In terms of the makeup of our brains, the frontal lobes (pre-frontal cortex) are the ‘executives in charge’ and can be compared to the leaders or supervisors of a business or organisation – without good leadership, the organisation becomes unstructured and inefficient. Effective executive functioning coaching takes place when pupils are helped to understand themselves better. This means that the parent tries to stop being the teenager’s pre-frontal cortex (i.e. The executive in charge of the organisation, organising and problem solving everything on behalf of the child), and gradually withdraws their scaffolding, so that the teenager learns how to manage their own EF skills. The Thinking linked EFs: 6. Organisation Organisation is the ability to create and maintain a system for arranging and keeping track of important things. Keeping track of things and having a reasonably organised bedroom and work environment, increases efficiency by eliminating the need to waste lots of time looking for things, just to get ready to work on a task or project. This in turn reduces stress. If your teenager has a tendency to overestimate how much time they have, and to underestimate how much time a task will take (see Guide 5), they may be operating quite close to the edge to begin with, and not being able to find essential materials is an unnecessary and avoidable stress that might prevent them spiralling into orbit. As parents we try to step back from close monitoring our teenagers, and we hope to be able to progress to occasionally providing a prompt or nudge. Some teenagers however will
need more guidance and scaffolding than others, before that support structure is gently removed.
What you might see in a teenager who has poor organisational skills is: • Not using or knowing how to design an organisational system • Not being able to find things in notebooks or backpacks • Not having a neat study area • Losing electronic data – forgetting where work is stored or what name it’s filed under
Ideas about how to help with Planning and Prioritisation difficulties: • The best approach to help your teenager develop organisational skills is to approach it from an area that they have an investment in. • In the short term offer your teenager reminders (that they can tolerate) about their organisation, even though your goal is to be able to withdraw those reminders in due course. • Offering to help your teenager clean and organise their space from time to time, can be helpful. • Where possible try to model some simple organisational operations for your teenager. Try to share examples from your own life. • Good organisational skills will look like: o A tidy desk, locker, bedroom so you can find things when you need them o Making numbers and calculations orderly and easy to follow in maths o Being able to write so that your ideas on one topic are all in one section or paragraph
Managing Planning and Prioritisation self-check form Item • I misplace work • My desk is cluttered • I leave my desk or workspace messy • I misplace information I need to do my work
Not a problem
Notes
• I have a disorganised backpack and exercise books • I have trouble keeping my bedroom tidy • I leave my belongings all over the house • I leave my belongings in other places (e.g. school, friend’s house etc.) • I lose or misplace things
How to stay organised and keep track of materials: 1. Have a system to store your schoolwork – in folders or books depending on your teachers’ preferences. 2. Write and INCOMPLETE WORK in an organiser and keep a note in it of any tasks that you are set, as soon as they are set – also note the due date. 3. Write the DUE DATE for tasks on the top of the task sheet itself, as soon as you get it. 4. As soon as you finish an assignment, mark it off as completed, and file the completed work away. 5. Keep all work your teacher wants you to keep, filed away properly. Throw out pieces of paper that you do not have to keep – check with the teacher if you are unsure. 6. Have / develop a system for keeping your work materials (such as pens, pencils, erasers and calculators etc.) tidy. 7. If you are creative you can make yourself useful ‘organisers’ from household recycling – cleaned out tins for different items of stationery like colouring pens, pencils, rulers etc.; creating organisers / planners, using colour coding to help organise books by subject; covered cereal boxes with a large side removed as a ‘to do’ box / filing system. 8. Try to remove unnecessary items or clutter from your room / workspace 9. Get ready for things the night before (laying out clothes, getting ready for the next day’s remote learning) 10.Use memory aids (visual aids / checklists) 11.Label and colour code 12.Try to observe what organised people do…
Pupil self-help strategies:
• • • •
Tips Self-talk Use laptop or iPad for managing • A place for everything and everything in its information/classwork place Use an organiser app such as OneNote • Do you have it together? or EverNote • Your own idea: Spend 5 minutes every day staying organised Other strategies:
An example of how to organise a writing task: Writing Template for a 5 paragraph essay: Introductory paragraph Sentence 1 – summarises what your essay is about:
Sentence 2 focuses on the main point you want to make:
Sentence 3 adds more detail or explains why the topic is important:
Body paragraphs Paragraph 1, topic sentence: Supporting detail 1: Supporting detail 2: Supporting detail 3: Paragraph 2, topic sentence:
Supporting detail 1: Supporting detail 2: Supporting detail 3: Paragraph 3, topic sentence: Supporting detail 1: Supporting detail 2: Supporting detail 3: Concluding paragraph Restate the most important point you want to make
• Please feel free to email me (marsdenz@kesw.org) if you would like me to do any 1:1 input with your son/daughter to help them get back on track with any of these skills.
Kind regards, Zoe Marsden Head of Learning Support and SENCO - King Edward's Witley