategies are best for them.

Recently, one of our favorite websites Mind/Shift posted an article listing 13 study effective practices and tips for students. Here are a few of our favorites.

Change Your Space

One of the most important ways to study effectively is to create a space where you can work productively. Limiting distractions, such as phones or video games, can be a game-changer when it comes to fighting procrastination. Creating a quiet space, or a space with the right amount of ambient background noise, will help students save their brainpower for getting work done instead of fighting off distractions. If possible, students may benefit from finding another place to work that is not their bedroom, as many of the most potent distractions can be found there.

Practice Breaking Down Tasks

Students need to learn how to break down large tasks into bite-sized chunks. Teachers should explicitly model and practice this process with students. In SMARTS, we love to make personalized checklists out of study guides and test directions. Give students a blank checklist along with a practice test or a new project. Students can work in small groups to brainstorm strategies for dividing up tasks and filling out the checklist.

Create a Study Buffer

A student’s typical study plan may save all the work to the last minute, hoping to get a 100% on a practice test the night before so they feel ready for the actual exam the next day. Students should plan for a buffer between the practice test and the real event (you may have heard of this strategy called spaced repetition). This buffer time will reduce the likelihood of forgetting important information (sleep is an important part of memory) and allows for more time to analyze mistakes and review challenging concepts.

“Knowing” Means Being Able To Explain

Active study strategies are essential. Students might think they know a concept through a passive review of their notes, but they can’t be sure they have mastered it until they can explain it in some way — verbally, written, or otherwise. This is one reason note-taking strategies are so important. A strong study plan includes opportunities for students to actively explain what they are studying, either out loud to themselves, to a fellow student, or even to a parent or guardian. The act of explaining is a great check for understanding and ensures that the student is ready to explain their thinking on the test.

What study tips from this article do you think are the most useful? What other study habits do you find work best for your students? Let us know in the comments!

  • Elizabeth Ross, M.A., SMARTS Media Manager

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

4 Questions to Promote Student Reflection

Posts

Helping students to reflect on their executive function strategy use is essential to building their metacognition. When students reflect on the strategies they are using to plan, prioritize, break down tasks, and achieve their goals, they develop their ability to use strategies independently in the future.

Too often teachers skip over student reflection, not because they think it’s unimportant but because they run out of time. How can you integrate strategy reflection from day one? Make these four questions a part of your practice.

How do you think you did?

Instead of asking a yes-or-no question (“Did you like this activity?”), ask students to rate their work on a scale. You might consider using a numbered scale (1 = poor and 5 = great) or use emojis (frowning face, neutral face, smiling face).

Why did you pick that rating?

Next, ask students to explain their rating. What went well? What didn’t go so well? In SMARTS, we usually provide a checklist with positive options (“I worked productively” or “This fits my learning style”) as well as negative options (“I had a hard time focusing” or “This type of assignment is hard for me”).  By including both positives and negatives, we can help students understand that we all have strengths and challenges that impact our performance.

What did you learn about yourself?

Developing an accurate picture of our strengths and challenges is the bedrock of metacognition. Without opportunities to reflect, many students have global views of their abilities (“School is always easy for me” or “I guess I’m dumb”). Ask: What was the hardest part?  What was the easiest part? Reflection helps students develop a more nuanced self-understanding of their abilities.

What will you do next time?

Figuring out what to do next time should always be the goal of reflection. Ask: How can you take what you have learned and apply it in the future? What would you do differently? What would you keep the same? By thinking through their plan as part of reflection, students can connect what they’ve learned to future assignments and even goals or projects outside of school.

By integrating these four types of questions into strategy instruction, your students will become more metacognitive in their approach to learning. Whether these questions are part of a written strategy reflection assignment or a class strategy share, reflection will help your students develop into resilient and flexible learners!

  • Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director


SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Stressful Times? A Growth Mindset Can Help

Growth Mindset, Posts

We’ve talked before on this blog about the important role growth mindset plays in boosting executive function skills and strategies. Sometimes the hardest moments, like a difficult transition to remote learning or getting a bad grade, test our students’ growth mindset beliefs, making it difficult for them to develop and use the executive function strategies they need to be resilient. How can we help our students persevere and exercise their struggle muscle? 

You can start by teaching students about what having a growth mindset looks like and how it can be applied to day-to-day challenges. As always, explicit instruction and self-understanding are key. We are huge fans of Carol Dweck’s work on the subject; however, the growth mindset concept can be hard for students to grasp. This video from BrainCraft offers a succinct and entertaining explanation of growth mindset and why it’s important, especially during this pandemic. 

I think this video can be a great tool for educating the people we work with about the importance of having a growth mindset. What did you think of the video? Let us know in the comments!

  • Elizabeth Ross, M.A., SMARTS Media Manager

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Online Resources to Help Students Stay Focused and Engaged

Mindfulness, Posts

The unpredictable shift between in-person, remote, and hybrid schooling has left many students (and their teachers) feeling unsettled and overwhelmed. Activities that promote movement and mindfulness practices can help students cope with anxiety and access the executive function processes they need to successfully engage in learning. Here are some of our favorites from GoNoodle, an online platform that offers videos focused on movement and mindfulness for elementary school students.

Finding Focus

Whether students are returning from recess or transitioning between classes, they may benefit from a brief activity that helps them stay on task. The Strengthen Your Focus video can serve as a reminder for students to use their self-monitoring and self-checking strategies as they work. If students need support focusing on the present moment, have them view From Mindless to Mindful, which is also available in Spanish.

Following Instructions

As students approach winter break, they may need a few reminders to follow instructions. This video from Blazer Fresh encourages students to follow instructions using a framework that includes pausing, looking at the person speaking, nodding to show you understand, starting the task, and asking questions along the way. When students struggle with task initiation, it may help to break down just the instructions and the first step so they know how to get started.

Cognitive Flexibility

Lastly, here is a fun video for students to say hello in 15 different languages. To greet their peers and teachers in another language, students will practice cognitive flexibility by shifting mentally between a familiar salutation and a new one. Students may be excited to learn about the international greetings their peers are familiar with or use at home.

Looking for more tips for hybrid learning? Check out these posts on keeping students engaged and creating transition times during remote learning.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, SMARTS Intern

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

15 Relatable ADHD Memes to Brighten Your Day

ADHD, Posts,

ADHD makes life hard for students, teachers, parents, everyone! While executive function strategies can help students succeed, sometimes students with ADHD are going to have a tough time. That’s when it is important to let off steam and remember that others face similar ADHD challenges. Here are some of our favorite funny ADHD memes that will hopefully help you, or someone you know, have a good laugh and know that they are not alone.

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We hope that these make you laugh! What are your favorite ADHD memes? Let us know in the comments.

  • Elizabeth Ross, M.A., SMARTS Media Manager

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Cooking a Turkey with Executive Function

Posts

Executive function strategies are essential for successful learning. But executive function processes are not just for school; we use executive function strategies in every aspect of our daily lives. With the holidays approaching, let’s explore how you can use executive function strategies to pull off a perfectly roasted Thanksgiving turkey.

Goal Setting

Goal setting is at the heart of executive function. You must understand the endpoint, and the steps it will take to get there if you are going to be successful. This holiday, since I can’t travel home to be with my family, my goal is to cook a delicious meal, complete with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and dessert. I know it’s important to eat healthy food (junk food is bad for my executive function) so I look for recipes that are healthy, tasty, and will feed a small group.

Cognitive Flexibility

Thinking flexibly as you adopt and apply strategies is essential to success. As students get older and take on more challenging academic work, they must shift and adopt new strategies that keep pace with the demands they face. You never know what real-life situations will test your flexible thinking. As I shift from someone who eats the turkey to the person who cooks it, I will need to adopt a new perspective. What new challenges will I face? What new strategies will I have to adopt, and what strategies will I have to leave behind?

Organizing and Prioritizing

Many students and adults may struggle with organization; however, the ability to break down tasks, create categories, and prioritize the steps is a must! As I peruse recipes for roasting a turkey, I review the ingredients and the steps to prepare and cook. My plan and time management rely on accurate time estimation and an organized approach.

Accessing Working Memory

Working memory allows us to access the information we need, whether from short- or long-term memory, as we complete our tasks. In school, we often talk about the working memory demands of following directions or completing a math problem. As I cook my turkey, I will use my working memory to keep up with the recipe.

Self-Monitoring and Self-Checking

Whether you’re cooking, completing your homework, or checking your taxes, self-monitoring and self-checking help us ensure that we are truly doing our best work. Working memory helps us make sense of what is happening around us. As I cook the turkey, I can use a variety of self-checking strategies from making sure I’m following the recipe steps to checking to make sure the turkey is fully cooked.

Metacognitive Awareness

Self-understanding is an often overlooked aspect of executive function strategy use. Developing metacognition is an active process. Knowing what our strengths and challenges are, reflecting on our performance, and deciding how we will apply this knowledge moving forward allows us to become truly independent and strategic, whether as students, teachers, parents, or chefs. As I reflect on my previous cooking adventures, I remember that one time I roasted a chicken and it was too dry. What did I do wrong? How can I apply that knowledge to my Thanksgiving turkey? Better yet, maybe this year we’ll just order a pizza.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the SMARTS Executive Function program! We hope you all have a safe and restful holiday.

  • Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org