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Executive Functions in the Classroom

Executive Functions in the Classroom. Challenges for the Modern Age. The pace of modern technology brings with it many challenges. Our lives move at a much faster pace than that of our parents or grandparents:.

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Executive Functions in the Classroom

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  1. Executive Functionsin the Classroom Challenges for the Modern Age

  2. The pace of modern technology brings with it many challenges.

  3. Our lives move at a much faster pace than that of our parents or grandparents:

  4. It is, unfortunately, one of the chief characteristics of modern business to always be in a hurry. In olden times it was different. The Medical Record 1884

  5. We have lost the art of conversation:

  6. Conversation is said to be a lost art … good talk presupposes leisure, both for preparation and enjoyment. The age of leisure is dead, and the art of conversation is dying. Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, Volume 29 1890

  7. We struggle with concentration and write poorly:

  8. Intellectual laziness and the hurry of the age have produced a craving for literary nips. The torpid brain … has grown too weak for sustained thought. There never was an age in which so many people were able to write badly. Israel Zangwill, The Bachelor’s Club 1891

  9. We are constantly inundated with information in the form of short summaries (news briefs, Twitter, etc.):

  10. Those who are dipping into so many subjects and gathering information in a summary and superficial form lose the habit of settling down to great works. Ephemeral literature is driving out the great classics of the present and the past … hurried reading can never be good reading. G.J. Goschen, First Annual Address to the Students of Toynbee Hall, London 1894

  11. The intense pace of technology affects our mental and physical well-being.

  12. The existence of mental and nervous degeneration among a growing class of people, especially in large cities, is an obvious phenomenon … the mania for stimulants … diseases of the mind are almost as numerous as the diseases of the body … this intellectual condition is characterized by a brain incapable of normal working … in a large measure due to the hurry and excitement of modern life. With its facilities for rapid locomotion and almost instantaneous communication between remote points of the globe … The Churchman, Volume 71 1895

  13. Children spend less time on physical activity than ever.

  14. If we teach the children how to play and encourage them in their sports … instead of shutting them in badly ventilated schoolrooms, the next generation will be more joyous and will be healthier than the present one. Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Summary of the Press Throughout the World, Volume 18 1895

  15. Children rebel against authority.

  16. There is a great tendency among the children of today to rebel against restraint, not only against that placed upon them by the will of the parent, but against any restraint or limitation of what they consider their rights … This fact has filled well minded people with great apprehensions for the future. Rev. Henry Hussmann, The Authority of Parents 1906

  17. Modern technology allows us to communicate quickly, frequently, but at the cost of quality.

  18. We write millions more letters than did our grandfathers, but the increase in volume has brought with it an automatic artificial machine-like ring … an examination of a file of old letters reveals not only a remarkable grasp of details, but a fitness and courtliness too often totally lacking in the mechanical curt cut and dried letters of today. Forrest Crissey Handbook of Modern Business Correspondence 1908

  19. A hundred years ago it took so long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worthwhile to put some time and thought and writing into it. Now the quickness and the cheapness of the post seem to justify the feeling that a brief letter today may be followed by another next week – a “line” now by another tomorrow. Percy Holmes Boynton Principles of Composition 1915

  20. The Pace of Modern lifevia XKCD.com

  21. What are Executive Functions? • Theories emerged in the 80s to explain difficulties with attention control, short-term memory, and emotional regulation. • Sometimes thought of as Metacognition – the ability to “think about thinking.” • Cognitive processes that regulate, control, and manage other cognitive processes such as working memory, attention, problem-solving, inhibition, mental flexibility, task switching, initiating, and monitoring actions.

  22. Why are executive functions important? Increased expectations for managing information, schedules, and technology. Technology can be a tool, a crutch and a source of significant distraction.

  23. To be effective learners in the digital age, kids need executive functioning skills more than ever.

  24. Overview: • What are executive functions? • What is the typical timeline for development? • How are executive skills developed? • Difference, delay, or deficit? • What are the causes of executive function deficits? • What can teachers do to support the development of executive functions?

  25. What are executive functions?

  26. Types of Thinking • Primitive Skills: • Instinct • Habit • Emotional Responses • Fight/Flight/Freeze • Thinking, Learning, Reasoning • Executive Functions

  27. Executive Skills • Initiate • Plan and Organize • Organization • Inhibit • Emotional Control • Working Memory • Shift

  28. Everyday examples: Initiate: Getting out of bed once the alarm goes off

  29. Cleaning out a closet Putting together Ikea furniture with multi-page directions.

  30. Plan and Organize: Planning a dinner for 12, including shopping, housecleaning, and prepping. Completing taxes prior to April 15.

  31. Organization Having a system for putting your keys away in the same place every day. Getting ready for work without spilling coffee on yourself.

  32. Inhibit: Not eating that second donut.

  33. Not expressing your honest opinion of a friend’s unfortunate haircut.

  34. Emotional Control: Recognizing when you are feeling frustrated and taking a break from cleaning out the closet before you do something you will regret. Working Memory: Remembering what you were going to get from the next room.

  35. Shift: Getting off the couch to go work out. Figuring out a new route to work when there is construction.

  36. Areas of difficulty in the classroom: • Messy desk, backpack, etc. • Starting tasks • Sloppy, incomplete work • Forgetfulness • Reading comprehension • Poor sense of time or how long things take

  37. Math accuracy, completion • Multi-step problems or tasks • Emotional over-reactions • Difficulties with regulation – over or under active • Transitions • Writing • Inability to take responsibility for actions • “He can do it when he wants to.”

  38. Family Circus

  39. Misunderstood Minds:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/attention.html

  40. What is the typical timeline for development?

  41. Early Development

  42. Play

  43. Ages 6-11 • Verbal working memory • Goal-Directed behavior • Response inhibition • Selective Attention • Strategies Planning / Organization Skills • Cognitive flexibility`

  44. Later Stages

  45. How do Executive Skills Develop?

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