2022 Summer Summit Session 4 Digital Binder by cvanderberg

7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 4: Social-Emotional Learning, Executive Function, and Self-Regulation Date: Thursday, August 4th, 2022, 11:00 AM -1:00 PM EST Presented by: Michael Greschler, M.Ed. and Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed. Description: Students who struggle with stress, anxiety, fear, and depression often struggle in school. They may only make minimal effort as they cling to inefficient strategies and succumb to exaggerated fears and worries about their abilities. When students struggle with executive function, they are unable or unwilling to work independently, and they give up easily. In this session, attendees will explore the relationship between emotion and executive function, as well as ways of teaching EF strategies in order to promote emotional regulation. Attendees will develop a more nuanced appreciation for the impact of negative emotions on students’ performance and through hands-on activities, we will learn to teach executive function strategies in a way that addresses engagement and motivation, empowering students to be more independent and successful.

7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 4: Social-Emotional Learning, Executive Function, and Self-Regulation TABLE OF CONTENTS Session Overview ……………………………………………………………………………...1 Additional Resources List……………………………………………………………………..3 Session PowerPoint Slides …………………………………………………………….….…..4 Executive Function and Equity White Paper ……………………………….………..…57 SMARTS Feature in Attention Magazine…………………………………………………66 SMARTS Elementary Feature in Attention Magazine………………………….………69 EF and School Performance White Paper………………………………………………72 Executive Function Checklist for Remote Learning……………………………………75 Executive Function Readings………………………………………………………………78 SMARTS Secondary Curriculum Overview………………………………………………80 SMARTS Elementary Curriculum Overview………………………………………………84

7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 4: Social-Emotional Learning, Executive Function, and Self-Regulation Workshop Handouts: • EF and SEL Presentation Planner • Manage My Mood Handout • My Hats Handout • CANDO Goals Handout Links that accompany presentation: • Google Snake • Impossible Snake • Wordle • Octordle • Snack Attack Video Additional Workshop Resources: • • • •

CASEL Framework IES/NCER Report on Executive Function Go Noodle – “Go with the Flow” Learning Works for Kids – Games

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

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION & MENTORING PROGRAM

E X E C U TIV E FU N C TIO N & M E N TO R IN G P R O G R A M

Social-Emotional Learning, Executive Function, and Self-Regulation

AGENDA • • • •

Understanding Emotion Emotions and Learning Social Emotional Learning and Executive Function Strategies to Boost SEL and EF • • • •

Manage My Mood What Hat Am I Wearing Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations CANDO Goals

E X E C U TIV E FU N C TIO N & M E N TO R IN G P R O G R A M

WHAT ARE EMOTIONS

IDENTIFY THE EMOTION

Happy Angry Excited Sad Tender Scared

IDENTIFY THE EMOTION

Happy Angry Excited Sad Tender Scared

IDENTIFY THE EMOTION

Happy Angry Excited Sad Tender Scared

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF EMOTION? Emotions can be defined as... "...time-limited, situationally bound, and valenced (positive or negative) states."

McRae, K., & Gross, J. J. (2020). Emotion regulation. Emotion, 20(1), 1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000703 © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

HOW MANY EMOTIONS ARE THERE? 6 basic emotions Emotions can be powerful and easily recognized (see Pixar's Inside Out)

HOW MANY EMOTIONS ARE THERE? 27+ Complex emotions Emotions can be complicated and hard to define (are you feeling vigilant or anticipatory?)

Thoughts

Bodily Sensation

Emotions

"I think therefore I am."

"I feel therefore I am."

EMOTIONS ARE UNIVERSAL “Emotions change how we see the world and how we interpret the actions of others. We do not seek to challenge why we are feeling a particular emotion; instead, we seek to confirm it.” -Paul Ekman

Key Takeaway • Emotions are powerful! • They can vary in terms of intensity, cause, and duration, but they have a universal component. • They shape the way we understand each other and ourselves.

E X E C U TIV E FU N C TIO N & M E N TO R IN G P R O G R A M

EMOTIONS AND LEARNING

What does learning feel like?

Learning is like playing a game... ... It feels good to win.

Learning is like playing a game... ... It feels bad to lose.

These positive/negative emotions can help you learn more efficiently. That felt great! I should do that again.

That felt awful! I should not do that again. © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Sometimes students can be overwhelmed by emotions.

Emotions have a strong impact on our students (and ourselves). Navigating the emotional roller coaster of learning requires emotional regulation.

There are 3 main components of emotional regulation. • Labelling emotions • Identifying the cause • Reappraising

How can we teach students strategies to boost their emotional regulation abilities? This is one of the core motivations behind the rise in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs over the past few years.

E X E C U TIV E FU N C TIO N & M E N TO R IN G P R O G R A M

SEL AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

CONNECTING EF AND SEL (WHY) London School of Economics report:

"...the most powerful childhood predictor of adult lifesatisfaction is the child's emotional health, followed by the child's conduct. The least powerful predictor is the child's intellectual development.” Layard, R., Clark, A. E., Cornaglia, F., Powdthavee, N., & Vernoit, J. (2014). What predicts a successful life? A life-course model of well-being. Economic journal (London, England), 124(580), F720–F738. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12170

CASEL FRAMEWORK

What is the CASEL Framework? CASEL. (2021, October 11). Retrieved from https://casel.org/fundamentalsof-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION PARADIGM

Organizing/ prioritizing:

Selfchecking:

Categorizing and sorting inform ation

Recognizing and one’s m ost com m on m istakes

Remembering /Accessing working memory: Juggling inform ation in the brain

Goal Setting: Setting realistic aspirations

Shifting flexibly: Looking again, in a brand-new way

RESEARCH AND THEORY

There are many reasons why students struggle with executive function and emotional regulation.

DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF EF AND EMOTIONS There are brain-based reasons why some students struggle with executive function and emotional regulation: - Exposure to trauma - Fetal alcohol syndrome - Learning or attention challenge (e.g., ADHD)

Other Factors -

Age Genetics Temperament Parenting style Cultural norms

DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF EF AND EMOTIONS

The impact of trauma on learning is huge, and in the time of COVID, it’s more critical than ever before. How does trauma impact the brain?

LIZARD BRAIN VS. WIZARD BRAIN Lizard Brain -Acts on instinct -Seat of powerful emotions -Fight, flight, or freeze are the only options

Wizard Brain - Goal-directed - Seat of “reason” or at least self-talk - Planning, problem solving, flexibly lead to many options

LIZARD BRAIN VS. WIZARD BRAIN Both brains are important. They both have their time and place.

LIZARD BRAIN VS. WIZARD BRAIN Repeated exposure to trauma strengthens the lizard brain, making it harder to access the wizard brain. The lizard brain is locked on by default, so even something like “doing your homework” looks like…

CONNECTING EF AND SEL (WHY)

What has COVID taught us? EF and SEL strategies are beneficial for ALL students.

CONNECTING EF AND SEL (WHY) "It will be increasingly important to consider not only the ways in which improvements in EF may lead to improvements in academic ability, but also the extent to which improvements in EF can contribute to the growth of personal responsibility and social-emotional competence that are also highly relevant to the mission of elementary and secondary education." Zelazo, P.D., Blair, C.B., and Willoughby, M.T. (2016). Source: https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20172000/

RISE OF SEL IN THE CLASSROOM

RISE OF EF AND SEL SINCE COVID

CONNECTING EF AND SEL (WHY)

Teaching EF strategies boosts emotional regulation and helps students meet the EF demands of learning.

CONNECTING EF AND SEL (HOW) EF and SEL initiatives have to be systematically and explicitly taught. EF and SEL initiatives have to be relevant to students' lives and connected to their context. EF and SEL lessons have to offer modeling, guided practice, and independent practice. © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Manage My Mood

CASEL FRAMEWORK 7.4 Manage My Mood

Self-Awareness W hat is the CASEL Fram ework? CASEL. (2021, October 11). Retrieved from https://casel.org/fundam entals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-fram ework/ © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

In the chat: Which sheep do you identify most with right now? What emotion would you assign to that feeling? © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Self-Awareness The abilities to understand one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. This includes capacities to recognize one's strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.

What Is the CASEL Framework? - CASEL © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Manage My Mood

Learning Objectives ü Identify different emotions ü Understand that all emotions are normal, including negative ones ü Explore how self-awareness of emotions may allow you to stay focused and be flexible when expectations change

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood

What Am I Feeling? Match the faces to the emotions! Give an example of what might make a person feel each emotion.

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood Module 2

Guided Instruction

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood

How is Elena Feeling? What helped Elena manage or change her emotions?

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood Module 3

Independent Practice

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood

Now we are going to think about our own emotions! Choose one emotion from the list. Describe two situations that made you felt that way and one way you cope with it.

Lesson 7.4

Manage My Mood Module 4

Metacognitive Wrap-up

Lesson 7.4

Reflection

MOOD CHECKERS/CHECK-IN CHARTS

FOR OLDER STUDENTS

REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES

What Hat Am I Wearing?

CASEL FRAMEWORK 7.5 What Hat am I Wearing?

Responsible DecisionMaking W hat is the CASEL Fram ework? CASEL. (2021, October 11). Retrieved from https://casel.org/fundam entals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-fram ework/ © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

Sleeping angel or in trouble big time?

Wild child or just having fun?

Not paying attention or on task?

Responsible Decision Making The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and evaluate the benefits of consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective wellbeing. What Is the CASEL Framework? - CASEL © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Learning Objectives ü Identify the different “hats” we wear ü Know when and where each of these “hats” is appropriate ü Understand why it is important to be aware of these different “hats”

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing? Module 1

Metacognitive Activator

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Today, we will learn what it means to “wear different hats.” “Wearing a hat” means that you can play different roles. What are some different “hats” you can think of?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Now we will take a look at how one person can wear many different “hats.” Think about who the person might be and where they are wearing this “hat.”

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Who? Where?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Who? Where?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Who? Where?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Who? Where?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Even though this might be the same person, they may act or speak differently depending on the situation. It is important to wear the right ”hat” at the right time!

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing? Module 2

Guided Instruction

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

For our next activity, we need to learn a little bit about…

Emma Watson

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Emma Watson • Harry Potter – Hermione Granger • Attended Brown University • UN Women Goodwill ambassador

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Now that we know about some roles Emma Watson might lead, let’s think about the different ways she may present herself.

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Acting Hat

Things she would say? Clothing?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

UN Ambassador Hat

Things she would say? Clothing?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Fun Hat

Things she would say? Clothing?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Student Hat

Things she would say? Clothing?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

What would happen if Emma Watson wore her “Fun Hat” when she should have been wearing her “Professional Hat”? Why is it important to wear the proper “hat” for each occasion?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing? Module 3

Independent Practice

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Now we will think about the different “hats” that we wear! What are some examples that you can think of?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Pick 4 different hats and draw pictures that represent those hats. What are things you would say and what clothing would you wear while wearing this hat?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing? Module 4

Metacognitive Wrap-up

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Think of a time when you wore the wrong hat. What happened? How could wearing the right hat have helped? What could you have done differently?

Lesson 7.5

What Hat Am I Wearing?

Do you know what caused you to wear the wrong hat? What are some clues that you are wearing the wrong hat? How can you prevent yourself from doing the same again in the future?

Lesson 7.5

Reflection

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

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CASEL FRAMEWORK 3.1 Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

Relationship skills W hat is the CASEL Fram ework? CASEL. (2021, October 11). Retrieved from https://casel.org/fundam entals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-fram ework/ © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

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Zoom poll: What color is the dress?

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Zoom poll:

https://www.centervention.com/perspective-taking-activity/

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Zoom poll: What's the right temperature?

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Zoom poll: Should students have cell phones in school?

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Relationship Skills • The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individual groups. • This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with different social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed. What Is the CASEL Framework? - CASEL

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

Learning Objectives ü Define cognitive flexibility ü Understand how to shift between multiple perspectives

Lesson 3.1

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations Module 1

Metacognitive Activator

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

Do you remember what it means to shift and think flexibly?

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

Today, we’re going to read a funny story. See if you can think flexibly in order to make sense of it!

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

• What did you notice about this story? • What made it funny? • How were you able to understand the story? • What strategy did you use to figure out the meaning of the words of the story? • How did thinking flexibly help you to understand the story? Lesson 3.1

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

We just practiced being flexible with sounds. Now we’ll practice shifting word meanings! Try to come up with two different meanings for your word and draw or act them out.

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations Module 2

Guided Instruction

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

What do you think Carson is thinking when it begins to rain? What does Jill think?

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

The Soccer Game

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

Why did the same event lead to such different feelings? Why did each character act differently? How does thinking about two different perspectives demonstrate cognitive flexibility? Lesson 3.1

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations Module 3

Independent Practice

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations

Now it’s your turn to try! Write an ending of Carson’s and Jill’s stories from each of their perspectives.

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Being Flexible and Shifting Expectations Module 4

Metacognitive Wrap-up

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Reflection

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E X E C U TIV E FU N C TIO N & M E N TO R IN G P R O G R A M

IDENTIFYING CANDO GOALS

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CASEL FRAMEWORK 2.1 CANDO Goals

Self-management

W hat is the CASEL Fram ework? CASEL. (2021, October 11). Retrieved from https://casel.org/fundam entals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-fram ework/ © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

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If you asked your students what their goals are, what would they say? Are these goals motivating? Why or why not?

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“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.” Greg S. Reid

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Self Management The abilities to manage one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals. What Is the CASEL Framework? - CASEL © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

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Objectives üRecognize why it may be difficult to achieve goals üUnderstand the importance of setting CANDO goals

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CANDO Goals are: üClear üAppropriate üNumerical üDoable üObstacles considered

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CANDO Goals Help make your goal clear by making it more specific. “I want to be a better student.” “I want to get A’s and B’s this semester.”

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CANDO Goals Help make your goal appropriate by making it realistic. “I want to get an A this year in math.” “I want to become a professional hockey player.” “I want to keep my grade above a C in math.” “I want to join the hockey team this year.” © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

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CANDO Goals Help make your goal numerical by making it measurable. “I want to get a better grade on my math tests.” “I want to get A’s and B’s in math.”

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CANDO Goals Help make your goal doable by listing 3 steps needed to achieve it. “I want to improve my score on the next math test by 10 points.” Steps for reaching the goal:

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This goal is doable because there are 3 steps listed to help achieve it.

Study 30 minutes a day

Make flash cards to practice 4x/week

Review my notes from class every night

Improve math score by 10 points!

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CANDO Goals What are some obstacles that might get in the way of reaching your goal? “I want to improve my score on the next math test by 10 points.” Potential obstacles:

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What are some obstacles that might get in the way of reaching the goal? I couldn’t do the HW because I didn’t I got busy with other work and understand it! Review m y didn’t review my notes from class every flash cards. Make flash cards to practice 4x/week

I left my notes at home.

Improve math score by 10 points!

night

Study 30 m inutes a day

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CANDO Goals Potential obstacles: 1.

I forgot my notes at school.

2. I couldn’t do the homework because I didn’t understand. 3. I was too busy with other work. Ways to overcome obstacles as they occur:

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What are some ways to overcome obstacles ? I forgot my notes at school.

• Spend extra time studying the next night. • Study during a free block.

I didn’t understand the • Talk to the teacher the next day. lesson and couldn’t do • Ask a friend or parent for help. my HW. I was too busy with other work.

• Make up studying time on the weekends, in the morning before school, or during a free block. © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

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Your turn! üMake your own CANDO goal that you can share with your students.

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Reflection

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WRAPPING UP

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“In the process of learning, affective and cognitive streams flow together...” -Katrina de Hirsch

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KEY TAKEAWAYS • Emotions are powerful! • They shape the way we understand each other and ourselves. • Teaching EF strategies boosts emotional regulation and helps students meet the EF demands of learning. • EF and SEL initiatives have to be systematic, explicit, relevant, and connected to students' lives. • EF and SEL lessons have to offer modeling, guided practice, and independent practice.

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Questions?

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Thank you!

Questions, comments, or concerns? mgreschler@researchild.org cvanderberg@researchild.org © RESEARCHILD, 2022 | WWW.RESEARCHILD.ORG| 4 MILITIA DRIVE, SUITE 20 | LEXINGTON, MA 02421 | 781-861-3711

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7th Annual Executive Function Summer Summit Session 4: Social-Emotional Learning, Executive Function, and Self-Regulation

Additional resources (Repeated across sessions)

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-

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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);

•

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

•

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

•

forget to hand in completed work.

•

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.

•

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

•

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.

S M

R T S

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

hat

here

hen

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.