“Don’t forget to edit your work before you hand it in!”
No matter how often we remind our students to check their work — whether on a paper, a test, or a project — it seems like the message just does not get through. Papers are turned in with glaring spelling and formatting errors. Tests returned without a name on top. It’s enough to make a teacher crazy.
But do not worry, help is on the way! Self-monitoring and self-checking are areas of executive function that are often not taught explicitly. When we ask our students to “check their work,” they may not actually understand what we mean by that. By taking the time to model strategies for checking, our students will be able to edit and check their work on a deeper and more thorough level.
Take a look at the SMARTS Overview video below to learn about best practices and common challenges when teaching executive function strategies for self-monitoring and self-checking.
- Elizabeth Ross, M.A., SMARTS Media Manager