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Executive Function Quick Tip SMARTS strategies Teaching EF Tips

Strategies vs. Skills: What’s the Difference?

A question mark, gears, lightbulb, and exclamation mark

When supporting students’ executive function, many educators use the terms “skill” and “strategy” interchangeably. In the SMARTS Executive Function curriculum, we believe it is important to underscore the difference between such seemingly similar terms.

  • Skills refer to abilities that an individual enacts without much thought.
  • Strategies, on the other hand, are intentionally employed to accomplish a specific task, such as reading a book or studying for an exam. Students can use strategies to avoid executive function overload (aka a “clogged funnel”) and manage the demands placed on them in school and in extracurricular activities.

When it comes to teaching executive function, it is important to promote a strategies-based approach for many reasons.

Strategy instruction is a strengths-based approach 

This approach focuses on students achieving personally meaningful goals, supported by teachers’ explicit teaching and modeling of strategy use. Students who struggle may internalize their failures and come to believe that their efforts will not lead to success. However, when armed with strategies, students have options for how they can respond to an academic or organizational challenge, opening multiple pathways to success.

Strategy instruction promotes self-understanding

Using strategies is an intentional and deliberate process; students become active learners who engage in self-reflection about which strategies were most successful in specific situations. This metacognitive process is an important part of teaching students to understand how they learn most effectively. When students feel valued and involved in their learning, they are more likely to be motivated.

Strategy instruction is beneficial for all learners

All students benefit from having a larger set of strategies to pull from when they face academic challenges.

The SMARTS Executive Function curriculum helps students understand their areas of strength and challenge and explicitly teaches executive function strategies. Learn more about the three key tenets at the heart of the SMARTS program.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
Studying Teaching EF Tips Writing

Planning Projects: Help Students Do a Pre-Mortem

Two students sitting at a table planning their assignments

Projects, essays, and long-term assignments can easily turn into a mess when students lack the executive function strategies they need to plan, organize, and self-monitor. Even when teachers provide students with EF strategies, there is no guarantee that students will use these strategies if they don’t understand why the strategies could help. A pre-mortem is a powerful tool that can help students understand how EF strategies can make their projects more successful.

What’s a Pre-Mortem?

A pre-mortem works by imagining that a project has failed—then working backward to identify why. By recognizing potential pitfalls before they happen, students can choose the strategies they will use to prevent disaster and increase their chances of success.

Pre-Mortem Brainstorm

To do a pre-mortem, students should first imagine that their project has failed and ask themselves why. What went wrong? Was it a lack of sources or expertise? A lack of communication or coordination among team members? Or perhaps a lack of planning or execution?

For example, if a lack of sources was identified as a possible reason for failure, students can set a goal to find more high-quality sources, asking a teacher or librarian for help as needed. If a lack of communication was an issue, students can establish clear communication channels, setting up a Google Doc or email thread that they can all use to communicate. If a lack of planning was identified, students can set up a detailed project plan and milestones to ensure that everything stays on track.

Analyzing External Factors

When conducting a pre-mortem, it is also important to consider the external factors that could impact the project. For example, if a student is on a sports team or has a play rehearsal, this could limit their time to work on the project. By considering these potential risks, students can develop contingency plans to mitigate their impact.

Setting Students Up for Success

By identifying potential pitfalls and risks before they happen, students can be more realistic about the challenges they might face, take steps to prevent them, and increase their chances of success. Practicing a pre-mortem can also help students to be more flexible and adaptable to changes that happen as the project unfolds in real time.

  • Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
Quick Tip SMARTS strategies Teaching EF Tips

Quick Tip: SMARTS Resources

Cartoon of a teacher, pointing to a whiteboard with a student in front of it.

Did you know that when you become a SMARTS subscriber, you receive access to much more than just an executive function curriculum? In this post, we’ll highlight a few features that can help you extend students’ learning and build your own EF Toolkit.

Resource #1: SMARTS Community Message Boards

On the SMARTS Community Message Boards (Elementary and Secondary), all SMARTS users can share ideas, pose questions, and learn with other educators who are passionate about the transformative power of EF strategy instruction. SMARTS users are also always encouraged to contact staff with questions and comments—feel free to reach out to us via the message boards!

Resource #2: Lesson Focus Sorter 

The Lesson Focus Sorter makes it easy to select your lessons. Each SMARTS lesson has identified lesson focus areas (e.g., time management, self-advocacy, test taking) that are listed on the first page of each lesson plan. Using the Lesson Focus Sorter, you can sort by focus areas to find lessons that match your students’ needs.

Resource #3: Strategy Reflection Toolkit 

The Strategy Reflection Toolkit contains planning and reflection sheets (in addition to the reflection sheets that accompany each SMARTS lesson). Students can use these sheets to make a plan in part A, and then reflect on how it went in part B. Using strategy reflection sheets consistently can develop your students’ metacognition and help them engage in selecting the strategies that work best for them across a range of tasks with a high EF demand (e.g., planning essays/projects, task initiation, overcoming procrastination).

SMARTS is a powerful, easy-to-use tool for EF strategy instruction in any classroom. From SMARTS Elementary to SMARTS Secondary and our Training and Assessment options, our research-based tools meet the needs of diverse learners and are applicable across grades and content areas.

Interested in learning more about SMARTS? Reach out anytime!

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
growth mindset Motivation Social-Emotional Learning

Emotions, Learning, and Gratitude: How to End the Day

A person writing a to-do list in a notebook

When it comes to time management strategies, writing a “to-do list” is a classic. But for some students, creating a “what I did” list is a better way to boost motivation, increase reflection, and reduce stress.

“To-Do” vs. “What I Did”

Many students prefer a to-do list to a weekly planner or monthly calendar because it is more targeted and straightforward, presenting a smaller scope of work.

However, for some students, even a to-do list might feel like too much. Sometimes time management strategies can increase a student’s anxiety and stress; they might feel like they are creating plans that they cannot live up to. Instead of feeling motivated by their plan, they are likely to feel overwhelmed and resist even getting started.

When traditional time management strategies cause more stress than success, consider trying “what I did” lists.

Focus on Accomplishments

Ending the day by writing a list of all that they’ve accomplished can be a powerful way to boost student productivity and motivation. Even if the list starts small, it represents real work and accomplishments.

Boost Motivation and Reflection

The main benefit of creating a list of accomplishments is that it can boost motivation. At the end of a long day, it can be easy to feel like one hasn’t accomplished anything. When students list what they’ve done, they can see just how much they’ve accomplished. This can help them to feel more motivated to keep working and to tackle new tasks the next day.

Listing accomplishments can also help students to reflect on their work, identifying the things they are doing well and the things they need to improve on. It’s a great way to measure progress and see how they’ve grown.

More Organization, Less Stress

Writing down accomplishments is also a less stressful way to keep students organized. By making a list of what they’ve done each day, students can easily see what tasks they’ve completed and what still needs to be done. This can help them prioritize their tasks for the next day and ensure they’re making progress on the most important tasks.

Making a “what I did” list is a simple practice that can help students who have struggled with traditional time management tools rethink their approach to getting work done. It’s an easy habit to start and can be a valuable tool for measuring progress and for staying motivated.

  • Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director

Build Your Executive Function Toolkit in 2023

Are you interested in building your Executive Function Toolkit? Join us in February and March to hear from EF experts on topics such as executive function and social-emotional learning, organizing time and materials, UDL, and goal setting. Learn more and register today. 

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
Cognitive Flexibility Executive Function Social-Emotional Learning

The Making of a Good President: EF and SEL Strengths

Picture of Mount Rushmore among trees

Last year on the SMARTS blog, we explored what it takes to be a successful president. For decades, historians have examined the actions, speeches, and personalities of US presidents to determine what qualities and characteristics lead to a prosperous tenure in office. It comes as no surprise that a well-developed sense of self-understanding and executive function strengths are key!

In addition to a vision for the future and the ability to see situations from multiple perspectives, it turns out that there are a number of social and emotional strengths that contribute to a successful presidency. Doris Kearns Goodwin, a historian who has spent 50 years researching, analyzing, and writing on American politics and the US presidency, described these qualities in an interview with the Aspen Institute(link opens in new tab/window)↗:

“The most important leadership qualities are empathy, resilience, listening skills, humility, and self-reflection.”

But it’s not just presidents who need to develop these strengths. These qualities are important for all students no matter what career path they choose.

Empathy

When it comes to empathy, it’s never too early to start teaching students to consider others’ perspectives. The SMARTS Elementary Curriculum has a number of lessons about stepping into peers’ shoes and understanding why they see something a certain way (e.g., Lesson 3.2. I’m Wearing Your Shoes).

The ability to be flexible and shift perspectives can contribute to positive interpersonal relationships. As described in the CASEL Framework on relationship skills, having a greater capacity for empathy means being able to “communicate clearly, listen actively…work collaboratively to problem solve, and negotiate conflict constructively…”

Self-reflection

Self-reflection is essential for students to think metacognitively, understand their strengths and challenges, and begin to plan their future strategy use. When teaching executive function strategies through the SMARTS curriculum, it is important that students keep strategies all in one place. For elementary students, the SMARTS Elementary Workbook allows students to quickly and easily access all the handouts and strategy reflection sheets they’ll need. Older students can use strategy notebooks or a digital resource to collect handouts and reflections from each lesson.

Resilience

Another tool to develop students’ self-reflection is the MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit, an interactive executive function survey system that features the STRATUS (Strategy Use Survey) and ME (Motivation and Effort Survey). The MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit also dives into the topics of motivation, effort, and resilience, and students are asked to reflect on what helps them push through and what makes them feel like giving up. They can see over time how they are growing as resilient and strategic learners.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

Build Your Executive Function Toolkit in 2023
Are you interested in building your Executive Function Toolkit? Join us in February and March to hear from EF experts on topics such as executive function and social-emotional learning, organizing time and materials, UDL, and goal setting. Learn more and register today.

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
College Motivation Social-Emotional Learning

Relationships in the Classroom: The Social-Emotional Foundation of Success

College professor helping four students in library

Building relationships in the classroom is essential for creating a positive and productive learning environment. While it’s not always easy to pause content instruction to foster relationships, numerous studies have shown that people are more productive in a space where they experience trust and safety. Here are several strategies you can use to strengthen your classroom community.

Respond to Student Emails

Ironically, one impactful strategy to build relationships with students takes place out of the classroom—and on email. Responding to student emails may seem like a small thing, but it lets students know that you value their thoughts and concerns and you are approachable. This can help to build trust and create a more supportive classroom environment. This does not mean that you should be expected to reply to a student who messages at 11:59 before a midnight deadline; however, even that message deserves a reply at some point.

Share and Model Strategies

Another relationship-building strategy is to share personal struggles. By being open and honest about your own experiences, you can help your students see that they are not alone in their struggles. This can help to create a sense of empathy and understanding, fostering a more positive classroom environment.

The Power of Rituals

Finally, promoting rituals where everyone comes together can strengthen relationships in the classroom. Rituals can include everyday things like group discussions and class meetings, or special events like a class party, movie day, or team-building games. These rituals help students to connect with each other, build trust, and feel a sense of belonging.

No matter which strategy you try, building relationships in the classroom can lead to a more positive classroom environment where students are engaged and motivated to learn.

  • Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director

Build Your Executive Function Toolkit in 2023

Are you interested in building your Executive Function Toolkit? Join us in February and March to hear from EF experts on topics such as executive function and social-emotional learning, organizing time and materials, UDL, and goal setting. Learn more and register today. 

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
Equity Metacognition Motivation

Promoting Metacognition through EdTech Tools

Two students sitting next to each other facing a computer

What does it look like when students use edtech in the classroom? If you picture students working independently at computer stations, you’re not alone. In this blog post from Digital Promise*(link opens in new tab/window), the author shares ideas for stimulating metacognition in the classroom by moving away from individualistic tasks and moving towards opportunities for reflection and connection.

Siloed Learning

After students read an article, watch a video, or complete an assignment, they no doubt have many thoughts to share. What happens when they don’t have a peer to share these ideas with or they don’t have a place to capture their thoughts? The author argues that this is where educators can leverage educational technology to ensure that students have opportunities to discuss, reflect on, and iterate on their learning with each other.

“How can we use edtech to provide opportunities for learners to exercise metacognition (thinking about one’s thinking), which is key for making sense of content and understanding ourselves as learners?”

Tech Tools to Promote Metacognition

  1. Discussions
    Opportunities for student–student and student–teacher interaction help develop metacognition. Consider creating online polls, using a quiz or game app like Quizlet or Kahoot, or allowing groups of students to record themselves answering discussion questions using Flipgrid.
  2. Reflection Journals
    When emphasizing the importance of reflection, the author quotes John Dewey: “We do not learn from experience…We learn from reflecting on experience.” He points out that tools such as Google Docs can be a simple reflection journal for all students. With speech-to-text available in multiple languages, all students can access this reflection option.
  3. Charting
    Data display charts can help students see how they and their classmates are working towards their goals. Teachers can share the data with their students to empower them.

Building Metacognition with SMARTS 

Metacognition is at the heart of the SMARTS curriculum; students need to know themselves and think about what they know and don’t know about what they are learning. Metacognition is so important that it kicks off the SMARTS curriculum. Lesson 1.1 in SMARTS Elementary (How Do I Think About My Thinking?) and SMARTS Secondary (What is Metacognition?) get students ready to think about strategies to reflect, self-regulate, and direct their work.

What edtech tools do you use to promote metacognition in your classroom?

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

*Digital Promise(link opens in new tab/window) is a global nonprofit that shapes the future of learning and advances equitable education systems by bringing together solutions across research, practice, and technology.

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
Executive Function Metacognition SMARTS Stories SMARTS strategies

Classroom Research: A SMARTS Pilot Study

Teacher sitting next to student working with book open

When it comes to teaching executive function strategies, research has demonstrated that explicit, systematic, structured, and scaffolded approaches yield the greatest results. It is also important to consider that each teaching environment presents its own factors that influence learning.

Action Research: In the Classroom

Two teachers in Slovakia took matters into their own hands and carried out a review of their students’ metacognitive abilities pre- and post-SMARTS intervention. We’ll highlight their major findings in this post, and we encourage you to read their full report.

The authors of the article, Iveta Kovalčíková and Ivana Martinková, completed SMARTS training before embarking on this pilot study. The question that guided their research was: What is the impact of intervention through the metacognitive program SMARTS on selected metacognitive abilities (organizing and prioritizing) of examined pupils?

Research Overview

Kovalčíková and Martinková applied a number of SMARTS curriculum lessons (adapted to the Slovak curricular context) to stimulate their students’ abilities to organize and prioritize information:

  1. Purposeful Highlighting—highlighting to identify multiple perspectives when reading and taking notes
  2. Triple-Note-Tote—a three-column strategy for note-taking
  3. BOTEC—a strategy to help students organize and sort ideas (Brainstorming, Organizing, Topic sentences, Evidence and Conclusion)

Interventions lasting forty-five to sixty minutes were carried out in 25 sessions twice a week. The authors highlight case studies of two students, Emil and Vanda, who develop metacognitive skills and personalized strategies throughout the intervention.

Outcomes

Based on the outcomes obtained by observation and interviews, the impact of the intervention on the pupils’ metacognitive abilities can be assessed as positive.

We thank Iveta Kovalčíková and Ivana Martinková for sharing their study with us. SMARTS empowers students by helping them understand their strengths and weaknesses and teaching them critically important executive function strategies.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
MetaCog Online Metacognition Self Advocacy

Launching the MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit

A student in an orange shirt leaning over notebook with laptop open in front of her

Are you looking for a tool to better understand your students’ executive function strategy use and their motivation and effort? Join our free webinar to learn about the MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit.

What is the MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit?

The MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit is an interactive executive function survey tool that features two surveys:

  • STRATUS (Strategy Use Survey), which highlights students’ perceptions of their use of planning, organizing, memorizing, shifting, and self-checking strategies
  • ME (Motivation and Effort Survey), which helps teachers understand what motivates their students and helps them persevere, and allows students to share how much effort they put into various subjects and academic tasks

Build Students’ Self-Understanding with the MetaCOG Surveys 

In addition to serving as a powerful tool for data collection in the classroom, the MetaCOG surveys help students understand themselves as learners.

Self-reflection, a key component of the MetaCOG Surveys process, is essential for students to think metacognitively, understand their strengths and challenges, and begin to plan their future strategy use. Once students complete the MetaCOG surveys and review their profiles, teachers are encouraged to build in time for independent student reflection or small-group/whole-class discussions.

Group shares on topics like strategy use and motivation can create a sense of community in the classroom. The discussions that arise from these reflections can help students build their self-understanding, which is at the heart of developing a sense of identity and belonging.

It is important to embrace students’ identities and promote self-advocacy to build better learning experiences for all students. Promoting students’ metacognition can also help them to develop the flexible mindsets needed to build positive social-emotional relationships with teachers and peers.

Learn more

Attend our free webinar to learn more about the MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit and the relationship between motivation, effort, and executive function strategy use.

Date and Time

  • Thursday, February 2, 2023, 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET

Presenters:

  • Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., President and Director of the Research Institute for Learning and Development (ResearchILD)
  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., ResearchILD Associate
  • Manu Shahi, B.B.A., Educational Consultant and SMARTS + MetaCOG user

We look forward to sharing the ways MetaCOG can help you and your students understand their executive function strategy use, motivation, and effort!

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

Categories
Homeschool parents Self Advocacy

Parent Perspective: Self-Advocacy

Student and teacher sitting next to each other in front of computer and talking

Teachers tell me my dyslexic daughter is a good self-advocate, and I know it’s an important skill. By high school, self-advocating isn’t just knowing what you need and asking for it, which can be hard enough. It’s also planning and managing one’s self, teachers, specialists, the testing center, scheduling, technology, paperwork, and stress — all while being subject to skepticism and accusations of an unfair advantage.

Self-Advocacy and Accommodations

After all that, sometimes the requests are denied, deemed not to be “reasonable accommodations.” Some people ask, “Does she really need that? Can you prove it beyond a reasonable doubt?” Without accommodations, she’ll get by, some people say, as if merely getting by is a valid educational goal.

Self-advocacy at school is mentally and emotionally exhausting; it’s extra work for students in an area that can already be difficult. As a parent of a student with learning differences, it feels like the added burden of having to be your own advocate is just another barrier, another test of worthiness.

Eyeglasses Analogy

Consider the analogy of a student who is failing in school but just needs eyeglasses — a tool, an accommodation. With glasses, the student can see more clearly and begins to succeed. It’s accepted without question as to whether or not they really need the glasses, or if the glasses are a reasonable accommodation. Nobody says they’d “get by” without those glasses.

The Burden of Self-Advocacy

Students who can be accommodated with corrective lenses don’t have to self-advocate. Nobody asks for formal documentation, eye test results, or the qualifications of the optometrist. Nobody needs to know if the diagnosis is an astigmatism, myopia, or hyperopia. Nobody insinuates that the glasses give an unfair advantage or that the student should just practice seeing without glasses. Nobody would say the student can wear glasses sometimes, but not when taking a test or taking notes in class.

In order to “see,” my child needs tools such as voice-to-text and text-to-voice as well as other accommodations. Yet, she has to leap over many hurdles to get there. Yes, my daughter has learned to self-advocate at school, but I wish she didn’t have to.

  • Parent of LD High School Student

Build Your Executive Function Toolkit in 2023

Are you interested in building your Executive Function Toolkit? Join us in February and March to hear from EF experts on topics such as executive function and social-emotional learning, organizing time and materials, UDL, and goal setting. Learn more and register today. 

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org