2022 Summer Summit Session 2 Digital Binder by cvanderberg

7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 2: Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Shifting to Overcome Academic and Life Stresses Date: Thursday, July 28th, 2022, 11:00 AM -1:00 PM EST Presented by: Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D. and Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Description: Cognitive flexibility is critically important for success in school and in life. When students are rigid and unable to shift, they become stressed and overwhelmed so that they give up instead of persevering. In contrast, when students learn to think flexibly, they can execute tasks more easily, persevere when tasks seem difficult, think outside the box, and consider different solutions. In this workshop, attendees will learn about the importance of cognitive flexibility and its critical role in school performance, growth mindsets, and emotional regulation in school and life. We will also discuss the connections between students’ cognitive flexibility and their self-concept, persistence, and resilience. Most importantly, we will focus on evidence-based strategies for promoting students’ cognitive flexibility and self-monitoring so that they learn to shift, think flexibly, and monitor their behaviors in academic and social situations.

7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 2: Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Shifting to Overcome Academic and Life Stresses TABLE OF CONTENTS Session Overview ……………………………………………………………………………...1 Additional Resources List……………………………………………………………………..3 Session PowerPoint Slides – Lynn Meltzer ………………………………………….….…..4 Session PowerPoint Slides – Donna Kincaid …………………………………...….……28 Additional Reading – Shifting and Flexible Problem Solving …………….……..…...43 Executive Function and Equity White Paper ……………………………….………..…65 SMARTS Feature in Attention Magazine…………………………………………………73 SMARTS Elementary Feature in Attention Magazine………………………….………76 EF and School Performance White Paper………………………………………………79 Executive Function Checklist for Remote Learning……………………………………82 Executive Function Readings………………………………………………………………85 SMARTS Secondary Curriculum Overview………………………………………………87 SMARTS Elementary Curriculum Overview………………………………………………91

7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 2: Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Shifting to Overcome Academic and Life Stresses Additional Resources Presentation Handouts: • Following Directions • Shifty Math Word Problems (Elementary) • Shifty Math Extensions (Elementary) • Shifty Math Word Problems (Secondary) • Shifty Math Extensions (Secondary) Chapter that Accompanies Presentation: • Shifting and Flexible Problem Solving, chapter from Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom (2010) Cognitive Flexibility Resources: • Overview of the SMARTS approach to teaching Cognitive Flexibility (video) • SMARTS Student Ambassadors’ explanations of Cognitive Flexibility - Blog • A High School Parent’s thoughts on the importance of Cognitive Flexibility today - Blog Additional Executive Function Links and Resources: • SMARTS Feature in Attention Magazine • Executive Function White Paper • Executive Function and Equity White Paper • Further Reading – Executive Function • Remote Learning Checklist • Webinar: Getting to Know SMARTS • SMARTS Secondary Curriculum Overview • SMARTS Elementary Curriculum Overview • Elementary Free Lesson • Secondary Free Lesson • Contact a SMARTS Staff Member

www.researchild.org SMARTS-ef.org © RESEARCHILD, RESEARCHILD, 2022 2022 || WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG || 44 MILITIA MILITIA DRIVE, DRIVE, SUITE SUITE 20 20 || LEXINGTON, LEXINGTON, MA MA 02421 02421 || 781-861-3711 781-861-3711 ©

Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Shifting to Overcome Academic and Life Stresses

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Assistant Director, Institutes for Learning & Development (ResearchILD & ILD)

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.

President and Co-Founder, Institutes for Learning and Development (ResearchILD & ILD)

Elizabeth Ross, MA. Media Manager , SMARTS Programs, ResearchILD

Overview • WHAT is Cognitive Flexibility and why is this a key EF process? • HOW do we teach strategies that promote flexible thinking and problem-solving from the earliest grades? • WHAT strategies help students to think and problemsolve flexibly as they complete their schoolwork? • HOW can Cognitive Flexibility and EF strategies help to reduce students’ anxiety and stress?

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Executive Function Paradigm (Meltzer, 2007, 2010)

• Goal Setting •Organizing & Prioritizing Time and Materials

• Cognitive Flexibility/ Thinking Flexibly •Remembering/Accessing Working Memory • Self-Monitoring & Checking © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Resilience Academic Success

Metacognition Effort Self-concept Emotional Regulation

Executive Function Strategies

(Meltzer, 2007, 2010) © RESEARCHILD, RESEARCHILD, 2022 2022 || WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG || 44 MILITIA MILITIA DRIVE, DRIVE, SUITE SUITE 20 20 || LEXINGTON, LEXINGTON, MA MA 02421 02421 || 781-861-3711 781-861-3711 ©

SMARTS Elementary,Lesson © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711 4B.4

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

WHAT is Cognitive Flexibility?

How flexible were you in 2020-2021?

Did you… • • • •

Easily transition to a different work situation? Adjust easily to remote teaching? Adjust to the challenges of working at home? Embrace new ways of teaching different groups of students?

Yes Yes Yes Yes

No No No No

Cognitive Flexibility: Shifting & Thinking Flexibly

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

N ever

Rarely

Sometimes

Usua lly

Always

1) I try to connect it to something I already know.

2) I try to think of something that was helpful that I have done before.

3) I try to come up with effective ways of approaching the new task.

4) I think about how long a task will take and set aside chunks of time to complete it.

When I begin something new:

Shifting Flexibly Cognitive Flexibility

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Cognitive Flexibility Switching flexibly between approaches. • Shifting back and forth between major themes and relevant details. • Focusing on big ideas and ignoring irrelevant information.

Ø “To see different points of view.” Ø “To get different strategies for people, like don't just look at your own way because there are different ways it could be true.”

What classroom tasks require students to shift approaches flexibly? • Switching flexibly from classroom instruction to online instruction. • Staying flexible and shifting to different technologies during remote learning. • Switching applications on the computer within and between classes. • Managing with open-ended projects and assignments. • Finding information quickly. • Handling Information overload to prevent a “clogged funnel”. • Following unclear or vague directions- some teachers give too much information and others give too little. • Organizing and prioritizing open-ended tasks.

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

HOW do we teach strategies that promote flexible thinking and problem-solving from the earliest grades?

Teach EF Strategies Explicitly

Use metacognitive prompts for teaching all strategies: • WHAT is the strategy? • WHEN is the strategy most helpful? • HOW should the strategy be used? © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Shifting Flexibly Use 5 minute warm-ups daily to promote flexible thinking and metacognitive awareness… ü Jokes ü Riddles ü Puns ü Ambiguous language

Shifting Flexibly: Teach Multiple Meanings

Dress the chicken © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Shifting Flexibly: Teach Multiple Meanings

Have you ever seen…

A home run?

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Shifting Flexibly: Teach Multiple Meanings

SHIFTY WORD CARDS (EASY) Directions: dent who has the same shifty word. Ask students to think of two potential meanings for the word on their card. They may want to draw a picture of the two meanings.

Hot Dog

Bass

Interest

Produce

Division

Crop

Channel

Lounge

Pitch

Formula

Produce

Bass

SHIFTY WORD CARDS

Interest

Channel

Formula

Organ

Hot Dog

Lounge

Crop

Coast

Division

Coast

Pitch

Organ

Hot dog Crop Produce…. © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711 Lesson 3.1

Page 1

Shifting Flexibly: Reading and Writing

Shifting Flexibly Teach students to think and shift flexibly so that they: • Set and adjust their shortterm goals. • Set and adjust long-term goals. • Create and self-monitor their daily schedules. • Manage their schoolwork, espcially while remote learning is ongoing. © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Shifting Flexibly: Strategy Sheets

WHAT strategies help students to think and problem-solve flexibly as they complete their schoolwork?

Shifting Flexibly

Teach students to shift perspectives and to self-monitor flexibly when they read, write, and solve math problems.

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Shifting Flexibly Reading & Writing Color-Coded Highlighting Main Ideas

Important Details

Shifting Flexibly: Reading & Writing STAR Strategy

Remember, all stories have the same basic parts: Who = Characters What = Conflict/Problem Where = Setting/Place When = Time Why = Theme/reason for conflict SMARTS Elementary,Lesson 4B.4 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Shifting Flexibly Reading & Writing STAR ‘WH’ Strategy

Reading and Writing © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Shifting Flexibly: Triple Note Tote for Reading, Writing, Studying

Topic/Main Idea

Details

• Vocabulary word

• Definition

• Math Formula

• Explanation of

• Main Idea

Memory Strategy • Association • Cartoon

term • Details related to

• Drawing

main idea

SMARTS Elementary, Lesson 3.2,Lesson 4B.4 Lesson 4B.3

Shifting Flexibly: Triple Note Tote for Reading, Writing, Studying Triple Note Tote Strategy

SMARTS EF Curriculum For Middle & High School © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Shifting Flexibly: Triple Note Tote for Reading, Writing, Studying

Triple Note Tote: BrainCogs Strategy for Organizing & Memorizing © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

“With the SMARTS Triple Note Tote strategy, I learned to make a hierarchy of notes and have it structure around itself and relate to things. This structure helped me to study and to write long papers. I did not stress out so much about tests any more.” (Billy, 16 yrs) © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Shifting Flexibly Math

Shifting Flexibly Math “It's like when you're doing math, there's always

one more way to solve a problem.”

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Shifting: Students’ Reflections Ø “To see different points of view.” Ø “To get different strategies for people, like don't just look at your own way because there are different ways it could be true.”

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Cognitive Flexibility and Goal-setting

CANDO Goals C= Clear A=Actionable N=Numerical D=Doable O=Obstacles considered

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Cognitive Flexibility and Organizing & Prioritizing

Pollica, ResearchILD, 2009 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Cognitive Flexibility and Organizing & Prioritizing

Juggling and sorting important information to stress what is most Important: - Organizing Time - Organizing Materials - Organizing Information - Organizing Ideas SMARTS Elementary,Lesson © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711 4B.4

Cognitive Flexibility and Organizing & Prioritizing

Organizing and Prioritizing Time

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Cognitive Flexibility and Organizing & Prioritizing

Tug of War “Have-to’s”

Lesson 4A.4

vs.

“Want-to’s”

Prioritizing Time Fred’s Have-to’s and Want-to’s Start Book Report

Read 20 minutes

Go to karate

Play Fortnite

Ride Bike Lesson 4A.4

Practice Piano

Prioritizing Time Fred’s Daily Planner Have-To’s

start book report

read for 20 minutes

practice piano

Lesson 4A.4

Want-To’s

play Fortnite

Start Book Report

Read 20 minutes

Play Fortnite

ride bike

go to karate

Ride Bike

Go to karate

Practice Piano

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Prioritizing Time Fred’s Daily Planner 7:30 - 8:00

Read for 20 minutes

8:00 - 3:00

SCHOOL

3:00 - 3:30 3:30 - 4:00

e“ c e th

4:00 - 4:30 4:30 - 5:00

P la

5:00 - 5:30

Hav

s” F e to ’

IR S T

Start book report

5:30 - 6:00 6:00 - 6:30

DINNER

6:30 - 7:00

Practice piano

7:00 - 7:30 7:30 - 8:00

Lesson 4A.4

Cognitive Flexibility and Memorizing

Cartoons & Associations

Crazy Phrases

Acronyms

Cognitive Flexibility and Self- Monitoring

Top 3 Hits

© RESEARCHILD, RESEARCHILD, 2022 2021 || WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG || 44 MILITIA MILITIA DRIVE, DRIVE, SUITE SUITE 20 20 || LEXINGTON, LEXINGTON, MA MA 02421 02421 || 781-861-3711 781-861-3711 ©

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Cognitive Flexibility and Self-Monitoring

• Recognizing and fixing the kinds of mistakes YOU make. • Knowing, finding AND correcting errors. • Asking, “Does it make sense?” SMARTS Elementary,Lesson © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711 4B.4

HOW can Cognitive Flexibility and EF strategies improve Social-Emotional Learning and help to reduce students’ anxiety and stress?

Attention

Effort

Executive Function

Emotional Regulation © RESEARCHILD, RESEARCHILD, 2022 2021 || WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG || 44 MILITIA MILITIA DRIVE, DRIVE, SUITE SUITE 20 20 || LEXINGTON, LEXINGTON, MA MA 02421 02421 || 781-861-3711 781-861-3711 ©

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Shifting Flexibly: SMARTS Lesson I’m Wearing Your Shoes When we take someone else’s perspective, we try to see things from their point of view

SMARTS Elementary, Lesson 3.2 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Regulating Emotions I’m Wearing Your Shoes Perspective-taking is important when solving problems with friends. Some examples of conflicts ….. a. b. c. d.

Arguing about who sits where at lunch. Arguing about who won a contested play in a sports game. Getting upset when a friend forgot to do something you asked. Getting frustrated when a friend did not complete their part of a class project.

Describe the conflict here. 1. What was something you may not have understood about your friend’s situation. Put yourself in your friend’s shoes. 2. What is something your friend may have understood about your situation?

SMARTS Elementary Regulating Emotions

I’m Wearing Your Shoes

“Oops! I Misunderstood” © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Regulating Emotions I’m Wearing Your Shoes

What could I have done differently? Think of a time when you were angry or overwhelmed…

SMARTS Elementary,Lesson 4B.4 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Regulating Emotions I’m Wearing Your Shoes

What could I have done differently? § How could shifting flexibly and perspective-taking have helped solve the conflict? § How can we use this knowledge to stop conflicts before they start?

SMARTS Elementary,Lesson 4B.4

EF Strategies Reduce Stress

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

EF Strategies Reduce Stress

• Stress shifts cognition from topdown control processes to bottom-up automatic processes. • Stress affects working memory, cognitive flexibility, and cognitive inhibition. • Stress impairs executive control and forces attention toward salient information. •

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC5003767/

Suicide in school-aged children •

Suicide is now the 2nd leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15-19 years

•

Suicide accounts for 12% of the mortality in adolescents and young adults.

•

8% of H.S. students have made a suicide attempt some time in their lifetime.

•

Many of these students show academic and behavioral difficulties at school, antisocial problems, and problems with inhibition, perfectionism, and explosiveness. © RESEARCHILD, RESEARCHILD, 2022 2021 || WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG || 44 MILITIA MILITIA DRIVE, DRIVE, SUITE SUITE 20 20 || LEXINGTON, LEXINGTON, MA MA 02421 02421 || 781-861-3711 781-861-3711 ©

Suicide in school-aged children • Suicide rate rose 56% in 10 years for 1024yr olds. • Significant increase in suicides during the pandemic. • Contagion effect has increased. © RESEARCHILD, RESEARCHILD, 2022 2021 || WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG || 44 MILITIA MILITIA DRIVE, DRIVE, SUITE SUITE 20 20 || LEXINGTON, LEXINGTON, MA MA 02421 02421 || 781-861-3711 781-861-3711 ©

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

Foster Positive Mindsets in Students to Reduce Stress

Teach EF Strategies and Reduce Stress

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

“Know where to find

the information and how to use it- that's the secret of success.” (EF strategies)

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., ResearchILD, 2022; www.researchild.org; www.ildlex.org; www.smarts-ef.org

7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 2: Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Shifting to Overcome Academic and Life Stresses

Presentation Part 2: PowerPoint Slides

Strategies for Promoting Flexible Thinking

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

STRATEGY FOCUS: FLEXIBLE THINKING 1. Purposeful Highlighting: Following Directions 2. Shifty Math 3. Classroom Extensions

PURPOSEFUL HIGHLIGHTING

PURPOSEFUL HIGHLIGHTING Reasons to highlight with a purpose: 1. See different perspectives 2. Distinguish between main ideas and details 3. Identify unfamiliar vocabulary 4. Draw attention to important information (e.g., directions, the sign of an integer, +/-) © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Purposeful Highlighting

1. Circle the action verbs telling you what you need to do 2. Underline the important information that you need to complete the task 3. Number the steps you need to complete the task

Lesson 3.4

Purposeful Highlighting

Reading Response Directions:

2. the Number steps 1.3.Underline Circle thethe action important you need to take verbs that tell you to information thattask. you complete the what you need to need to complete do the task.

1 2

Describe the main character in your book using at least three adjectives. Provide two examples from the text that illustrate these traits.3Explain why or why not you would like this character to be your friend. Lesson 3.4

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Purposeful Highlighting

Recipe Directions: 1

3. steps 2. Underline the 1. Number Circle thethe action you need important verbs that to telltake you to complete the task. information that you what you need to need to complete do the task. 2

Bring 4-6 quarts of water to boil. Add desired 4 3 amount of pasta. Boil for 11 minutes. Stir 6 occasionally and5drain well. Serve immediately with your favorite sauce.

Lesson 3.4

Math Word Problem

Mrs. Hobbs bought 15 books. She paid $11 for each book. She later sold all 15 books for $25 each. What is the difference between the total amount of money Mrs. Hobbs sold the books for and the total amount she paid for the books? Action verbs: Additional information: Number of steps: Lesson 3.5

Science Investigation

Take a large coffee can and obtain some soil, food samples and non-food items. Bury the food and non-food items in different layers of soil placed in the coffee can. Add about ¼ cup of water. Place a cover with punched holes on top of the can so air can get in. After 2-3 months, determine what has decayed. Action verbs: Additional information: Number of steps: © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Shifty Math

Learning Objectives ü Generate different math problems based on given data ü Create appropriate questions when given the answers ü Use flexible thinking to determine what numbers make sense in word problems

Lesson 3.5

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Shifty Math Module 1

Metacognitive Activator

Lesson 3.5

Shifty Math

Did you know that a lot of the subjects you learn in school are taught using only one method? It is important to remember that there are many different ways a question or problem can be solved!

Lesson 3.5

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Shifty Math

There are 12 red robins in one tree in the park. There are 15 blue jays in another tree.

Lesson 3.5

Shifty Math

There are 12 red robins in one tree in the park. There are 15 blue jays in another tree. Lesson 3.5

What do you think the question would be if the answer is “27”?

Shifty Math

There are 12 red robins in one tree in the park. There are 15 blue jays in another tree. Lesson 3.5

What do you think the question would be if the answer is “3”? What operations would you use to solve the problem? © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Shifty Math

There are 12 red robins in one tree in the park.

What questions can you write that could be answered with the information provided?

There are 15 blue jays in another tree. Lesson 3.5

Shifty Math

Taylor went to a baseball game on May _______. She took $______ with her. She spent $ _______ on popcorn and peanuts. She also bought a hat for $_______ . When Taylor got home, she had $________ left. $5

$11

$15

Lesson 3.5

$31

Shifty Math Module 3

Independent Practice

Lesson 3.5

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Shifty Math

Lesson 3.5: Shifty Math Word Problems 1. Jay and Tyler each have a coin collection. Jay has 55 US coins and 43 Canadian coins. Tyler has 39 US coins and 64 Canadian coins. Write two different questions you can answer about their coin collections. Optional Extension: Solve your problems and show your work.

Lesson 3.5

Shifty Math 2. Sofia’s soccer team sold candy bars for $_____ dollars each. Each student had a goal of selling at least _____ candy bars. There were ______ members on the team. Everyone on the team reached the goal, but one person exceeded the goal and sold ____ candy bars. All together the team collected $______. 18

$1680

What are 3 steps you would take to solve the problem? 1._____________________________________________________ 2._____________________________________________________ 3._____________________________________________________

Lesson 3.5

Optional Extension: 1. First, read the problem. 2. Look at the numbers in the box. 3. Write the numbers in the blanks where they fit best. 4. Read the problem again and decide if the numbers make sense. 5. Explain how you know you are correct. © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Melissa's family signed up for Spotify at $15 per month, Netflix at $13.00 per month, and Hulu at $12.00 a month. What is a good question?

Lesson 3.5

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Melissa's family signed up for Spotify at $15 per month, Netflix at $13.00 per month, and Hulu at $12.00 a month. What questions could you write with the information above? What if… the answer is “Hulu”? What if… the answer is $3.00?

Directions: Identify at least two questions that could be asked with the information provided. Here is a table showing the number of hours that volunteers contributed to a hospital during April, May, and June. April

May

June

Juan

Nick

Lara

Mieko

Question 1: Question 2: © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Shifty Math Module 4

Metacognitive Wrap-up

Lesson 3.5

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Shifty Math

Write a math scenario and two possible questions that could be answered based on the information in the scenario you wrote.

Lesson 3.5

Shifty Math

How can you remember to be flexible when approaching math problems in the future?

Lesson 3.5

Strategy Reflection Sheets

Lesson 3.2

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Shifty Math

Strategy Shout Out 1. What strategy did you use? 2. How did you use the strategy? 3. Was the strategy helpful? How did you know that it was helpful?

Lesson 3.5

CLASSROOM EXTENSIONS Research the history of a well-known mathematician and have students write a letter to the mathematician about strategies they are using for solving math problems flexibly. What other real people students could write to about their flexible problem-solving?

CLASSROOM EXTENSIONS

Use Triple Note Tote to record math vocabulary/meaning/example.

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

CLASSROOM EXTENSIONS Create “What if” scenarios about events in history or literature and have students think of what would have been changed had there been different people, decisions, actions. What if JFK did not go cruising through Dallas in an open-top car? What if Japan did not bomb Pearl Harbor? What if the space program never stopped going to the moon? What if _________did not marry_________?

CLASSROOM EXTENSIONS When creating projects have students represent the information in two or three different ways v Picture v Graph v Poem v Song v Other:

CLASSROOM EXTENSIONS Have students highlight their study guides based on how familiar they are with the material v red= don’t know v yellow=kind of know v green= definitely know)

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

CLASSROOM EXTENSIONS When the class is reading an article, ask different students to search for different types of information v v v v

Important people Geography, Climate, Social/economic

Each type of information should be highlighted in a different color. Groups can compare and see what they had in common, what was different, etc.

What other ways can you help students practice flexible thinking in your daily routines and across disciplines?

STRATEGY FOCUS: FLEXIBLE THINKING 1. Purposeful Highlighting: Following Directions 2. Shifty Math 3. Classroom Extensions

Donna Kincaid, M.Ed. Research Institute for Learning and Development, 2022

Session 2: Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Shifting to Overcome Academic and Life Stresses

Additional session reading: “Shifting and Flexible Problem Solving,” chapter from Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom (2010)

Chapter 6

Shifting and Flexible Problem Solving The Anchors for Academic Success

Lynn Meltzer and Jennifer Sage Bagnato

Middle school has been especially challenging for Leo. When he’s doing his homework, he seems to understand the concepts and information presented in his science textbook. However, he can’t seem to apply this information on tests and extend it to new scenarios. I try to help him in math, but he gets frustrated when I show him an approach that is different from the way he was taught in school. He gets stuck doing things over and over again the same way, so that homework drags on the entire night, and he gets too little sleep. Even after he works so hard, his grades are still lower than those of his friends, and Leo now tells us that his friends are much smarter than he is. —Parent of a sixth grader Sally’s performance in school is like a seesaw. She is a very hard worker and is diligent with her homework. When taking notes, she spends hours writing down every detail. However, she sometimes has difficulty with broad concepts and struggles to find the main ideas in her English literature and social studies assignments. When writing essays, she frequently includes quotes and specific examples that don’t relate to her thesis. Sally does well on multiple-choice tests and fill-in-the-blank quizzes. I do not understand why she has so much difficulty with short-answer and essay tests, and I wish I knew how to help Sally so that her grades were more representative of the time and effort she spends studying. —11th-grade teacher

ognitive flexibility, or the ability to think without rigidity and to shift mindsets easily, is a critically important executive function process that is often especially challenging for students like Sally, Leo, and others with learning and attention difficulties (Meltzer, 1993; Meltzer & Krishnan, 2007; Meltzer & Montague, 2001; Meltzer, Solomon, Fenton, & Levine, 1989). Its component processes—which include the ability to adapt to unfamiliar or unexpected situations, to combine concepts 140

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creatively, and to integrate different representations—develop across the lifespan and vary among students (Cartwright, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c; Deák, 2008). Many academic tasks from early elementary school into high school require students to shift flexibly between perspectives and to synthesize information in novel ways (see Chapters 1 and 2). Nevertheless, time is usually not built into the curriculum for teaching students the importance of approaching problem solving and academic tasks flexibly, so they can shift easily “from the top of the mountain to the bottom” as they focus alternately on the major themes and the relevant details (see Figure 1.1 in Chapter 1). In this chapter, we discuss the reasons why cognitive flexibility is so important across the grades, and in all academic domains. We also provide an overview of specific strategies that teachers can implement in their classrooms to help students approach complex problems in a flexible manner, integrate multiple representations of knowledge, and apply learned skills to novel situations. Some of the suggestions discussed in this chapter, like some of those in other chapters, have been evaluated as part of our school-based Gateways to Success and Drive to Thrive studies (Meltzer et al., 2004a, 2004b, 2004c). Others are based on considerable clinical research (Meltzer et al., 2007b) or on best practice. Teachers could use these strategies as guides in devising their own approaches for helping students to develop flexible mindsets in the different content areas.

Why Is Cognitive Flexibility So Important across Grades and Academic Domains? Children’s ability to think flexibly changes with development and age (Brown, 1997; Cartwright, 2008a, 2008b). Typically, students in the early elementary grades have a more limited understanding of the importance of using different approaches to their work in different situations than do middle and high school students. In fact, recent research has shown that cognitive-developmental changes from childhood into adulthood influence children’s ability to manage the cognitive complexity of academic tasks and to process many different elements simultaneously (Andrews & Halford, 2002; Cartwright, 2008a, 2008b; Zelazo & Müller, 2002). As children enter school, cognitive flexibility plays an increasingly important role in the development of more advanced language and literacy skills (Cartwright, 2002, 2008a, 2008b; Homer & Hayward, 2008). Furthermore, the acquisition of numeracy skills is increasingly linked with students’ ability to process multiple representations flexibly and easily. Acquisition of new concepts is also connected to students’ willingness to abandon previously successful approaches in favor of alternative methods when necessary (Cartwright, 2008a, 2008b). This ability to shift approaches and to synthesize information in novel ways is essential for effective reading, writing, math problem solving, note taking, studying, and test taking.

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In the reading domain, investigators have recently emphasized the importance of reading flexibility, or readers’ ability to adapt their reading skills to the demands and purpose of the material (Adams, 1990; Fry, 1978; Cartwright, 2002; Gaskins, 2008; Wagner & Sternberg, 1987). This emphasis on the role of cognitive flexibility in reading decoding, fluency, and comprehension reflects the multidimensional nature of reading (Berninger, Abbott, Thomson, & Raskind, 2001; Berninger & Nagy, 2008; Gaskins, 2008, Gaskins, Satlow, & Pressley, 2007; Pressley, 2006). As reading tasks become more challenging and domain-specific, students need to coordinate multiple subskills, processes, and sources of information. They form mental representations that they need to access flexibly in order to remember, organize, prioritize, and comprehend the information (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Accurate and efficient reading decoding requires students to shift flexibly among four different approaches: letter–sound decoding, use of sight word vocabulary, reliance on context clues, and use of analogies (Ehri, 1991; Gaskins, 2008). In other words, they need to recognize the importance of what Gaskins (2008) refers to as “crisscrossing the landscape,” in order to select decoding approaches that fit the text. Specifically, students need to coordinate the letter–sound relationships with the meanings of printed words (Cartwright, 2002, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c). When studies have focused on teaching students to shift flexibly as part of the decoding process, findings have shown improved reading decoding and comprehension in beginning readers, intermediate readers, and adults (Cartwright, 2002, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c). Other studies have shown the efficacy of teaching students different approaches to decoding and fostering flexibility in decoding (Lovett, Lacerenza, & Borden, 2000). Such flexibility helps students coordinate and shift between word-level features on the one hand, and vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge on the other. This flexibility allows students to draw inferences that extend beyond the information given, and thus it facilitates reading comprehension (Adams, 1990; Cartwright, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c). Reading comprehension requires students to process the meaning of text, flexibly access their background knowledge, recognize the purpose or goal of reading (Cartwright, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c), and monitor their own comprehension (Block & Pressley, 2002; Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995). Reading for meaning taxes students’ ability to manage linguistic information at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels (Brown & Deavers, 1999; Goswami, Ziegler, Dalton, & Schneider, 2001, 2003). In the well-known series of books about Amelia Bedelia, for example, young readers need to use a flexible approach to language in order to understand the multiple meanings of the language embedded in the text and the humor in the stories. This flexibility helps readers to understand why Amelia Bedelia’s employers are surprised when they come home to find a chicken dressed in clothes after they ask her to “Dress the chicken,” and a drawing of their curtains and light bulbs on the front lawn after they ask her to “Draw the drapes when the sun comes in . . . and put the lights out” (Parish, 1963, pp. 47, 48, 59).

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Written language, like reading comprehension, requires students to shift— in this case, between the topic sentences on the one hand, and the supporting details on the other. As students learn to shift approaches flexibly, they are able to interpret information in more than one way, change approaches when needed, and choose a new strategy when the first one is not working (Westman & Kamoo, 1990). There is still a need for longitudinal studies that focus on the impact of cognitive flexibility on the writing process, as there has been very little research in this area. In the math domain, students’ understanding of concepts, of computational procedures, and of word problems is associated with cognitive flexibility from the earliest grades, when one-to-one correspondence rules are taught. Students need to shift from the words and sentences in math problems to the numbers, operations, algorithms, and equations needed to solve the problems (Roditi & Steinberg, 2007). Students also need to learn how and when to shift from one problem-solving strategy or schema to another, so that their final calculations are accurate and logical (Montague & Jitendra, 2006). In fact, recent math curricula that have been based on the National Council of Teachers of Math (2000) report focus on teaching students to switch sets while they connect, communicate, and discuss multiple representations of the same word problems. Students with learning disabilities often struggle to shift flexibly between the numbers and the math questions they are solving (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Roditi, 1993; Roditi & Steinberg, 2007). Therefore, these students need explicit and ongoing instruction in shifting when they approach their math work. In content area subjects, including science and history, students are required to read texts where many words or phrases have multiple meanings; students’ understanding of these words or phrases depends on their flexible use of context clues. Similarly, learning a foreign language requires a significant amount of flexible thinking, as students are challenged to shift back and forth between their native language and the language they are learning. Students continuously need to apply their knowledge of semantics, syntax, and vocabulary in order to translate text or conversation in the foreign language into their native language and vice versa. Spiro and colleagues have stressed the role of flexibility in the acquisition and representation of content area knowledge (Spiro, 2004; Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1992). Specifically, they have shown that knowledge needs to be flexibly structured and accessed in order to build expertise in different academic domains. Cognitive flexibility and other higher-level thinking skills therefore need to be explicitly taught within specific content domains or disciplines (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). In fact, in studies of the links between cognitive flexibility and performance in science and history, students across the grades (elementary into high school) have been taught to shift flexibly among texts and to recognize similarities and differences in themes, in order to understand the main ideas or “big picture” (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008; Wolfe & Goldman, 2005).

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Finally, note taking, studying, and taking tests require students to shift back and forth between various subtopics or problem types, which are often phrased differently from the ways in which students have learned or studied the information. In these different academic domains, students with learning difficulties need to learn systematic strategies for interpreting the vocabulary and linguistic structure in multiple ways, so that they feel comfortable taking risks and thinking “outside the box” when they interpret information. Across all these academic domains, students’ motivation, interest, and passion influence their willingness to make the effort to try different approaches and to shift flexibly from one approach to another, rather than continuing to use the same approach to tasks (Alexander, 1998; Paris, Lipson, & Wixson, 1983; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Alexander (1998) emphasizes that intrinsic motivation, topic knowledge, and strategy use interact to produce improvements in domain learning (e.g., history or science). For example, as students learn more about a topic (such as the Vietnam War), they find it easier to use strategies flexibly; in turn, flexible strategy use increases students’ interest in completing the many different steps involved in writing a paper about the Vietnam War. In this regard, Zelazo and colleagues have differentiated between purely cognitive or “cold” tasks that have no emotional content (e.g., math computation) and tasks that are affected by a student’s social and emotional mindset, or what they term “hot” tasks (e.g., remembering information in a social studies text by linking it with a personal experience) (Zelazo & Müller, 2002; Zelazo, Müller, Frye, & Marcovitch, 2003). They propose that success on both types of tasks depends on each individual’s cognitive flexibility.

How Should We Teach Students to Think Flexibly and to Shift Mindsets? As discussed above, classroom instruction needs to include opportunities for students to use their acquired knowledge flexibly (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993). Similarly, students’ cognitive flexibility improves when they are given opportunities to solve problems from a variety of different perspectives (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). Therefore, it is important to embed strategies for teaching cognitive flexibility into different facets of the curriculum, and to create classrooms and school cultures where students are taught strategies that encourage flexible thinking across the grades and content areas. In the classroom setting, cognitive flexibility underlies good teaching as well as successful learning (Cartwright, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c; Massey, 2008). As Massey (2008) emphasizes, “flexible instruction does not mean anything goes” (p. 305). Instead, such instruction provides explicit models of a repertoire of specific strategies, as well as explanations of how and when to use these strategies (Snow, Griffin, & Burns, 2005).

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A broad range of instructional methods can be used to promote flexible thinking across the content areas. Instruction can focus explicitly on problem solving and critical thinking, and can require students to think flexibly about how the solutions they propose could lead to different outcomes under different circumstances (Sternberg, 2005). Instruction can also encourage peer discussion and collaborative learning in order to expose students to many different viewpoints (Yuill, 2007; Yuill & Bradwell, 1998). While working with their peers, students can be challenged to approach problems from the perspectives of their classmates, which may vary significantly from their own. An integrated approach to learning encourages students to make connections between different content areas and also challenges them to think flexibly about the topics. For example, in history, when students are taught about the westward migration in the United States during the 1850s, each student could be required to write a journal from the perspective of a pioneer. In geography or science, students could analyze the topographical features of the area and choose a safe passage through the Sierra Nevada. This integrated approach not only deepens students’ understanding of the time period, but also encourages them to shift mindsets by assuming a number of different perspectives. The following guide can be used as an organizational framework for embedding shifting strategies in the curriculum (see Chapter 2 for details): 1. 2. 3. 4.

Introduce and define the concept of shifting strategies. Model shifting strategies and explain what, when, and how to do this. Provide opportunities for active student learning. Reinforce shifting strategies by embedding opportunities for doing this into the curriculum. 5. Reflect on students’ use of specific strategies. 6. Challenge students and extend flexible strategy use to other academic areas and tasks. To help students develop metacognitive awareness and understand how to shift flexibly in their interpretation of language and approaches to reading, writing, and math, one of the easiest and most enjoyable activities is to implement “5-minute warm-ups” at the beginning of lessons. These activities encourage students to recognize that many different answers can often be generated for the same question (see Table 6.1 for examples). Furthermore, activities with jokes, riddles, word categories, and number puzzles can help students to practice using flexible approaches to language interpretation and number manipulation. Tasks that incorporate jokes and riddles “differentiate between what is said and what is meant, between two different meanings of the same surface form, between joking and literal interpretations of text, and between formal and semantic characteristics of words” (Yuill, Kerawalla, Pearce, Luckin, & Harris, 2008, p. 339). The efficacy of using jokes to teach flexible thinking to students in the early grades has

146 SCAFFOLDING EXECUTIVE FUNCTION PROCESSES TABLE 6.1. Warm-Up Activities That Promote Flexible Interpretation of Language and Flexible Approaches to Reading, Writing, and Math •• Present ambiguous words and sentences to students in the form of riddles or jokes. This is an enjoyable way of helping students to use context clues to analyze words with multiple meanings. This activity should be linked directly and explicitly with reading comprehension tasks. •• Encourage students to identify different ways they can use specific objects such as a brick, a cardboard box, or an apple. This encourages them to shift approaches rather than getting “stuck” in one approach, and helps them to understand that objects as well as words can have different meanings and functions. •• Ask students to categorize weekly vocabulary or spelling words in a number of different ways (e.g., by part of speech, meaning, vowel patterns). •• Ask students to identify several different ways in which selected multimeaning words can be used (e.g., “cut paper” “cut the line,” “cut class.” •• Encourage students to write a short story from the perspective of an object, such as a penny or a lost sock. This teaches perspective taking and helps students to shift approaches. •• Ask students to create different endings for books they have read. This process encourages students to recognize that stories can end in many different ways. •• Play word and math logic games, such as Boggle, Magic Squares, and Sudoku, to help students to manipulate words and numbers in different ways and to think flexibly about words and math operations.

been shown in an interesting series of studies (Yuill, 2007; Yuill & Bradwell, 1998). Children ages 7–9 years were paired with peers to discuss ambiguities in jokes; they used a joke software program (Joke City) for three 30-hour sessions. Significant gains in reading comprehension were found in these children, in comparison with the control group children, who continued with their daily literacy classes. In other words, an explicit focus on the ambiguous language in jokes generalized to reading comprehension as students were required to think about and analyze language in different ways. Jokes and riddles help students to recognize that ambiguities in language affect meaning, and that looking for context clues is an important reading strategy that improves reading comprehension (see Figure 6.1). Ambiguous sentences, riddles, and multimeaning words can be presented in humorous ways to teach students how to shift flexibly among meanings by using context clues, shifting from noun to verb use, and shifting syllables in words. As Yuill et al. (1998) point out, peer

Think about and illustrate two different meanings for the following: •• Eye drops off the shelf. •• Enraged cow injures farmer with axe. •• Kids make nutritious snacks. •• Hospitals are sued by seven foot doctors. •• Include your friends when baking cookies.

FIGURE 6.1. Examples of using humor to promote flexible interpretation of multimeaning words.

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discussion of jokes promotes cognitive flexibility, as joking is a social activity that occurs among peers. Similarly, peer discussions of ambiguous language promotes metacognitive awareness that transfers to reading and writing tasks (Yuill et al., 2008). Students can therefore collaborate with peers to illustrate or verbally explain selected riddles or jokes. They can also work with peers to analyze sentence structure and to identify pronouns, adjectives, and placements of commas or hyphens that change the meanings of words and phrases. Discussing these different meanings often helps students to recognize the importance of thinking flexibly when they complete their homework or study for tests. Activities like these provide opportunities to incorporate cognitive flexibility instruction into classwork and homework through the use of enjoyable and inherently motivating tasks. These activities should be linked explicitly and directly with reading comprehension tasks. Therefore, teachers can present reading tasks that require students to recognize shifts in sentence meanings based on the use of selected words as nouns or verbs. Students can be required to discuss these shifts explicitly. In this way, students can use engaging material to build their metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness. It is important to recognize that students often show marked variability in their cognitive flexibility, and that students may be flexible on some tasks but not on others. For instance, some students may be flexible in their approach to structured verbal or nonverbal reasoning tasks, yet may be inflexible in academic situations that demand the integrated use of a broad range of skills and strategies. Similarly, students may actively use learning strategies on tasks with which they are familiar, but may not access strategies on other tasks that they perceive as too difficult or that require the simultaneous mobilization of multiple processes and strategies. They may also rely inappropriately on strategies that were previously helpful, but are inadequate for dealing with the increased complexity of new tasks. Teachers can differentiate instruction more easily after administering the MetaCOG surveys (see Chapter 1 for a detailed discussion of MetaCOG) to assess all students’ motivation, effort, strategy use, and understanding of their own learning profiles. Students’ motivation and emotional mindsets (e.g., fatigue, anxiety, social awareness) influence their willingness to make the extra effort needed to use strategies for thinking and learning flexibly. In fact, as discussed in detail in Chapter 8, students’ emotional mindsets often serve as “on–off switches” for effective strategy use and learning, particularly their willingness to try new or different approaches. Table 6.2 provides suggestions for teaching students to develop metacognitive mindsets—to shift flexibly “from the top of the mountain to the bottom and back again” (see Chapter 1), and to shift between the main ideas and details in different content areas and domains. These broad ideas are expanded and elaborated in the following section, which focuses on what strategies teachers should use to promote students’ abilities to think flexibly and to shift approaches as needed.

148 SCAFFOLDING EXECUTIVE FUNCTION PROCESSES TABLE 6.2. Teaching Students to Develop Metacognitive Mindsets and Strategies for Shifting Flexibly in Selected Content Areas Oral language Shifting between multiple word meanings •• Teach students to recognize and analyze ambiguities in words and sentences, and to shift between different meanings. •• Require students to identify multiple-meaning words by using context clues, noun–verb clues, and syllable accents, and to shift flexibly among the different possible meanings (see the M & M strategy, Figures 6/4–6.5 and Table 6.3). •• Explicitly link these activities with reading comprehension and writing, so that students will generalize and extend the strategies they learn to the different content areas. Reading decoding and spelling Shifting between different word analysis and blending approaches for decoding and spelling •• Teach students to recognize which words can be analyzed by using phonics and which words depend on sight vocabulary. •• Provide sentence-reading tasks where students need to shift between phonics and sight words. Require students to verbalize the difference, so that they develop a metacognitive approach to decoding and spelling. •• Teach students to access their knowledge of prefixes and suffixes and related words in spelling—for example, music/musical (c at the end, not k or ck); jumped (ed, not t, because of past tense). Note: Students sometimes rely exclusively on phonics if they are not taught how and when to shift strategies. Reading comprehension Shifting between “big ideas” and supporting details •• Teach students to differentiate among main ideas, important details, and less relevant details. This is an important skill for summarizing and studying. •• Require students to identify multiple-meaning words, as above. •• Teach students to use three-column notes (e.g., Triple Note Tote), to ensure that they shift from the main ideas or core concepts to the supportive details (see Chapter 2). Written language Shifting between “big ideas” and supporting details. Shifting “from the top to the bottom of the mountain and back again” (see Chapters 1 and 2) •• Provide students with graphic organizers for sorting main ideas vs. supportive details. •• Provide templates that help students focus on major themes or thesis statements, relevant details, and conclusions. •• Provide models for shifting from the main ideas to supporting details. •• Help students to develop personalized checklists that help them differentiate between relevant and irrelevant details. Studying and test taking Shifting and organizing Shifting and self-checking •• Have students create specific study plans for tests in different subject areas and with different formats (e.g., essay vs. multiple-choice). •• Have students use a question–answer or three-column format (e.g., Triple Note Tote) for studying for tests. •• Have students shift from writing to editing, using personalized checklists of their common errors on tests. (cont.)

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TABLE 6.2. (cont.) Summarizing, note taking, long-term projects Shifting and prioritizing Shifting and organizing •• Teach the “big picture” versus the details by using concept maps and reminding students to visualize themselves standing at the “top of the mountain” and then shifting to the “bottom of the mountain” for the details. •• Teach students to extract the main themes when taking notes and to paraphrase the information in their own words. •• Require students to use the Triple Note Tote strategy or strategy cards throughout each chapter/unit (see Chapter 2). These require students to shift from the main ideas to the details and back again, so that they have a study plan for tests. •• Require students to shift between short-term homework due immediately and long-term projects by using monthly and weekly calendars and setting short-term “due dates” for phases of the long-term work. Math Problem Solving Shifting and prioritizing •• Require students to generate math language for each operation (e.g., difference, less, take away = subtraction). •• Teach students to shift from the language embedded in word problems to the computational details and back again. •• Teach students to focus on the meaning of the math problem versus the operations and calculation details by reminding students to visualize themselves standing at the “top of the mountain” and then shifting to the “bottom of the mountain” for the details. •• Within operations (e.g., long division) teach students to shift from division to subtraction (and the like). •• Require students to estimate the answers to word problems (“big picture”) and to compare their solutions with their estimates. Teach students to ask themselves, “ Does it make sense?”, by comparing their final calculations with their estimates.

What Strategies Should We Teach to Promote Students’ Cognitive Flexibility? Specific strategies for fostering flexible thinking and set shifting are often embedded in classroom instruction, but may not be explicitly taught. Students are often unaware of the goals of the lessons or activities, and metacognitive awareness is not actively promoted. The following suggestions and strategies should be used as guides for explicitly helping students to develop flexible mindsets and approaches to the different content areas.

Shifting and Flexible Thinking in Reading As discussed above, reading tasks require students to apply and combine different strategies on the basis of the specific goals, text structures, and content requirements of the different tasks (Brown et al., 1983). When reading novels, for example, students are required to shift between the concrete and the abstract, between the literal and the symbolic, and between the major themes and relevant details. Similarly, students regularly encounter ambiguous language when they read poetry,

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and texts in content areas such as biology or history which also require them to think flexibly about the meanings of specific words, phrases, and sentences. There are three major categories of ambiguous language (Spector, 1997): •• Multiple-meaning words. These include homographs and homophones, such as pair versus pear and weight versus wait. Changing the accent of a word may also vary the meaning of words, as in the example of PROduce versus proDUCE. •• Multiple-meaning phrases. Ambiguous phrases are often idioms, such as “eats like a bird,” “break a leg,” “follow your heart”, and “off the wall.” •• Multiple-meaning sentences. To interpret ambiguous sentences, readers must use syntactic information and context clues embedded in the text to infer the correct meaning. For oral language, listeners may also analyze verbal cues (e.g., stress and intonation) and nonverbal cues (e.g., gestures and body language) to understand the intended meanings of the sentences. They also need to identify which specific parts of sentences can be interpreted in two different ways. Examples include “Jane has grown another foot” and “He grimaced when Ralph took his picture.” Students need to learn how to recognize and analyze multimeaning words, phrases, and sentences, and how to use context clues to shift back and forth between the main ideas and the details. As discussed above, many approaches can be used. For example, riddles, multimeaning words, and ambiguous sentences can be presented in humorous ways to teach students how to shift flexibly among meanings by using context clues, shifting from noun to verb use, or shifting accents or syllables in words. Teachers can present students with jokes or riddles such as those shown in Figures 6.2 and 6.3, and can require students to do the following: •• Read the jokes or riddles. •• Identify the literal and figurative meanings of the words. •• Underline the part of the joke with multiple meanings.

•• What did the ocean say to the shore? Nothing, it just waved. •• What did the calculator say to the student? You can count on me. •• What do you get when you eat crackers in bed? A crumby night’s sleep. •• Why shouldn’t you step on a watch? Because it’s a waste of time.

FIGURE 6.2. Examples of using riddles to promote flexible interpretation of multimeaning words.

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FIGURE 6.3. Teaching cognitive flexibility by illustrating words or phrases in which multiple meanings are associated with verb or noun usage.

•• Illustrate the two or more different meanings by hand or on a computer. •• Discuss the multiple meanings with peer partners. Strategies like the multiple-meaning strategy (M & M strategy) can also help students to unlock the meaning of ambiguous language. To use the M & M strategy, students are encouraged to follow the steps outlined in Figure 6.4. As discussed in detail in Chapter 5, students need memory anchors to remember sequences of steps. Crazy phrases that link the steps in a sequence can often help students to recall the order in which they need to analyze the material. For example, to remember the steps involved in the M & M strategy, students could be presented with one of the following crazy phrases: “Mighty Pandas Crave Large Oreos” (see Figure 6.5), “Mean Possums Crush Lollipops Ominously,” or “Mischie-

Multiple-meaning word—Check each unfamiliar or confusing word in the sentence and ask: •• Could this word have more than one meaning? •• Could it be used as both a verb and a noun? •• Can I change the accent or stress of the word? Possible meanings—List all the possible meanings of the word. Context clues—Circle and analyze context clues in the sentences. Logical meaning—Underline the most logical meaning. Cross out meanings that don’t make sense. Own words: Restate the sentence in your own words. Crazy phrase: “Mighty Pandas Crave Large Oreos.”

FIGURE 6.4. The multiple-meaning strategy (M & M strategy).

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FIGURE 6.5. Use of a crazy phrase to recall the M & M Strategy for shifting flexibly among multiple word meanings.

vous Penguins Collect Lopsided Oranges.” Once they have practiced using the M& M strategy, students should be encouraged to make up their own crazy phrases. Table 6.3 demonstrates how students might use the M & M strategy to comprehend the following ambiguous sentence: “The hiker looked at the scale carefully.” While ambiguous language challenges students to think flexibly at the word and sentence levels, students are also required to shift mindsets when reading paragraphs in textbooks and chapters in novels. To comprehend fiction, for example, it is important that readers shift mindsets to think like the characters in a book. Consider the following excerpt from page 1 of The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, by Karen Cushman (1996): It was a hot day in late August, and nothing was moving in the heat but the flies, when our wagon pulled out of the woods and stopped at the edge of the ravine.

TABLE 6.3. Using the M & M Strategy to Comprehend Ambiguous Language Ambiguity

Possible meanings

Context clues

Logical meaning

Own words

The hiker looked at the scale carefully.

•• Machine for weighing •• Plate on fish or reptiles •• Proportion on a map •• To climb up •• Series of musical tones

•• hiker —suggests that the scale is something one might need in the wilderness •• the —suggests that scale is a noun •• carefully —suggests that the scale is important to the hiker; it might be hard to see

•• Machine for weighing •• Plate on fish or reptiles •• Proportion on a map •• To climb up •• Series of musical tones

•• The hiker looked at the proportion on the map carefully.

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When this passage is interpreted from a contemporary perspective, readers might assume that “our wagon” refers to a station wagon (i.e., a car). However, if the readers are able to shift mindsets and leave behind the time and place in which they live in favor of those in the book (California in 1848), it is more likely that they will activate their background knowledge about this time period and visualize a wooden, horse-drawn wagon. Similarly, in order for readers to understand and analyze a character’s actions, they must discard their personal goals/values and temporarily adopt those of the main character. Use of a Venn diagram helps students to make this shift. This approach makes explicit the differences between the readers and the main character, and students need to think about the similarities and differences when they draw the Venn. To help readers change mindsets, students can be encouraged to refer to the Venn diagram before each reading session. Figure 6.6 is an example of a structured and scaffolded Venn diagram that focuses on the setting.

Shifting and Flexible Thinking in Written Language Persuasive and analytical writing requires students to develop an argument or thesis, which is supported by specific evidence and examples. To facilitate planning and organization, writers are often required to complete a linear graphic organizer that outlines their main idea and supporting details. For some students, this is an effective approach. However, for those who have difficulty with flexible thinking, it may be challenging for them to shift fluidly between their main ideas and supporting details. Consequently, they may choose examples (such as quotes or facts) that either lend little support to the main idea or are entirely unrelated. Use of a graphic organizer that makes explicit connections between the main idea and supporting details may help writers to shift more fluidly between the two (see Appen-

My Setting

Time Year: Current events: Popular activities: Place: Where I live: What it is like:

Character‛s Setting Time Year: Current events: Popular activities: Place: Where he/she lives: What it is like:

FIGURE 6.6. Structured Venn diagram to help students think flexibly about a story’s setting.

154 SCAFFOLDING EXECUTIVE FUNCTION PROCESSES

dix 11). This graphic organizer can be used as a prewriting strategy for organizing paragraphs or essays. It encourages students to provide specific examples, and it also helps to ensure that the details support the argument and promote the main idea. Another method for promoting flexible thinking when writing is to teach students to develop counterarguments to their theses or main ideas. Introducing a counterargument is an effective technique for an introduction or conclusion to a persuasive essay. Developing an introductory or concluding statement that challenges an argument, but is weighted more heavily in the direction of the writer’s opinion, encourages a student to think deeply and flexibly about the topic at hand. Note taking is another area of written language that requires students to think flexibly. When taking notes during a class lecture, students are required to listen actively to the information, transfer it into their own words, and record important information in note form. Similarly, effective note taking while reading requires students to read the information and paraphrase it in words that are meaningful and familiar to them. However, the act of paraphrasing is extremely challenging for many students, especially those who have difficulty thinking flexibly. As a result, these students frequently resort to copying the exact words that appear in the text; this not only compromises their understanding, but also reduces the likelihood that they will retain the information over time. Thus it is essential to provide students with explicit instruction focused on ways of paraphrasing information for note taking. The following four-step process for teaching paraphrasing is effective (Vener, 2002): 1. 2. 3. 4.

Find the words you want to change. Use a thesaurus to find appropriate synonyms for these words. Replace the original words with the synonyms. Rearrange the sentence so that it makes sense, without changing its original meaning.

Teachers should also explain to students that their notes need to be legible and should contain accurate information, but that they do not have to use perfect spelling and grammar or to write in complete sentences. Instead, students can use bullets or numbers to take notes and can develop personalized systems of abbreviations for common words.

Shifting and Flexible Thinking in Math In math, shifting is essential for efficient and accurate calculations and analyses of word problems. Students often need to shift flexibly between operations (e.g., long division involves shifting from division to multiplication to subtraction). Students

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are also often taught to predict the answers and generate estimates before solving problems. In other words, they need to shift flexibly between the initial “ballpark figure” or estimate and the actual answer. Moreover, when solving word problems, students often need to shift fluidly between numbers and words. For example, they need to know that the key phrase all together indicates addition, whereas the phrase less than calls for subtraction. When asked to “explain their work,” students need to work in the opposite direction and convert their numerical computations into written language. One way to promote flexible thinking in math is to expose students to multiple representations of mathematical concepts and procedures (Roditi & Steinberg, 2007). Many teachers already use multiple representations when teaching fractions, decimals, and percents, all of which can be expressed by using numbers, words, and visual or concrete manipulatives that illustrate part-to-whole relationships. To help students think flexibly about the concepts they are learning, this type of instruction can be extended to many more mathematical constructs. Positive and negative numbers, for example, can be illustrated by using a traditional number line or the analogy of temperature on a thermometer. Similarly, asking students to convert numbers into graphs, tables, and charts helps them to shift from the smaller details to the larger patterns and trends. When learning new concepts or skills, students are frequently required to practice problems presented in a particular format in class or for homework. To promote mastery of mathematical skills, this format is often highly structured and repetitive. For tests or quizzes, teachers often change the format to evaluate their students’ level of comprehension, in addition to their ability to apply these skills. Teachers may also group together different types of problems that students have previously practiced only in isolation. On these tasks, students often have difficulty shifting mindsets and recognizing familiar problems that are presented in a different format. They also struggle to differentiate between mixed problem types (see Figure 6.7).

Example 1: Calculation Homework: What is 20 percent of 80? Test: 16 is what percent of 80? Example 2: Word Problem Homework: John earns the following scores on his English tests: 82, 90, 76, and 87. What is his average test score for the semester? Test: Rachel’s average test score for the semester in history class is an 89. She earned the following scores on three of the tests: 92, 88, and 81. What score must she have earned on the fourth test?

FIGURE 6.7. Examples of math problems with different formats.

156 SCAFFOLDING EXECUTIVE FUNCTION PROCESSES •• Is this problem the same as or different from the one I did before? •• If it is different, what is different about it? For example, does it require a different operation or a different algorithm? •• What specific steps do I need to follow in order to solve this problem?

FIGURE 6.8. Suggestions for helping students to shift among problem types.

To address situations such as those in Figure 6.7, it is important to teach students how to shift flexibly from one problem type to another or one format to another. When completing a page of multiple problem types for homework or on a test, for example, students can be encouraged to stop and ask themselves the specific questions presented in Figure 6.8. These questions help them identify the similarities and differences between the problem they are currently working on and the previous problems in that set. These guided questions are intended to help students not to get “stuck” in one approach, but to shift flexibly in order to recognize the differences between problems. Students can then recognize that a different approach or operation may be needed and can generate a more accurate plan of action.

Shifting and Flexible Thinking for Studying and Taking Tests As discussed above, preparing for tests and quizzes is a process that requires flexible thinking on many different levels. Students need to be able to extract information from a variety of sources, including textbooks, homework assignments, and class notes. Memorizing the specific details and integrating them with the larger concepts also require cognitive flexibility. Students with executive function difficulties often experience an overload of information, so that they do not know where to begin; as a result, they often feel as if their minds are like “clogged funnels” (see Figure 1.2 in Chapter 1). Because they do not shift approaches flexibly and cannot sift and sort the information, they cannot unclog their funnels easily. Consequently, their writing, study skills, and test performance are often compromised, and their academic grades often do not reflect their true intellectual ability. Many students tend to use the same study techniques for all subject areas. Although it may be effective to focus on the textbook to prepare for a history test, this may be less helpful in math, where it is often more beneficial to review earlier classwork and homework assignments. Students need to be taught that different subject areas require different study techniques, and that they need to be flexible in their preparation for tests and quizzes. Helping students to develop a systematic study plan for each subject area, such as the one in Figure 6.9, is one way to

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157

Math Make a flash card for each different type of problem. Each card should include these details: •• Name of problem •• How to recognize it •• Steps to solve it •• Example •• Strategy for remembering the information Make a practice test with examples of each type of problem. Check work carefully. Redo the problems that were challenging or incorrect.

English Write a one- or two-sentence summary of each chapter in the novel. Identify important examples and quotes from each chapter. Review the notes from class. Try to predict the essay question. Create an outline for a response.

FIGURE 6.9. Examples of personalized study plans for math and English.

help students recognize this. Students should develop individualized study plans reflecting the study strategies that have proved to be most effective for them. Even within the same subject area, students should also be taught to study differently for tests with different formats. For a multiple-choice format test in history, students are often tested on detailed, factual information. For an essay test in history, however, students need to be taught how to shift away from the facts and details to the topics or major concepts. They need to be able to “tell the story” embedded in the content, rather than simply cramming hundreds of facts/details and then forgetting these immediately after the test. For short-answer and essay tests, students are required to select the most relevant factual information and to connect these details to a larger theme. One effective study strategy for such tests is to review the textbook, class notes, and homework assignments, and them to make strategy notecards with important people, dates, places, and events on one side, and the corresponding descriptions on the other. Students should also write down their personalized strategies for remembering key terms and for shifting from the major concepts to the relevant details, such as a crazy phrases, acronyms, or cartoons (see Chapters 2 and 5 for more details). In fact, it is beneficial for students to create three-column notes, where they record the main idea in one column, the supporting details in a second column, and their memory strategies in the last column. The Triple Note Tote strategy from BrainCogs (ResearchILD & FableVision, 2003) can be used in this way for

158

SCAFFOLDING EXECUTIVE FUNCTION PROCESSES

taking notes, outlining, studying, and self-quizzing (see Chapters 2, 4, and 5 for more information).

Helping Leo and Sally to Think More Flexibly As demonstrated by the descriptions of Leo and Sally at the beginning of this chapter, students’ difficulties in thinking flexibly can affect their learning and academic performance in a variety of ways. Therefore, it is important to select the techniques used to promote flexible thinking carefully, in order to match students’ individual learning profiles and address their academic needs. Table 6.4 provides a few suggestions for helping Leo and Sally think more flexibly and for addressing their respective areas of difficulty: in math and science (Leo) and in language arts (Sally).

TABLE 6.4. Suggestions for Helping Leo and Sally to Think Flexibly Difficulty

Recommendations Leo

Applying familiar information to new problems or situations presented on science and math quizzes and tests

•• For novel problems, teach Leo to ask himself what is the same and what is different or new about this problem versus problems he has completed previously for homework. He should then use this information to create a plan of action.

Shifting approaches when solving math problems

•• Use multiple representations of information (e.g., algorithms, graphs, diagrams) to teach math concepts and skills. Make the connections between the different representations explicit and clear.

•• Create a study plan for tests and quizzes, which includes having Leo practice applying the skills and information that he knows to new situations. Develop Leo’s metacognitive awareness by providing explicit examples that emphasize cognitive flexibility. Provide opportunities for modeling, guided practice, and independent practice.

•• Develop Leo’s metacognitive awareness by providing opportunities for him to reflect on his strategy use. Leo could be given extra credit for completing strategy reflection sheets for his homework or tests. Sally Identifying the main ideas while reading and note-taking

•• Teach Sally how to change subheadings into questions (see Chapters 4 and 5) to extract the main ideas from each section of her textbook. Encourage her to write down the answer on a Post-it Note that is stuck directly to the book, or to use a three-column note-taking format (see Chapters 4 and 5). •• For note taking, Sally can paraphrase information and use a personalized system of abbreviations.

Shifting flexibly between the main idea (or thesis) and details in written language

•• Before writing essays, Sally can use the STAR strategy (see Chapters 1 and 5) or the graphic organizer in Appendix 12, to ensure that the details and quotes she includes in her essay support her main idea. •• When she studies for essay and short-answer tests, Sally can predict what the questions might be and make a draft or outline of her answers.

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159

Conclusion Cognitive flexibility, or the ability to think flexibly and to shift mindsets, is one of the least understood executive function processes. There is a need for many more studies that systematically evaluate the links between cognitive flexibility and performance in the different academic domains. It is important that teachers build time into the daily curriculum for teaching students to develop metacognitive mindsets and to think strategically about their work. Students need to learn why and how they can approach all academic tasks flexibly, so they can shift easily “from the top of the mountain to the bottom,” as they focus alternately on the major themes and the relevant details (see Figure 1.1 in Chapter 1). In doing so, they learn to prioritize, to sift and sort information, and to “unclog the funnel” (see Figure 1.2 in Chapter 1) so that they can be productive and successful in school and in life.

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7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 2: Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Shifting to Overcome Academic and Life Stresses

Additional resources (Repeated from Session 1)

Executive Function and Equity How Executive Function Curricula Can Help Level the Playing Field in Education Abstract Executive function (EF) processes–goal setting, cognitive flexibility, organizing and prioritizing, memorizing, self-checking and monitoring–are critically important for learning and social behavior. This white paper explores the connections between EF development and equitable student outcomes. For the purpose of clarity, we examine equity through the lens of socio-economic status while recognizing the multi-faceted and intersectional nature of equity in education.

Key Takeaways: • Executive function mediates the relationship between academic achievement and socio-economic status. • When teachers address students’ executive function deficits this helps to decrease SES related achievement gaps. • A structured, systematic, and explicit approach to teaching executive function strategies empowers students to learn how to learn and fosters self-understanding.

Executive Function Processes: The Foundation of Academic Success From the earliest grades, academic tasks require the coordination and integration of numerous processes as well as the ability to think flexibly and to self-check. Reading for meaning, solving math problems, elaborating in writing, summarizing, note-taking, and studying all require students to set 1 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

goals, organize and prioritize information, shift perspectives, think and problem-solve flexibly, memorize, and self-monitor. These executive function processes therefore have a major impact on the accuracy and efficiency of students’ performance in academic and social situations (Meltzer, 2010, 2013, 2018; Meltzer et al., 2021). Poverty and other socio-economic factors create toxic stress that affects many areas of executive function (Aran-Filippetti & Richaud de Minzi, 2012) such as working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition (Rosen et al., 2020). In fact, substantial gaps in working memory and cognitive flexibility among students from lower socio-economic backgrounds have been identified as early as second grade (Little, 2017; see Figure 1). A recent meta-analysis of 299 studies showed that there is a significant relationship between executive function skills and academic outcomes throughout elementary school (Spiegel et al., 2021).

Figure 1. Executive function (EF) scores by SES quintile (Little, 2017). Note: The Numbers Reversed Task was used for working memory and Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) for cognitive flexibility.

Why It Matters for Educators Research has shown that executive function mediates SES disparities in school achievement; therefore, interventions targeting executive function could help to close the SES-related achievement gap (Lawson & Farrah, 2017). In this regard, explicit, systematic teaching of EF strategies in the context of the academic curriculum can make a significant difference for children across the SES spectrum. Furthermore, EF strategy instruction can 2 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

promote improved school performance throughout childhood and adolescence (Best et al., 2011) as well as increased persistence and resilience (Lawson & Farrah, 2017; Meltzer, 2013, 2018). Data suggest that addressing students’ EF deficits may help decrease SES related achievement gaps (Lawson & Farah, 2017). Working memory, for instance, actually mediates the association between parent education and math performance (Waters et al., 2021). Similarly, the ability to plan in third grade mediates the income-achievement gap in math and aspects of reading (Crook & Evans, 2014). Figure 2: 37% of the SES gap in middle schoolers’ math achievement is accounted for by EF (Albert et al., 2020).

What Educators Can Do: The SMARTS Approach Teachers can address their students’ executive function challenges by using a structured, systematic, and explicit approach to help students develop an understanding of their own learning profiles and executive function strategies that match their profiles. Explicit instruction in executive function strategies is critically important for improving students’ effort, resilience, and academic performance (Meltzer, 2010, 2013, 2018; Meltzer et al., 2021). The SMARTS Executive Function strategy curriculum is a research-based program that is designed to foster metacognitive awareness and executive function strategy use (Meltzer, Greschler, Stacey, et al., 2015). SMARTS Online addresses metacognitive awareness, goal setting, cognitive flexibility, organizing and prioritizing, accessing working memory, and self-monitoring. The SMARTS curriculum provides a structured, systematic curriculum that helps educators teach students effective executive function 3 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

strategies. Hundreds of schools in 45 states and 25 countries utilize SMARTS as a tool to teach their students to learn how to learn.

SMARTS School Spotlight: The Arapahoe Schools Two administrators from the Arapahoe Schools in Wyoming—Dr. Julie Jarvis, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, and Veronica Miller, Instructional Facilitator—emphasized how explicit teaching of SMARTS EF strategies has helped their schools serve “the whole child” and address the educational inequities their students face. According to Dr. Jarvis, 99% of students who attend the Arapahoe Schools are from the Northern Arapaho and the Eastern Shoshone tribes. She noted that the Native American population is the most underserved in Wyoming as well as in the United States. While the rest of Wyoming maintained in-person schooling throughout the pandemic, the Arapahoe Schools were fully virtual until February of 2021, widening the gap between students at the Arapahoe Schools and their peers. At the Arapahoe Schools, language and culture preservation are priorities. It is vital that educators are aware of and sensitive to the historical trauma and language erasure that the Northern Arapaho tribe has faced. Dr. Jarvis commented that the Arapahoe schools use trauma-informed strategies to support students’ academic and emotional needs when students’ “fight-or-flight” responses are activated in order to engage students in learning and social activities.

Veronica Miller highlighted the ways in which SMARTS executive function lessons have helped Arapahoe Schools address socio-economic inequities. Goal setting exercises help students and teachers to create shared visions of continual academic progress. Lessons on planning and organizing teach students how to manage their workloads, and instruction on metacognition and recall strategies help students focus on important details while reading and learning. Dr. Jarvis and Ms. Miller’s comments illustrate the tremendous potential of addressing executive function challenges to empower students to understand their own learning profiles and to develop the persistence and resilience needed for success in school and in life. With greater self-understanding and a toolkit of customized executive function strategies, students can find their personalized pathways to success.

What Teachers Can Do ➢ Promote students’ self-understanding by having them brainstorm a list of their strengths and challenges. ➢ Teach students to set goals and track their progress so they can visualize their improvement. ➢ Help students develop personalized toolkits of strategies they can use to succeed inside and out of the classroom.

Learn more about ResearchILD Under the leadership of Dr Lynn Meltzer, ResearchILD has become a leader in the field of executive function strategies. Executive function represents a powerful tool for developing equitable and anti-racist educational systems. Through our longstanding work in underserved communities, we have worked closely with teachers and administrators to integrate executive function strategy instruction into project-based learning with an emphasis on student and community empowerment. In 2020, ResearchILD launched the Executive Function and Equity Fellowship, with the goal of helping educators from across the US and globe to address students’ executive function needs through an equity lens. Learn more about SMARTS and ResearchILD’s commitment to supporting educators in leveraging executive function strategy development as a tool for equity.

Sources Albert, W. D., Hanson, J. L., Skinner, A. T., Dodge, K. A., Steinberg, L., Deater-Deckard, K., Bornstein, M. H., & Lansford, J. E. (2020). Individual Differences in Executive Function Partially Explain the Socioeconomic Gradient in Middle-School Academic Achievement. Developmental Science, 23(5). Aran-Filippetti, V., & Richaud de Minzi, M. C. (2012). A Structural Analysis of Executive Functions and Socioeconomic Status in School-Age Children: Cognitive Factors as Effect Mediators. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 173(4), 393–416. Best, J. R., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2011). Relations between Executive Function and Academic Achievement from Ages 5 to 17 in a Large, Representative National Sample. Learning and individual differences, 21(4), 327–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.01.007 Crook, S. R., & Evans, G. W. (2014). The Role of Planning Skills in the Income-Achievement Gap. Child Development, 85(2), 405–411. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12129 Lawson, G. M., & Farah, M. J. (2017). Executive Function as a Mediator between SES and Academic Achievement throughout Childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41(1), 94–104. Little, M. (2017). Racial and Socioeconomic Gaps in Executive Function Skills in Early Elementary School: Nationally Representative Evidence From the ECLS-K:2011. Educational Researcher, 46(2), 103–109. Meltzer, L. (2010). Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom. Guilford Press. Meltzer, L. (2013). Executive Function and Metacognition in Students with Learning Disabilities: New Approaches to Assessment and Intervention. International Journal for Research in Learning Disabilities, 1(2), 31–63. Meltzer, L. (2018). Creating strategic classrooms and schools: Embedding executive function strategies in the curriculum. In Executive function in education: From theory to practice, 2nd ed (pp. 263–299). The Guilford Press. Meltzer, L., Greschler, M. A., Davis, K., & Vanderberg, C. (2021). Executive Function, Metacognition, and Language: Promoting Student Success With Explicit Strategy Instruction. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 6(6), 1343–1356. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_PERSP-21-00034 Meltzer, L., Greschler, M., Kurkul, K., Stacey, W., Ross, E., & Snow, E. (2015). SMARTS Executive Function and Mentoring Program. www.smarts-ef.org. Rosen, M. L., Hagen, M. P., Lurie, L. A., Miles, Z. E., Sheridan, M. A., Meltzoff, A. N., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2020). Cognitive Stimulation as a Mechanism Linking Socioeconomic Status with Executive Function: A Longitudinal Investigation. Child Development, 91(4). Spiegel, J. A., Goodrich, J. M., Morris, B. M., Osborne, C. M., & Lonigan, C. J. (2021). Relations between executive functions and academic outcomes in elementary school children: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 147(4), 329–351. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000322 7 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG | 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Waters, N. E., Ahmed, S. F., Tang, S., Morrison, F. J., & Davis-Kean, P. E. (2021). Pathways from socioeconomic status to early academic achievement: The role of specific executive functions. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 54, 321–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.09.008

PROMISING PRACTICES

by Mark Katz, PhD

Tailored for Young Learners: SMARTS Elementary OW DO WE EMPOWER CHILDREN to tackle

difficult problems and achieve personal goals, both in school and in life? Lynn Meltzer, PhD, president and director of the Institutes for Learning and Development, says one possible way is to immerse them in a school culture that values, fosters, and celebrates metacognitive awareness. “Metacognitive awareness is the foundation for understanding our strengths and challenges and how they impact our learning,” says Meltzer. “And that’s the key ingredient for identifying and then using executive function strategies that will work best for us when tackling problems and striving toward our goals.” She adds, “This is true for all of us, whether or not we experience ADHD.” The exciting part is that we now know how to teach metacognitive awareness to students of all ages, she says,

SHUTTERSTOCK/ VECTORFUSIONART

even young school-aged children. Meltzer and her team at the Institutes for Learning and Development have created a curriculum that does just that—and more. It’s called SMARTS Elementary (SMARTS = Strategies, Motivation, Awareness, Resilience, Talents, Success).

Fostering metacognitive awareness SMARTS Elementary comprises thirty lessons, all designed to teach, foster, and celebrate the use of executive function strategies in ways that lead to greater school success. They do this by helping children become more metacognitively aware. Designed for grades 3 to 5, the user-friendly, strengths-based curriculum weaves highinterest activities throughout to help children continually explore their strengths and challenges. At the same time the curriculum also weaves in the specific executive func-

August 2019

tion strategies that will be most helpful when it comes to performing better in school and in life. In a SMARTS classroom, learning effective executive function strategies no longer pertains only to children with ADHD. We all have unique learning profiles. And we all benefit from learning more about how we learn so that we can determine which executive function strategies will help us do better throughout our day. Says Meltzer, “When students develop metacognitive awareness so that they understand their strengths and weaknesses as well as how they learn, they can become flexible thinkers and problem-solvers who can succeed academically and in life.” Meltzer and her team are also the authors of the original SMARTS curriculum, which was the recipient of CHADD’s 2018 Innovative Program of the Year Award. The original curriculum is designed for middle school and high school students. ResearchILD’s elementary school version is intended to teach younger students similar strategies but at an earlier age. “Teachers have long been asking us to create a curriculum for elementary school students,” says Michael Greschler, MEd, director of SMARTS. “We agree. Extending our curriculum to earlier grades helps to prepare students for future school and life demands that place increasing emphasis on executive function.” He adds, “SMARTS Elementary will not only help elementary students perform better today, it’ll help them perform better down the road as well.”

Tailored to younger students All SMARTS Elementary lessons are developmentally tailored to the needs of students in grades 3 to 5. Some lessons are similar to those in the original curriculum, others are new. As with the original curriculum, all still target five areas under the executive function umbrella: ●● cognitive flexibility: the ability to think flexibly and shift focus ●● goal setting: the ability to set realistic goals and a step by step plan for achieving them ●● organization and prioritizing: knowing how to manage and prioritize day-to-day school responsibilities, such as completing assignments when due, turning in completed homework ●● accessing working memory: learning to access information efficiently ●● self-monitoring and self-checking: asking oneself questions such as, Am I on task right now? How can I readjust my strategies to get back on task? Have I re-checked my test responses? According to Meltzer, “The SMARTS curriculum has 6

Attention

been designed to promote metacognitive awareness, to teach executive function strategies explicitly and systematically, and to promote academic self-concept and resilience.” The thirty SMARTS lessons are divided into six separate units: ●● an introductory unit that familiarizes students with metacognitive and executive function terms and practices ●● a second unit that includes strategies for teaching students how to set goals and then achieve them ●● a third unit that includes strategies to help students learn to shift flexibly between multiple perspectives ●● a fourth unit that includes strategies to help students organize materials and information, and to develop an understanding of time, including how to estimate it, how to measure it, and how to prioritize it ●● a fifth unit that includes strategies to improve working memory, lock information into long-term memory, and remember unfamiliar information ●● a sixth unit that includes strategies to help students to stay on task for longer periods of time, self-monitor their work, and better regulate their emotions. The units conclude with a wrap-up lesson, where students review SMARTS strategies and create a Strategies for Success sheet they can use moving forward. (These unit descriptions represent only a brief overview of areas covered; find a more detailed description at www.smarts-ef.org.) Each SMARTS Elementary lesson is divided into four twenty-minute modules: ●● an activity designed to directly engage students in the lesson and increase their interest (referred to as a “metacognitive activator”) ●● guided instruction, where teachers model the strategy and guide students through its successful implementation ●● independent practice, where students practice the strategy in class on their own ●● reflection, where students spend time reflecting upon how the strategy worked (referred to as a “metacognitive wrap-up”). All SMARTS lessons provide teachers with specific learning objectives, methods of instruction (such as discussion, direct PowerPoint instruction, guided and independent practice), necessary materials for implementing the lesson, and specific teacher preparation instructions. Lessons are also well scripted and easy to follow, with each flexibly tailored so that it can be integrated into academic lessons throughout the school day. “When teachers create a classroom culture that promotes metacognitive awareness and self-understanding, they can maximize the effectiveness of teaching execu-

tive function strategies in the context of the curriculum,” says Meltzer. She observes that when classroom instruction promotes metacognitive awareness so that students understand their profiles of strengths and weaknesses, they are more likely to generalize their strategy use across content areas. SMARTS Elementary also provides ongoing updates for parents on executive function strategies their children are learning at school, so that strategies can be practiced and reinforced at home as well. School study teams will find that SMARTS Elementary lessons can be easily incorporated into 504 Plans and IEPs. The curriculum includes a series of measures that can help school study teams, parents, and students assess progress toward any or all of the five executive function processes described earlier. The curriculum is also compatible with Response to Intervention (RtI). All students can benefit from executive function strategies—strong students with no learning issues, as well as students just starting to exhibit attentional, executive function and/or other learning-related challenges, and students whose challenges in these areas have already grown more serious.

Creating a culture of executive function strategy users Meltzer and her team are well aware of the role that executive function strategies will play in the children’s lives down the road. That’s why their curriculum is designed to create a culture of executive function users. In a SMARTS classroom, teachers and students celebrate their use. Students, in fact, will actually earn credit for using them. Meltzer reminds us, however, that simply teaching executive function strategies alone is not the answer. Students have to link their use of executive function strategies to specific academic tasks (reading, math and writing), and practice using them throughout the school day so that they come to see the benefits. Meltzer also reminds us that new pathways to greater success at school and in life begin when we become metacognitively aware, a necessary first step in empowering all children to tackle difficult problems and achieve personal goals. A clinical and consulting psychologist, Mark Katz, PhD, is the director of Learning Development Services, an educational, psychological, and neuropsychological center in San Diego, California. As a contributing editor to Attention magazine, he writes the Promising Practices column and serves on the editorial advisory board. He is also a former member of CHADD’s professional advisory board and a recipient of the CHADD Hall of Fame Award. FOR MORE INFO Meltzer and members of her team will present a workshop for parents, teachers, and others interested in executive function strategies and the SMARTS Elementary curriculum—as well as the original curriculum for older students—at the Annual International Conference on ADHD in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this November. Learn more about the Annual International Conference on ADHD at www.chadd.org. Learn more about SMARTS Elementary at www.smarts-ef.org.

August 2019

EA RC HI

RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

The Executive Function and School Performance:

A 21st Century Challenge

Academic success in our 21st century schools is increasingly linked with children’s mastery of a wide range of skills that rely on their use of executive function strategies. The crucial role of executive function processes begins in the preschool years and increases as students progress through middle and high school when they are expected to master complex skills that involve summarizing, notetaking and writing. Success depends on students’ ability to plan, organize and prioritize tasks, materials, and information, separate main ideas from details, think flexibly, memorize content and monitor their progress. It is important to help children to understand how they think and learn, and to teach them to use strategies in five major executive function areas.

The Impact of Executive Function Weaknesses on Academic Performance

Mike’s performance has been unpredictable all year! He is so bright and creative and his teachers report that he participates in classes. However, homework is a daily battle that I dread. Mike’s teachers recently told me that he is often late with papers and projects and that he is lazy. (Parent of a 5th grader)

When I have to write a paper, I try to write but I can’t figure how to get my mind Major EF Function Areas:

unstuck. I get so frustrated when I have written only a few sentences after an hour so I give up. (John, 7th grade)

writing or completing long-term projects, they often become “stuck,” the information gets “clogged,” and they struggle to produce. This model* of a “clogged funnel” (Meltzer, 2007, 2010, 2018) best explains the challenges faced by students with executive function weaknesses who often: •

struggle with open-ended tasks (e.g., organizing their calendars) because they are unable to prioritize and organize the various steps; have difficulty shifting between different components of the task (e.g., switching from outlining to writing, from one academic subject to another, or from calculating a math fact to checking the answer);

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over-focus on the details, ignoring the bigger picture;

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struggle to take notes or to outline because they lose track of the main ideas; have difficulty checking their work without structure or guidance;

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forget to hand in completed work.

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Students who cannot “unclog the funnel” may have difficulty showing what they know. Their grades often do not reflect their ability and, in spite of their effort, they may be labeled as “lazy.” As they enter middle and high school, where the demands for independence and efficiency increase, they often become frustrated, lose self-confidence, and, as a result, make less effort in school.

When students like John need to coordinate the skills required for tasks such as

3 4

Shifting/Thinking flexibly

Organizing

Prioritizing

Accessing working memory

Self-monitoring/Self-checking

Without EF strategies, students face challenges of too much information without adequate coping mechanisms.

Executive Function Strategies: An Overview Executive function strategies provide an important foundation for improving students’ academic performance, confidence and effort. When students like Sarah use effective strategies, they develop a deeper understanding of their unique strengths and weaknesses and begin to see improved grades. Encourage your child or teen to use strategies and, in doing so, keep the following principles in mind: •

Don’t assume that your child already knows how to use a strategy.

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Children and teens need to learn when to use which strategies and in what contexts. Not all strategies work for everyone all the time.

I learned and the confidence and

You know your child! Help your child to personalize the strategies that work best so that these techniques become more meaningful.

used the strategies and got higher

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My success is due to the strategies self-understanding I gained after I grades. (Sarah, 11th grader)

SOME EF STRATEGIES TO USE AS STARTING POINTS: Goal setting • Help your child to set attainable goals that are well-defined. • Break goals down into smaller steps and talk about alternative approaches.

• Provide space at home to file old tests and study guides that may be needed at a later date.

Accessing Working Memory

Shifting/Thinking Flexibly

• Encourage your child to create his or her own silly sentences, acronyms or cartoons to remember information.

• Expose your child to jokes, riddles and puns which are enjoyable ways of learning to shift between different meanings.

Prioritizing

• Teach your child to think flexibly when solving math problems by comparing their estimates with their answers to word problems or discussing a variety of approaches to a problem.

Organizing Ideas • Encourage your child to use outlines, graphic organizers or webs to organize ideas for large projects. • Encourage your child to use two- or threecolumn notes when reading or studying.

Organizing Materials • Work with your child to develop a system for organizing materials in folders, backpacks, and lockers. • Make sure your child has a designated place for completed assignments. Encourage your child to clean out his or her backpack once a week.

• Have your child “divide and conquer” upcoming assignments and projects by planning to complete larger assignments in steps in order to avoid last-minute panics. • Help your child to create songs, stories and acronyms to remember the steps involved in completing and checking written papers and math problems.

Self-monitoring/Self-Checking • Children need to learn to check their schoolwork before turning it in. Help your child to develop personalized checklists to correct his or her most common mistakes. Encouraging children and teens to use executive function strategies puts them on the path to success in school and in life. See our SMARTS Executive Function program for more strategies: www.smarts-ef.org.

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SMARTS Executive Function Program

Developed by Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D. and her team of educational therapists, psychologists, researchers, and methodologists at ResearchILD, SMARTS is an online, downloadable, ready-to-use executive function curriculum for middle school and high school students. SMARTS teaches practical strategies that help students to understand their own learning profiles. Easy-to-teach lessons help students access strategies that match their learning styles. SMARTS, for use in both general education and special education settings, integrates executive function strategies into existing curricula. SMARTS can be applied flexibly across subject areas and academic settings, from 1:1 tutoring and small groups, to large classrooms. SMARTS teaches students how to reflect and understand their strengths and challenges, promoting metacognitive awareness, the key to life-long learning. Since the fall of 2015, more than a thousand teachers around the world have joined the SMARTS community. To learn more, and to try out a free lesson, visit: www.smarts-ef.org.

Winner of the CHAD Innovative Program award, SMARTS Online makes EF strategies accessible and affordable worldwide.

Resources: Publications: Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success. New York, NY: The Random House.

Meltzer, L. (2010). Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom (What works for special needs learners series). New York: Guilford Press.

Goldstein, S. & Naglieri, J. (2015) (Eds.) Executive Functioning Handbook. New York: Springer.

Meltzer, L.J., Greschler, M., Kurkul, K., & Stacey, W. (2015). Executive function and peer mentoring: Fostering metacognitive awareness, effort, and academic success.

Meltzer, L.J. (Ed). (2018) (2nd Ed.) Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice. New York: Guilford Press. Meltzer, L.J. (2014). Teaching executive function processes: Promoting metacognition, strategy use, and effort. In Goldstein, S. & Naglieri, J.(Eds.) Executive Functioning Handbook. New York: Springer, 445-474.

Harris, K., & Meltzer, L. (Eds.) The Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social Skills. New York: Guilford Press, 1-32. Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.

Audio: Meltzer, L. (speaker). (2017, September,26). Project Runaway [Audio blog post]. http://cerebralmatters.com/podcast/podcast/episode-12/ Meltzer, L. (speaker). (2017,October,3). From Pimples to Projects: Taking Charge of How to Learn [Audio blog post] http://cerebralmatters.com/podcast/?s=from+pimples+to+projects-299. Michael Greschler, M.Ed.

Authors: Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D. is the President and Director of the Institutes for Learning and Development (ResearchILD & ILD) in Lexington, MA. She is a Fellow and Past-President of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. She is the Founder and Program Chair of the Annual Learning Differences Conference which she has chaired for the past 34 years. For 30 years, she held positions as Associate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Child Development at Tufts University. Her 40 years of clinical work, research, publications, and presentations have focused on understanding the complexity of learning and attention problems. Her extensive publications include articles, chapters and books, most recently, Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (2018), Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom (2010) and The Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social Skills (2015), co-edited with Karen Harris. Together with her ResearchILD staff, she has developed SMARTS, an evidence-based executive function and peer mentoring/ coaching curriculum for middle and high school students (www.smarts-ef.org). Michael Greschler, M.Ed. is the Director of the SMARTS program at ResearchILD. Over the past 5 years, he has worked on expanding the SMARTS program, refining the SMARTS Online Curriculum, and providing SMARTS Trainings to administrators and teachers across the U.S.A. Since the launch of SMARTS in the fall of 2015, Michael has supported more than 1,000 SMARTS educators around the world, helping them to bring the power of executive function strategies into their classrooms.

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RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT 4 Militia Drive, Suite 20 Lexington, Massachusetts 02421 781-861-3711

Executive Function Checklist for Remote Learning Now more than ever, teachers need executive function strategies as they learn to navigate and adjust to the rapidly changing pace of remote and home-based learning. Learn from Dr L nn Melt er and ResearchILD s Executive Function experts everything you need to know about supporting the executive function needs of your students from elementary school through college as they learn at home (Meltzer, 2018, 2010). ResearchILD s mission is to empo er all students to find their unique pathways to academic success and ResearchILD s SMARTS E ecuti e Function Curriculum for grades 3-12 is designed to help teachers to teach these life-changing strategies systematically( www.researchild.org, www.smarts-ef.org). Best Practices when teaching Executive Function Strategies ❏ TEACH EXECUTIVE FUNCTION STRATEGIES EXPLICITLY: Make sure you are taking time to model the strategies your students need! Use the checklist belo to think about ho to address our students e ecuti e function needs at this time. ❏ PROMOTE SELF-REFLECTION: Give students a chance to think about their strengths and challenges and their learning profiles as they shift to working remotely. This will promote engagement and self-understanding in students so that they are able to apply strategies independently in novel situations. ❏ PROMOTE GOAL-SETTING & TIME MANAGEMENT: One of the biggest challenges for students working at home is that they cannot ask you for help in real time! For any assignment or class, help students to plan and persevere if they get stuck. Use the following checklist to integrate SMARTS executive function strategies into your teaching, ensuring that all students are able to keep up during these challenging times. Weekly planning ❏ BREAK IT DOWN: Give students time to break down assignments into meaningful parts either during class or as part of their assignments. ❏ WRITE A PLAN: Make sure that students are writing down their work plans, whether on paper, using electronic calendars, or with to-do lists. All the assignments are online, but if students do not write out their own individual work plans, they will not reflect on the work they have done and what they still have to complete. ❏ PROMOTE CANDO GOALS (www.smarts-ef.org): Consider engaging students in goal- setting, whether for academic goals, social goals, exercise goals etc. Teach students to make sure goals are personalized and achievable goals by following the CANDO acronym. CANDO goals are Clear, Appropriate, Numerical, Doable, and with Obstacles considered (CANDO) (SMARTS Executive Function curriculum Unit 2 Lesson 1). © ResearchILD, 2020 | www.researchild.org | Lexington, MA | 781-861-3711

Daily planning ❏ ASSIGN PRODUCTION TIME: Help your students set a specific chunk of time each day during which all distractions are removed and work is the priority i.e. their production time Check out our free SMARTS lesson A Weekly Planning for more on production time. ❏ WRITE IT DOWN: Help students create a daily plan with tasks clearly labeled as ha e to s obligations and ant to s aspirations Ho can the ensure they get all their ha e to s done ❏ ESTIMATE AND REFLECT: As students are expected to work independently, accurate time estimation is essential. Include time estimates with your assignments and have students reflect on how accurate these estimates are. Ho does this influence the amount of production time the need daily? Procrastination and Motivation ❏ STAYING ON TASK: Provide your students with strategies they can use to help them self-monitor their productivity (e.g., productivity apps, etc.) Ask them to reflect on what helps them to be productive and identify top distractors that get in their way. ❏ CREATE SPACE: Help students analyze their workspaces. Are there too many distractors? Is there enough light? Each week, ask them how they change their workspace to help them focus. See the Manage Your Focus lesson in the SMARTS Elementary Executive Function curriculum for more. ❏ WE ALL PROCRASTINATE: Normalize procrastination by discussing how procrastination has affected you in the past. Brainstorm strategies and solutions to overcome procrastination together. Below are some academic tasks with high executive function demands. Use the checklist to make sure you are supporting students in these areas. Reading/Writing ❏ GET TO THE POINT: When asking students to read independently, make sure they understand the purpose of the assignment. This will help them highlight, annotate, or take notes more purposefully. ❏ MODEL ACTIVE READING: Pre-reading strategies, such as the SMARTS Skim and Scoop strategy, help students distinguish main ideas from details. Make sure you model how to use these strategies explicitly. ❏ ORGANIZE INFORMATION: Students are often unaware that reading and writing require a great deal of organization! Make teach strategies that help students organize ideas and information when taking notes, outlining papers, or summarizing. One such strategy for sorting and categorizing is the SMARTS BOTEC strategy (Brainstorm, Organize, Topic Sentence, Conclusion) © ResearchILD, 2020 | www.researchild.org | Lexington, MA | 781-861-3711

❏ Triple-Note-Tote - SMARTS three column note-taking strategy ❏ Summarizing stories to help ou understand the h and ho of a te t

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Math ❏ CHECKLISTS ARE KEY: Students are often overwhelmed by directions. Teach strategies that help students understand the directions, whether on a test or a word problem, by turning them into checklists that they can follow. ❏ PREDICT ERRORS: Help students analyze their own work by asking them to identif their Top Hits i e the most common errors the make The can use this knowledge to study for tests and quizzes and to check work. ❏ THINK FLEXIBLY: Many students struggle to approach math problems flexibly. Model strategies for thinking flexibly about math. Written by: Dr. Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., President and Director Michael Greschler, M.Ed., Director, SMARTS Programs Shelly Levy, M.Ed., M.S., SMARTS Curriculum Coordinator & Trainer Institutes of Learning and Development Resources Meltzer, L.J. (Ed) (2018). Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. Meltzer, L.J. (Ed.) (2010). Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom. New York: Guilford Press. Meltzer, L.J., Greschler, M., Kurkul, K., & Stacey, W. (2015) Executive Function and Peer Mentoring: Fostering Metacognitive Awareness, Effort, and Academic Success. In Harris, K., & Meltzer, L. (Eds.) The Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social Skills. New York: Guilford Press. For additional information, visit www.researchild.org. and www.smarts-ef.org, or www.ildlex.org, or Lynn Meltzer at lmeltzer@ildlex.org

Executive Function Readings Barkley, R. (2012). Executive functions: What they are, how they work, and why they evolved. New York: The Guilford Press. Brown, T. (2014). Smart but stuck: Emotions in teens and adults with ADHD. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brown, T. (2006). Executive functions and ADHD: Implications of two conflicting views, International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 53(1), 35-46. Diamond A. (2012) Activities and programs that improve children's executive functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 21: 335-341. Denckla, M. B. (2007). Executive function: Binding together the definitions of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities. In L. Meltzer (Ed.), Executive function in education: From theory to practice (pp. 5-19). New York: Guilford Press. Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. NY: Random House. Elliot, A. & Dweck, C. (2005). Handbook of competence and motivation. N.Y: Guilford . Goldstein, S. & Naglieri, J. (Eds.) (2014). Executive Functioning Handbook. New York: Springer, 2014. Harris, K. & Meltzer, L.J. (Eds.) (2015). The Power of Peers: Enhancing Learning, Development, & Social Skills. New York: Guilford Press. Kincaid, D., & Trautman, N. (2010). Remembering: Teaching students how to retain and mentally manipulate information. In L. Meltzer (Ed.), Promoting executive function in the classroom (pp. 110-139). New York: Guilford Press.

Krishnan, K. and Feller, M. (2010). Organizing: The heart of efficient and successful learning. In L. Meltzer, Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom, New York, NY: The Guildford Press. Meltzer, L. (2018). (Ed.) Executive function in education: From theory to practice (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. Meltzer, L.J. (2010) (Ed.) Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom. New York: Guilford Press. Meltzer, L.J. (2014). Executive function processes: The foundation of academic and life success. International Journal for Research in Learning Disabilities, 2013, 1(2), 31-63. Meltzer, L.J. (2014). Teaching executive function processes: Promoting metacognition, strategy use, and effort. In Goldstein, S. & Naglieri, J. (Eds.) Executive Functioning Handbook. New York: Springer, 445-474. Meltzer, L.J., & Basho, S. (2010). Creating a classroom-wide executive function culture that fosters strategy use, motivation, and resilience. In Meltzer, L.J. (ed.) Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom. New York: Guilford Press. Meltzer, L.J., Basho, S., Reddy, R., & Kurkul, K. (2105). The role of mentoring in fostering executive function, effort, and academic self-concept. International Journal for Research in Learning Disabilities. Meltzer, L.J., Greschler, M., Kurkul, K., & Stacey, W. (2015) Executive Function and Peer Mentoring: Fostering Metacognitive Awareness, Effort, and Academic Success. In Harris, K., & Meltzer, L. (Eds.) The Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social Skills. New York: Guilford Press. Meltzer, L.J., Greschler, M., Kurkul, K., Stacey, W., Ross, E., & Snow, E. (2015). SMARTS Executive Function and Mentoring Program, ResearchILD, www.smartsef.org. Meltzer, L.J., Greschler, M., Levy, S., Stacey, W., and Button, K. (2019). SMARTS Elementary Executive Function Curriculum, ResearchILD, www.smarts-ef.org. Stein, J. (2010). Emotional self-regulation: A critical component of executive function. In L. Meltzer, Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom, New York, NY: The Guildford Press.

For additional information, visit www. researchild.org, www.ildlex.org, and www.smarts-ef.org, or contact me at lmeltzer@ildlex.org

THE SMARTS ONLINE EXECUTIVE FUNCTION CURRICULUM OVERVIEW Welcome to SMARTS Online, an evidenced-based curriculum for teaching executive function strategies. The current curriculum is based on ten years of research and in-school studies completed by ResearchILD staff under the direction of Dr. Lynn Meltzer. The SMARTS Online curriculum has been What Is Executive Function? successfully beta-tested in public, private, charter, and home schools across the United States. SMARTS provides you with 30 lessons you can use to teach students strategies for accessing important executive function processes—goal setting, organizing, prioritizing, thinking flexibly, remembering, and self-monitoring. With SMARTS, students develop the self-understanding to know which strategies work best for them as well as why, where, when, and how to use those strategies to complete their homework, to plan long-term projects, and to study for tests. Designed for students in grades 6–12, SMARTS works with existing curricula in general education classrooms, special education classrooms, learning centers and tutoring sessions. You can teach SMARTS in its entirety or select key lessons to reinforce specific strategies. Your SMARTS subscription connects you to:

Executive function is an umbrella term for the complex cognitive processes students use to set goals, plan their time, organize and prioritize, think flexibly, access their working memory, self-monitor, and selfcheck. The model of a funnel helps to explain the importance of executive function processes for learning. When students learn to use executive function strategies, they are able to coordinate (or “funnel”) the various processes required to complete complex academic tasks such as taking notes or writing. When students have executive function weaknesses, the funnel becomes blocked and they are unable to produce work that reflects their true potential. SMARTS lessons are grouped by five executive function processes that affect learning: Goal Setting: Identifying short-term and long-term goals

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30 evidence-based lessons with supporting handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and videos.

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Surveys to help you and your students understand their learning profiles.

Organizing and Prioritizing: Sorting and ordering information based on relative importance

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SMARTS Digital Training Sessions to help learn more about executive function and your students.

Accessing Working Memory: Remembering and manipulating information mentally

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SMARTS Planning Tools to help you get started and plan your year.

Cognitive Flexibility: Switching easily between approaches; thinking flexibly

Self-Monitoring and Checking: Identifying and correcting personal errors

By fostering a culture of strategy use in your classroom, you can help your students do more than just improve academically; they will increase their academic self-confidence as well as their effort and motivation to succeed in school. As our research and clinical work has shown, increased self-understanding and use of executive function strategies are critically important for a student’s success in school and beyond. SMARTS Overview

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SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum Unit 1. Introduction to Executive Function Strategies Learning Goals Lessons Outcomes Students will understand their 1.1 What is metacognition? Students will be able to: learning strengths and weakThinking about thinking • Define metacognition nesses and learn about execu1.2 What is cognitive flexibility? • Understand the core executive function processes. Defining how to think flexibly tive function processes • Apply their knowledge of ex1.3 What is executive function? ecutive function strategies to The EF Wheel their understanding of themselves as learners 1.4 I-SEE a strategy: What makes a “strategy” a strategy? Unit 2. Goal Setting—Identifying short-term and long-term goals Learning Goals Lessons Students will learn to develop 2.1 Identifying CANDO goals appropriate goals with defin2.2 Thinking through individual able outcomes. goals Students will develop strategies for implementing their goals throughout the school year.

Outcomes Students will be able to: • Define CANDO goals • Describe the elements of “good goals” • Use a rubric to assess goals • Design CANDO goals that demonstrate reflective thinking

Unit 3. Cognitive Flexibility—Shifting problem-solving approaches; thinking flexibly Learning Goals Students will learn that multiple strategies can be used to solve a given problem and will, through repeated practice, develop a variety of strategies to support flexible thinking and problem solving.

Lessons 3.1 Being flexible and shifting expectations

Students will learn how to distinguish the main ideas from the less important details.

3.4 Purposeful highlighting

SMARTS Overview

3.2 Shifting perspectives in writing 3.3 Skim and scoop strategy

Outcomes Students will be able to: • Explain the importance of shifting approaches flexibly • Write according to multiple perspectives • Shift between the main idea and details

3.5 Shifty math

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Unit 4. Organizing and Prioritizing Materials and Time—Creating categories to work efficiently Learning Goals Lessons Outcomes Students will learn to 4.1 The 4 C’s strategy Students will be able to: organize their materials for 4.2 Developing an under• Explain strategies for orgaschool and schedule their time appropri- ately. standing of time nizing belongings and the importance of planning 4.3 Prioritizing time • Use calendars and tools for daily, weekly, and monthly 4.4 Monthly planning planning • Apply their knowledge of 4.5 Weekly planning planning to breaking down assignments into meaningful parts

Unit 5. Organizing and Prioritizing Ideas and Information— Sorting information based importance Learning Goals Lessons Outcomes Students will gain the knowl5.1 Sorting and categorizing Students will be able to: edge and the strategies necesusing BOTEC • Describe strategies for orsary to organize information for 5.2 Bottom-up vs. top-down reading, writing papers, taking ganizing thoughts for notethinkers taking, essay writing, and notes, and studying for tests. studying 5.3 Note-taking from a lesson • Integrate memory strategies with organizational strategies 5.4 Using the Triple-Note-Tote to enhance understanding of topics 5.5 Studying with the PPCQ strategy Unit 6. Remembering—Manipulating information mentally Learning Goals Lessons Outcomes Students will learn and imple6.1 Why is working memory Students will be able to: ment strategies to efficiently important? • Define memory strategies inand accurately store and recall 6.2 Using cartoons and associaimportant information. cluding acronyms, cartoons, tions to remember and crazy phrases • Apply memory strategies to 6.3 Using funny phrases and important information across stories to remember academic content areas 6.4 Creating strategies for remembering

SMARTS Overview

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Unit 7. Self-Monitoring and Self-Checking—Identifying errors and self-correcting Learning Goals Lessons Outcomes Students will learn to monitor 7.1 What is self-monitoring? Students will be able to: their behavior in the moment to 7.2 What is self-checking? • Identify strategies for selfensure that they stay on task. monitoring and self-checking Students will become aware of 7.3 The Top-3-Hits strategy • Explain and reflect upon their the types of errors they often use of executive function make and learn strategies to 7.4 Breaking down directions strategies avoid repeating these mistakes in the future. 7.5 Stop, review, reflect: completing checklists of all the executive function strategies

SMARTS Overview

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Elementary School Curriculum Overview

SMARTS Online is an evidence-based curriculum for teaching executive function strategies. The current curriculum is based on ten years of research and in-school studies completed by ResearchILD staff under the direction of Dr. Lynn Meltzer. The SMARTS Online curriculum has been successfully beta-tested in public, private, charter, and home schools across the US. SMARTS provides elementary grade teachers with 30 lessons that they can use to teach students strategies for accessing important executive function processes—goal setting, organizing, prioritizing, thinking flexibly, remembering, and self-monitoring. Students develop the self-understanding to know which strategies work best for them as well as why, where, when, and how to use those strategies to complete their work. The SMARTS Elementary School Curriculum works with existing curricula in general education classrooms, special education classrooms, and learning centers and is designed for students in grades 2-5. Since each lesson is divided into four 20-minute sessions, teachers have the flexibility to integrate lessons into the daily practice of their elementary school classroom. Unit 1: Introduction: Building a Community of Metacognitive Learners • Lesson 1: How do I think about my thinking? o Students engage in a discussion about “metacognition” and identify their personal strengths and challenges and the strategies they use in their everyday lives. • Lesson 2: How can I manage my work? o Students complete an activity that introduces them to the five executive function processes and helps them to identify their strengths and challenges in three of these processes. • Lesson 3: How do I think flexibly? o Students discuss the concept of cognitive flexibility and its importance for strategy use. They complete an activity that illustrates how words can have multiple meanings. • Lesson 4: How can I use strategies to help me? o Students identify how to make strategies individualized, systematic, efficient, and effective (I-SEE). Then, they examine their own strategies, refining them to ensure they fit the I-SEE model. Copyright © 2019 ResearchILD. All rights reserved. No unauthorized use or copying. See Terms of Use.

Elementary School Curriculum Overview Unit 2: Goal Setting: Understanding the Big Picture and Breaking it Down • Lesson 1: I CANDO my goals! o Students learn to create personalized and achievable goals that are Clear, Appropriate, Numerical, Doable, and with Obstacles considered (CANDO). • Lesson 2: Thinking through individual goals o Students review common obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goals. Building off of Lesson 2.1, students take the goals they have already set and develop strategies to achieve these goals (e.g., students break goals into steps and think about the obstacles they may face when trying to achieve their goals). Unit 3: Thinking Flexibly • Lesson 1: Being flexible and shifting expectations o Students explore shifting between multiple perspectives in reading and writing. • Lesson 2: I’m wearing your shoes o Students explore shifting between multiple perspectives in social situations. • Lesson 3: Skim and Scoop o Students learn how to comprehend what they read efficiently and how to differentiate between the main ideas and details of a text. • Lesson 4: Purposeful Highlighting o Students use highlighting to identify multiple perspectives when reading and taking notes. This strategy also helps students highlight effectively and to avoid over-highlighting (the “yellow page syndrome”). • Lesson 5: Shifty math o Students identify multiple methods for solving a problem and understand how the same problem can be analyzed in multiple ways. Unit 4: Organizing Materials and Time ● Lesson 1: Organizing your materials (The 4 C’s) o Students learn the 4 C’s strategy for organizing and then apply the strategy to the organization of their own belongings. ● Lesson 2: Developing an understanding of time o Students examine their understanding of time and see the importance of measuring time.

Elementary School Curriculum Overview

● Lesson 3: Estimating time o Students learn to improve their ability to estimate time while completing tasks, as well as gain an understanding of the importance of time estimation. ● Lesson 4: Prioritizing time o Students learn to think in terms of Have To’s (obligations) and Want To’s (aspirations) while expressing their intentions visually in a daily planner. ● Lesson 5: Planning production time o Students employ strategies to practice short-term planning and to identify ‘production time’ then apply them for use in their own planners/calendars. Unit 5: Organizing Information ● Lesson 1: Sorting and categorizing using BOTEC o Students learn strategies for organizing information to improve their writing. The BOTEC strategy will help students learn to brainstorm, organize, write topic sentences, provide evidence, and reach a conclusion. ● Lesson 2: Note-taking o Students learn why taking notes is important and how to effectively organize information from a text. ● Lesson 3: Triple-Note-Tote o Students learn “Triple-Note-Tote,” a three-column strategy for note-taking and organizing information, which can be used across content areas. ● Lesson 4: Summarizing stories o Students learn to create summaries using the Star strategy, which helps them to understand the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of a text. Unit 6: Remembering ● Lesson 1: Why is memory important?

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o Students will identify their own strengths and challenges in working memory and learn how memory connects to following directions and completing school related tasks. Lesson 2: Using cartoons and associations o Students learn two mnemonic strategies that help support working memory, using pre-existing knowledge to create cartoons and associations to remember important information.

Elementary School Curriculum Overview ● Lesson 3: Acronyms and crazy phrases o In this lesson, students learn to use acronyms and phrases in order to lock information into long-term memory. ● Lesson 4: Visualizing and storytelling o Students will practice remembering unfamiliar processes or information through visualization and storytelling. Unit 7: Self-monitoring and checking ● Lesson 1: Focus and distraction o Students discuss and define what it means to be focused and not distracted. They will identify the situations that do and do not help them focus, and they will practice monitoring their behavior to stay on task. ● Lesson 2: Check your sources o Students discuss the danger of using information from unreliable sources and learn the 2 T Test strategy to determine whether a given source is trustworthy. ● Lesson 3: Top 3 hits o Students use their own work to check for their most common errors. Students generate a list of their personal Top-3-Hits for checking their own future assignments. ● Lesson 4: Manage my mood o Students learn to develop an awareness of their mood in different situations and the impact it has on learning. ● Lesson 5: What hat am I wearing? o Students will check their behavior to ensure that it matches the situation they are in and the task at hand. ● Lesson 6: Wrap-Up: Stop, Review, Reflect o Students review the SMARTS strategies they have learned and then they create a Strategies for Success sheet they can use in the future. By fostering a culture of strategy use in their classrooms, teachers can help students do more than just improve academically; they will increase their students’ academic self-confidence as well as their effort and motivation to succeed in school. As our research and clinical work has shown, increased self-understanding and use of executive function strategies are critically important for a student’s success in school and beyond.

2022 Summer Summit Session 2 Digital Binder

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