Building the Executive Function Skills of Planning and Organization

Everywhere we look in education today, we hear the term “executive function” (EF) and how students struggle because of EF deficits. So what is it?

by Dr. Amy Root Littlefield

Executive function is a set of mental skills that include working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control.  These skills are used every day to learn, work and manage daily life tasks.  When an individual has deficits in EF skills, this results in such outcomes as lack of focus, difficulty following directions, and problems handling emotions. 

At Wye River, our students are particularly challenged with EF challenges due to their learning profiles that include ADHD, ASD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and anxiety.  Therefore, our program is designed to support each student to strengthen their executive function skills in order to develop independence as a learner and to prepare for life outside the classroom.  Two of the most important skills we are constantly building are planning and organization.  With strength in these two skills, students will have the tools to improve upon other EF skills.

Effective Strategies for Successful Planning

A roadmap helps students to achieve their goals.  At Wye River, we model and scaffold that roadmap for our students in order for them to eventually manage it independently.  This planning includes short, medium and long-term assignments, projects, and goals, both for school and for life.  Following are some examples of planning tools at WRUS:

• Planners - At WRUS, all 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students are provided with paper planners.  Teachers use reminders to ensure planners are filled out with the goal that by their senior year they will have come up with their own system that helps them to keep track of their schedule, whether on paper or digitally.

  
  

• Priority lists - Both in classes and in weekly seminar, teachers model for students how to create priority lists in order to get work done.  They are encouraged to schedule in time to complete assignments using their planner and to evaluate what should be done first and how much time should be devoted to each task.

  
  

• Project lead sheets - Teachers provide instructions for completing projects that include requirements (a rubric), timelines broken down into chunks, and checklists in order for students to move forward.  Breaking large assignments down into smaller parts helps students from becoming overwhelmed and unable to move forward, while helping them to feel successful when one step is accomplished at a time.  For example, in Makerspace each student fills out a weekly plan and conducts a self-evaluation as they progress through their plan.

  
  

Effective Strategies for Organization

Organization goes hand-in-hand with planning as many tools work to serve both of these executive functions.  At Wye River, teachers assist students with creating and maintaining usable organizational tools that work for their unique style.  As previously stated, throughout their years at WRUS, students are guided along the path to become independent learners through strengthening their EF skills.  This helps to reduce their cognitive load in order for them to focus on one piece of information at a time and not have to keep it all in their working memory.  Following are some examples of organizational tools at WRUS:

• Planners also serve as organizers as everything in one place.  Students should be able to easily find what they need to do in order to gather what they need.

  
  

• Binders are used in multiple classrooms for students to organize their printed materials in usable ways.  Teachers explicitly teach set-up and maintenance of binders throughout the year.

  
  

• Google Classroom allows a clear and navigable platform for student digital organization.  Students are easily able to access documents and to find them later to use as resources.  Teachers provide labeled sections on their Classroom that further assist students.  Further assistance with digital organization is provided with supervising student creation of folders for research projects and other long-term tasks.

Building Skills for Lifelong Success

Wye River Upper School works to explicitly teach students ways to improve their executive function skills and to understand how strong EF skills will positively impact their learning.  These truly are life skills.  Our goal at WRUS is to empower students to take charge of their learning and be ready for the next steps after graduation.