That would be like me saying, well, everybody should just be able to run for an hour. Like, that's what we're doing. Right? That's the plan for today. And that feels like no way.
Right. I would die.
Hi, and welcome back to the Smarter Literacy podcast from Ascend Smarter Intervention, where we simplify effective literacy instruction so every student gets what they need and every educator gets to breathe a little easier.
I'm Lindsay. And I'm Corey. And today, we're talking about something we get questions about all the time, executive functioning, and specifically how to help students build executive functioning skills. In our last episode, we talked about using a five step executive functioning framework for ourselves as educators, how we can set goals, check-in on how we're feeling, focus our attention, make a plan, and reflect at the end of the month or even the end of each day. And today, we wanna talk about taking that exact same framework and bringing it into the classroom or your instructional setting in a really practical way by talking about how we can use it with our students.
This is really important because EF is the invisible structure underneath everything that happens in our day for us and our students. When we can give students a simple, repeatable process to follow, it becomes a sense of calm and predictability to learning that they really crave. So if you've ever felt like your students are having trouble getting started, bouncing from task to task, melting down when things feel too hard, or they're just totally checked out, then this episode is gonna be for you.
Yes. And I must say, when we were planning this episode, I kept thinking about all the students that I've worked with over the years who were so bright, so capable, but they just couldn't quite put all of the pieces together. Right? It's like, why are they not showing up to their full potential? And once I understood that this really wasn't a motivation problem or they're just not trying type of problem, but really an executive functioning problem, everything shifted for me. So I'm excited to break this down so you can literally start using this tomorrow.
EF is so important for our kids. I even had a student the other day who recognized that he was having trouble with his work because he just couldn't focus.
And once it was like, okay, so, yeah, like, we're having trouble focusing. How can we combat that?
And so our instruction turned a little bit into what strategies could we give in order for him to be able to be successful.
And our students need that, right? Not just for our sessions, our literacy instruction period, but for life. Right? So true.
So let's start with a simple question. What are the five steps in the EF framework?
Yes. So this is a great question. And I think one of the things to keep in mind here is that this is just a way that we have organized this and found that this works really well. This is not to say this is the only way or this is the way that it must be done.
But I think when I originally started with executive functioning, it felt like there's all these skills that you're trying to target. Like, oh, I need to help kids with time management. Oh, I need to help them with organizing. And oh, I need to help them with this and that.
And what I started to realize is that, well, yes, and executive functioning is so much bigger than that. So what we did is we put it into a five step framework just because I think sometimes having a framework or having a structure around some of these things can make it easier to implement. It's just a routine that you can follow. And so the way that we do this with our students and that we've done this with ourselves is that the first step is goal setting.
And this is just first getting really clear on what it is that we are trying to do.
And then the next step is regulation, which is noticing how our brain, how our body are feeling before we start, which is so important.
And then the next step would be attention, or we almost call this like a focus window or a focus interval. So we'll talk about that a little bit more, but just deciding what we're going to focus on and for how long we can focus on that particular activity.
Then the fourth step is planning the steps. So breaking the task into simple actionable steps that we can follow. And then the last step is reflecting. And this is where we can make adjustments, right? Because we're looking back to see what worked, what didn't, what might we want to change the next time.
Awesome.
Okay, so I'm going to play the role of the teacher listening to this who's maybe thinking, okay, that sounds great in theory, but what does it actually look like with a group of second graders or middle schoolers in front of me?
Can we take a second and like walk through the steps to see what this would look like? So for example, step one is goal setting. And when I hear that my brain kind of jumps to long term goals like, oh, I want my students to able to read at grade level by the end of the year.
But we know that's really only part of what we're talking about here.
Yes. And that is such a great point because when we think about goal setting, right, we love long term goals. And you can absolutely use the executive functioning framework for that too. But when we're working with students day to day and trying to build these executive functioning skills, we're really thinking about more micro level goals.
So these are gonna be really short concrete goals that students can accomplish in one sitting. So this might be honestly ten to fifteen minutes. So if we think about step one and these short micro goals, we might be asking, what are we trying to get done in the next ten minutes? So this goal is something like, we're going to finish this math problem or we're going to finish this specific assignment or we are going to read this paragraph and do something specific with that.
It's not what are we doing in the next four months type of thing. And so, for example, what that could look like specifically for students is I'm gonna read one page and underline three words I don't know. I'm going to finish, like I said, this particular set of math problems. I'm gonna write one sentence using our vocabulary word of the day, or I'm going to reread this paragraph and make sure that I understand the five w's, which is a strategy that we use all the time for comprehension.
So, again, we want the goal to be really clear and measurable, and we also want it to be doable in the time frame that we are working with. And, of course, that's going to vary depending on whether you're working with littles, so kindergartners versus high schoolers. Right? They're just gonna have a longer period of time that they can focus on.
So we want our goals to to fit into there.
And, honestly, the beautiful thing about all of this is that when you set that small goal at the beginning of a task, it gives the brain direction and reduces that I don't even know where to start that so many students struggle with, especially those who have executive functioning challenges. And if they get in this, I don't even know where to start or what I should be doing, then you can run into behavior and like running around. What are you doing? This is not what we're doing.
Exactly. Yeah. And thinking of especially when you have younger students, their brains can only hold on to attention for so long. We're building that up.
And what I love also about this is that it's a built in win, right? If the goal is finish the whole chapter and you might get halfway through the chapter, that's going to feel like failure.
But if the goal is let's read one page and underline three words, they can see themselves accomplishing that and they're building that confidence and they're building that, oh, I can do this kind of attitude.
Yeah, exactly. And we can model this language for them too. So it even starts with, okay, for the next ten minutes, our goal is blank, whatever your goal is, right? And over time, they can start to internalize that and say things like, okay, my goal is to finish this part or my goal is to get through question three. And we're almost just creating that model for them so that they can continue to hold on to that.
I love that. It's so simple, but it really does shift the energy. Instead of just working quietly, it becomes let's work with a purpose, with intention, which I think is a shift in mentality that we all need, not just our students.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think the other important thing here is recognizing that this is not something that has to take a long time. I think originally when I thought of executive functioning, it was like I'm going to go through a whole executive functioning lesson and that's going to take, you know, one of my lesson sessions that I have with students. This, especially this goal setting, it's thirty seconds.
Right? It's literally just this is what we're trying to do. And I start every literacy session with my students with the this is what we're working to accomplish today. And in fact, they're used to it at this point because it's just our routine where I'll tell them, you know, we break it into five sections.
And so our goal is to get through the AR reading section. So what we'll do is we'll do our warm up and review, then we'll move into our pattern introduction, and we'll do our application activities, Then we'll read our passage, and then we'll answer our questions about our passage. And that's it. And they know that that is the goal.
And so then they're like, okay, cool. I got it.
I get it. Yeah. And even for my student who, like, the other day was having those focus issues, and we were on our fluency passage, I said, Okay, well, for one minute, we're going to focus on this passage, and we're going to focus on our fluency and reading out loud, and that's all you have to do for this one minute, and then we'll take a little break. So it gives that kind of like, Okay, I can do something for one minute.
Absolutely. Like you said, it's that win that's already built in, right? And then they can visualize it too. Like, okay, I can see what success looks like.
So once students know what they're trying to do, the next step in the framework is regulation.
This is the part that I think a lot of us feel is important, but either skip because of time or we're not totally sure how to do it without turning into like a full blown counseling session. So can you talk about what this looks like in a quick practical way?
Yeah, I'm so glad that you said that because I think that was originally the way that I viewed this is that this is going to turn into a twenty minute like processing circle where we're all talking about our feelings and then the kids are saying, no, I'm not ready to work. And then I'm like, now what? Right? Like, shoot.
Like now I got to figure out how we're going to how we're going to pull this back together. But a regulation check-in can be honestly as quick as like hold up your fingers. So one means my brain feels tired or frustrated. And four means my brain feels ready and focused.
Where are you right now? Right? And it can just be that they give themselves a rating scale. Or it can even be more simple than that.
Put your thumb up if you're ready to learn. Sideways if you're like, oh, I don't know, and down if you're feeling like, wow. Like, I'm actually having a moment right now, and I'm feeling a little bit stressed. And you can use color charts or number scales or even faces or emojis for younger students.
And honestly, it can just be as simple as how's your brain feeling right now? And oftentimes, I'll start in that way with my students is how is your brain feeling right now? Now that we've set the goal, how are you feeling? Are you ready to get started?
And sometimes they will, I can sometimes pick it up even. Like, they're, like, moving around a lot, and they're, like, really fidgety. And I'm like, you know what I'm noticing? I'm noticing that your body has a lot of movement right now.
And so that's maybe telling me that maybe we have some excess energy. So let's try a strategy. Right? So maybe we need to do a thirty second breathing exercise.
Maybe we can do ten wall push ups or wall sits, something like that. Just thirty seconds of quick stretching. Or maybe everybody just came in from recess and it's like, you know what? Let's just take a quick water break.
We're going to reset and we're going to dim the lights a little bit. And then we're going to come back. And it can just look as simple as that. So it doesn't need to be this whole thing.
It can even just be a this is what I'm noticing. And so these are some strategies that I think that we can try.
I think this is so important because not only do we want our students we wanna recognize it, right, and teach our students this, but we want them to be able to recognize this in life, not just in our classes. And being like, okay, you know what? I am not at a four. I am not.
I need something. I need a break. I need to get a drink. I need to do something to get myself ready, right?
Because that's going to help them be successful in every aspect of their life. And instead of jumping straight into let's get to work, we can teach them how to recognize that our nervous system is still, like you said, on the playground or thinking about something that happened at home. And I mean, even as an adult, when I like come to work and I realize, okay, I need to get a cup of coffee and maybe just kind of stretch it out, walk down the hallway a little bit before I sit down and get to work for that day because I'm not quite ready to start, is so important. It's so important for our bodies, our mind, and our health in general.
Absolutely. And I think you make a really great point there that this transcends beyond just the classroom, and it transcends beyond just being a kid and into adulthood. I know I was even feeling like that yesterday. I was like, what is wrong with me?
Why can I not just crank this out? I have a to do list a mile long. I've got a lot of things I need to get done, and it is just not coming together. It is just not coming together.
And it is you need to be able to take that pause and say, okay.
What is it that I need right now? And maybe it is as simple as, yeah, I just need a cup of water or, yeah, I need some coffee or I just need to go touch grass for a second and just re regulate myself. So I think if we can model that for our students so that they start to learn that, then we create this environment of a little bit more calm and stability, which then we're almost what we would say co regulating. I'm regulating myself.
I'm realizing even as a teacher sometimes that the kids are getting me riled up. And so I'm needing to model for them like, okay. Why don't we dim the lights a little bit? And so a lot of times in our sessions, we actually don't even have the fluorescent lighting on because it's just and the kids will be like, oh, this feels better.
I'm like, yeah. Same for me too. So I think that that's so important. And I think the other thing that's important here is just recognizing that no feelings are wrong, right?
So if you're feeling elevated or stressed or angry or upset, that's all good. That's Okay. That's normal. We need to value those feelings too.
But what we do want to do is we want be able to recognize them and then start to have strategies that we can put in place. So again, maybe you need a sip of water. Maybe you need to do some breathing, that kind of thing. And I think as we start to give students options for what might work, then it also gives them agency and control over, oh, don't just tell them, you should just breathe.
I don't want to breathe. Right?
Like, okay, give them some options, and that can be really helpful too.
Yeah. And I would say I was lucky enough in my even when I was a public school teacher because I had a lot of students, small group or one on one. But I was lucky because when I did come across EF struggles with my students, there were times where I could do it with them. Like you mentioned the wall sits.
I specifically remember I had one student, he needed to move a lot. He had a lot of energy. Sometimes it was he just needed to tell a story. And then there were other days I'm like, know what?
We're gonna go out in the hallway and we're gonna wall sit and let's see who can hold the wall sit for one minute. And I did it with him and he loved it. And it just, again, created this kind of atmosphere in the setting where he saw that as an adult hearing, I'm doing this with him too, and that it was an important part of our session.
And it wasn't, you know, taking away necessarily from our literacy instruction. It was helping us get in ready for literacy. And so telling him like, is something you can do. Like when you're feeling that energy and you're feeling like, okay, need to do something other than sit here and like, on writing.
Let's do this. Let's take a minute. Let's go do this. And that was in middle schools, but then he could take those strategies with him, like we said, further on into life, into high school and beyond and just knowing himself better.
This is what I need right now.
So this is gonna bring us to our third step, which is that attention piece.
Yes. And this may require a shift in how you think about attention. So in this third step, we help students decide, one, what deserves their attention right now. So what do we need to be focusing on And how long are they going to focus on it?
So we talk with kids about this idea of a focus window or focus intervals. So because I'm a runner, I use focused running to explain literally everything to everyone. People are probably so annoyed it's just a runner thing to do. But I will explain this to my students and even their families that for some students, especially if they're younger or have executive functioning challenges, that focus interval might be two or three minutes at first.
And for older students, it may be ten to fifteen minutes. So if you think about getting started with a running program, and I know I brought this up recently and a parent was like, oh yeah, I recently did a Couch to five ks program and I started with thirty seconds of running and sixty seconds of walking and thirty seconds of running and sixty seconds of walking. And that's what we're doing. What we're trying to do is we're trying to figure out how long can we maintain or hold that interval.
But if we just assume, yeah, everybody can just do this for fifteen minutes, that would be like me saying, well, everybody should just be able to run for an hour. Like, that's what we're doing. Right? That's the plan for today.
And that feels like no way. Right.
I would die.
Right? So if we think about it from that perspective for our kids, like, I would die. Like, they come into our session and it's like, okay. Or a lesson.
Right? And, oh my gosh. You want me to work on this for an hour? I will die.
And so instead, it is, okay.
What are we focusing on and how long are we focusing on that? And so instead of saying pay attention or focus or this is what we're doing, to your point that you made earlier, you know, for one minute, this is all we're doing. Or for five minutes, our only job is to focus on reading this paragraph. I'm gonna set the timer so that your brain knows this is a short focused burst, and then we'll pause.
And also letting them know that then we'll pause or we will take that little break gives them this like, oh, okay. So a lot of times when you've got kids that are telling you stories nonstop, they just can't. It's because they're almost delaying. They don't want to get into that work interval because they don't know how long it's going to take.
And so if you tell them, Okay, it's just this period of time. And then if during that break part, then you can tell me the story. Then often they feel good. And a lot of times they're like, oh, I don't need to tell the whole story after all.
I'm actually fine. And in fact, sometimes I have kids where I'll say, okay, you've earned your break. How are we feeling? They're like, I can keep going.
Beautiful. If we can keep going, we're gonna keep going. But if you need to stop, we'll stop. Just in the same way that if you're learning to hold a run for longer, you're like, you know what?
I'm actually feeling pretty good. I'm gonna keep going. Then you would. And that's what the kids learn to do for themselves as well.
Again, I think this can sound like we're gonna give this our full attention for four minutes or we're gonna do a ten minute focus window, and then we're gonna check back in. And so it's a really powerful way to give students a little bit more agency as well of being able to see what's coming up for them and and where they need to be and how long. And then I'll tell parents, hey, right now, we've got I've got some students where their stamina is about three minutes, and I'm trying to work it up from there. Now one of the other things that we can think about is using timers, so even visual timers to make that really concrete.
So even in our trainings for educators, we'll do that sometimes where we'll put up a timer and say, I want you working on doing this journal reflection or whatever that is for two minutes. And that just helps you to see how long are you going to have me do this. Think as an educator myself, that helps so much. And it's just a mindset shift, right?
It's that attention is a skill that we can build and not this moral failing. Just like you would train for a race using those intervals, you can train your brain in those short, focused bursts and then stretch the window little by little by little.
Absolutely. And I do love your analogy, like the running analogy, even though I'm not a runner running. I can't. I don't think I can ever do that, but I have done other workouts where there are intervals and we're talking about a physical activity here, right?
And I need that break. If I'm going to keep going, I need to know, Okay, I'm doing these squats for this minute and then I get a break and before I move on to the next thing. Right. But I think we often forget that even though EF is a lot of that, that mental piece is just as exhausting it is, and it's just not for our kids, right?
Like for us again, too, that mental I need to get through this. I need it. You have to build that stamina up. It's never going to be just something you can do as much as we would like that to be the case, right?
I can run for an hour. No, I cannot. If I try to go out and run for an hour, I will die no matter what I tell myself.
You wouldn't die, but you'd be really miserable, right? I mean, again, and that's normal. And so if we can normalize that for our kids, we think, oh.
Yeah.
And like you said, it takes away the shame instead of I can't focus. Something is wrong with me. It's becoming I'm practicing. I'm building that stamina for this three minutes.
And next time I might get to four or five. And then eventually when they're up to ten or fifteen, it's like, oh, wow, look how far I've come. And we ask that of our students in our literacy blocks, think about like fluency, you know, okay, you read this many words in your cold read. Next time, let's see if we can get this many.
And they love seeing that growth. So giving them that ability to see growth of themselves in another way, I think is so, so important. Absolutely.
And I think too, the brain loves progress. And so being able to see that progress is huge. And we can just normalize it for our students by saying some brains can focus for longer right now and some are still building that ability and both are great. We're all practicing.
Some of us can run for an hour and some are like, no, nope, not there. But like we could all get there, right? Everybody, I know you said like, oh, I could never do that. You could I could.
If you wanted to. Now that might not be something you care to do. But just knowing that, hey, that's something, especially for attention, we do need to be able to build that ability. And so we're all working on it.
And so for older students, that can really start to look like a simple Pomodoro style structure where we've got ten to fifteen minutes of work and then a two to three minute kind of reset, stretch, and then just repeat. And I know I do that. I've talked about this quite a bit, I think. But I hate emails. I hate responding to emails so much. And so what I will do is in the morning, the first thing when I get to work, I will set a ten to fifteen minute timer. And I will crank through as many of those as I can.
And then I will give myself that two to three minutes. And sometimes I'm even like, oh, I'm going to pick my favorite tea after this or something that becomes a little bit of a reward for being focused and maintaining focus to something that's a little bit undesirable for me. But honestly, it doesn't need to be elaborate. It can just be for the next five minutes, we're all going to focus our attention on this one thing. So helpful.
I really do think that this is an important strategy that we need to be teaching our students, especially as they are getting older.
Because if we have students who are about to head off to college, right, or even in the workforce where all of a sudden they're expected to do a lot more, they have to burn a lot more energy, maybe studying or something, they need to have those strategies to be like, how can I get through this and still be sane at the end of this? The emails right for you. If you had to answer emails all day, it would drive you insane. Absolutely. And so telling yourself, okay, this is a ten, fifteen minute thing that I have to get through. And then after that, I get a little reward.
That's that's incentive. And we we we're humans. We need it. Yes. We live off of incentive.
Oh, and not only that, but I think too, just even talking about what we were talking about before, sometimes I'll get through my timer will go off.
Okay. Great. You've earned your reward. And then I'm in the middle of something. I'm like, well, I can just finish these, like, next couple.
Right? So it's almost like that getting started momentum will allow you then to keep going too. And I think you'll notice that in so many areas. Okay, I'm only gonna work on this project for fifteen minutes.
And then it's like, oh, well, now I'm gotten started on it. Now the wall's rolling. Now I'm in the flow state. Great, then keep going.
Yep, exactly.
Okay. So let's move to step four, which is planning. This is where so many of our kids get stuck. The task feels overwhelming, and they either shut down or just do something totally different.
Yes. This this is sometimes where you'll start to be like, why? Why are we running around?
And honestly, planning can sound really big, but we want it to be simple and concrete. And so what we want to make sure that we start with is starting with the end in mind. So what does done look like? And so for me, if I think about my interval of the emails, it's like, Okay, well, right now I've got thirty emails.
Done in this fifteen minute block maybe looks like I've got twenty emails or I've got ten emails. I've got an idea of done looks like this chunk is getting less. Right. I have fewer emails in my inbox.
And so I want to make sure that I'm starting with what done looks like as opposed to just saying, first we do this, then we do this. We want to make sure that they can work backward and start to create the plan themselves and that we're not the ones consistently making the plan. Now in the beginning, obviously, we're going to model that for them of this is what done looks like and these are the steps that we're taking to get there. But eventually, want them to start to say, Okay, so if this is what done looks like, then what do we need to do first?
And then what? And then what? So that they can start to do that and they can start to think about the steps and then even putting the steps in the right order. Because sometimes you're like, oh, I need to do this, this, this, and this.
And you're like, wait, but I have to do that before I can do that. And so you want students to start to develop some of that on their own. And you can just do that by modeling for them. And so for a lot of students, this sounds like first we're going to do this, then we're gonna do this, and last, we're going to do this.
So for example, if it was a sentence reading activity, we might say, alright. So first, we're gonna read the words in the sentence, then we're gonna determine who or what, did what, when, where, why, or how, And then last, we're going to reread the sentence with that appropriate phrasing. Now for us, we do this so often that we can start to tell the kids like, Okay, we've got a sentence reading activity. What are we doing?
And they're like, oh, at the end, I'm going to have my sentences all marked up, and I'm going to know what that like. And so then they can say, okay. So the first thing I need to do is and they can start to do that for you. Or if it's a sentence quick write, it could be, okay.
First, we're gonna brainstorm our idea. Then we're gonna write our sentence, making sure we have our who or what, did what. And then last, we're gonna read it and edit it for camps or whatever acronym that you're using. But last, we're gonna edit it.
And so what we could say to students is, before we jump in, let's picture what done looks like. And now that we know what done looks like, now we can list all of those steps out. So what do we do first? Then what?
What's last? We're just honestly jotting those things down. And usually, if I have a group, I'm putting this on the whiteboard too so that they can see and they can remember so that if they start to get squirrelly, I can point back to slippery one? Like, where are at?
And that can just be enough to refocus too.
Absolutely.
And for our older students, it could be might look like, what will this assignment look like when it's complete? Let's break it into three chunks.
And what are the steps to get this done before the bell rings over the period's over? And that's really important for our kids to be able to chunk those pieces, I think, and for them to realize, okay, these are manageable bite size things I can do here and now. And when I come back to it later, here's another bite size thing that I can do. It's so, so important, again, for kids of all ages to be able to just sit down and be like, what does done look like and how I'm going to achieve that?
Yeah, and I think that's where we always come back in our literacy sessions of helping map them out to what that's going to look like in the sessions for them. But even coming back to the workout example, I often do Peloton workouts. And they'll say, Okay, I'm going to give you the roadmap. Here, we're doing seven intervals.
And those seven intervals are going to look like this. And we've got hill work. And we've got speed work. And so essentially what that's telling me is not only how long do I need to focus for each individual one, but what does that whole plan look like for the duration of that particular workout.
And so just having that that's your plan, that's your roadmap, that can be so helpful. So if the instructor does not start for me with what is the roadmap, I get a little bit anxious. Oh gosh, I'm glad that you just told me how long this interval is, but how many intervals do I have left? Exactly.
And that can be a little bit stressful. So just keeping that in mind for our students as well.
And that is gonna bring us to our final step, which is reflect.
And I know this is the one that often gets skipped, not because we don't want to do it, but because time runs out, students are packing up, and our next group is already at the door. So what does that reflection look like in a way that's realistic for our educators?
Yeah. You're absolutely right. This is definitely the step that often disappears. And it's really important though because this is part of what we would even say is kind of a glue that holds this all together because it's going to help students to be able to think about did that work?
You're not going to do something that doesn't work. You're just going to be like, I've done this many times where I'm like, oh, that didn't work. That whole strategy is out the window. If we want this executive functioning process to continue to work, they need to see that, in fact, it did work.
And the good news is this does not have to be long. This can honestly be thirty seconds again. And it can sound like, worked for your brain today? What was tricky? Did our plan help? If we do this again tomorrow, what might you change?
Students are actually very good at some of this of like, oh, I wasn't as focused during my interval as I wanted to be. Or, you know, they're able to start to say, oh, okay. Or for younger students, it might even be just that thumbs up that sideways or down on how they felt like the strategy worked. Or you could say something like, finish this sentence.
One thing that helped me today was blank. And just have them just quick just tell you that. You don't have to have every student do it. Right?
If you've got a group, you can just call one or two students and just make sure you're mixing it up so that by the end of the week, you've heard from everybody. But it's not this whole let's do a whole circle thing and talk about what worked and what didn't. Sometimes there may not be time or space for that.
And honestly, goal is to help students to notice when the goal felt right or maybe when the goal felt too big. Whether the regulation strategy that they tried, if they tried breathing, that worked. Did they try the wall sit? Did that work?
What I've been able to do with some of my most impacted students is start to say, hey, we've started to notice that when you come into your sessions feeling in an emotion that we would maybe label as a red emotion, like that's that anger, right, thinking about inside out in the movie, right? But like that anger type of emotion, what we've started to realize is that sometimes your body is just hungry or it's thirsty. And so you actually just need to have a snack and that will remediate everything. So it's starting to recognize, oh, this strategy works for you specifically.
And so that can be helpful.
We also want them to be able to think about was the focus window or the interval too long or too short? Like, oh, I probably could have focused longer. Amazing. Let's do that.
And whether the steps that we put together were clear or if they were confusing or maybe it didn't work. The goal is not to be perfect here. We're not perfect. We're not perfect humans.
We are just human. And so sometimes we'll put a plan together and be like, well, that sucked. So we're not going to do that next time. And the goal here is just building metacognition.
So knowing kind of what we know and what we don't and what's working and what's not. So we want them to start internalizing this. When I do X, it helps me. When I skip Y, I struggle.
So for this particular student, I'm thinking about when I don't have a cold drink with me, I struggle. Right? And so now we're starting to recognize, all right, if you come into your session without your water, then we're going to make sure that we fill it up ahead of time because we know that you're not going to get through it without. So those can be things that we're thinking about.
Exactly. And I really do think that this is where the magic happens. And it's because, again, they're not just following the directions, they're learning about themselves. So you even mentioned sometimes we come up with a plan and we're like, oh, well, that didn't work.
But you're learning. You learn from failure, quote unquote failure, right? You're learning like, okay, that didn't work for me. So now I need to change my plan to see what will work for me.
And when they can get to this point in the reflection, they can maybe look back, you know what? Today felt really good and I'm really proud of the work that I made. Maybe like they're saying, oh, I could have focused for longer. So let me try that tomorrow.
Let me try five minutes instead of four minutes. And that is where that growth happens. And like we said, our brain loves growth, loves to see the growth, and that's where we build our confidence, and that's where we become stronger individuals, and we learn so much about ourselves. And I think that is one of the most important lessons we can teach our kids.
Absolutely. It's almost again coming back to that place of agency and control of, oh gosh, actually I'm starting to learn these things and I'm realizing that I am in more control than maybe I thought because I'm realizing, okay. So example, yesterday when I was like, what is going on? I was like, okay, maybe you didn't sleep great.
Oh, yep, that was a thing. You stayed up way too late trying to work through some of these other things. And that's a learning moment. And so I think when you can start to realize, oh, these aren't just things that are happening to me.
I'm incapable of working. Oh, no. There was these factors that I can now be in control of. And so it's almost like a science experiment.
So it's like, I noticed that when we set a really clear goal today, it helped you get started faster. Did you notice that too? And the kids can be like, oh my gosh. Yeah.
Or it seems like our ten minute focus window maybe felt a little bit long today. Maybe let's try seven tomorrow and see if that feels better. And they're like, oh, okay.
Cool. Like, so if something didn't feel great, if I tried to do, you know, an hour of emails, didn't feel great. Right. Maybe let's try a little bit of a shorter interval. And that doesn't mean that I don't still need to get it done, but maybe I need to break it into four fifteen minute intervals instead of just trying to, like, slog through it. So it's really coming at modeling curiosity and scientific evaluation as opposed to judgment.
Exactly. And maybe even leads to, I'm thinking of my own EF struggles too at home if I sit down to read a book, I'm noticing, Oh, my phone is distracting me every five minutes. And so what do I need to do if I want to successfully sit down and read this book? Okay, I'm going to leave the room or the phone in the other room, and I'm going to set a timer for an hour and a half, and I'm going to read these pages.
And at the end of that, I'm reflecting, was I able to do it? Did I get distracted by something else? Because this is a personal goal of mine, and it's a little hard. I'm not gonna lie.
It's hard right now. I'm definitely needing, like, a phone detox, I'm noticing, which I think a lot of us can say that. But this is becoming a personal goal of mine, and I'm noticing, oh, my stamina is getting better. Okay.
I'm feeling good. This is a good goal for me, and this is leading me to the person I wanna be who's not doomscrolling, who's not, you know, looking at things she doesn't need to buy and stuff. Right? So true.
And focusing on the thing that she loves, which is reading. So being able to give, again, give our students these strategies to feel like they're becoming the people they wanna be, I think is invaluable.
So we walked through all five steps, goal, regulation, attentionfocus intervals, planning and reflection.
Now I'm imagining a teacher listening to this who's thinking, this sounds great, but how am I supposed to fit this into my already packed literacy block?
Can you walk us through what this might look like in a really simple, real life way, maybe a short reading block example?
Yeah. Absolutely. And we do this all the time. So if you imagine that you have a fifteen to twenty minute small group reading block, here's just one way that it could look.
So honestly, in the first minute, you're gonna set a quick goal together for whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish in that particular literacy block. So it could even just be our goal today is to read this passage and underline one word, two words, three words that we don't know. And then we're going to talk about what they might mean together as a group. So really quickly, before we get started, hold up your fingers one to four.
How ready does your brain feel for reading? And if needed, you give it thirty seconds of stretching or breathing if you're getting a lot of ones and twos. Okay, I'm seeing some ones and twos. So why don't we try this strategy today? Honestly, that's a minute. Like you are not spending more than a minute there.
And then in the next minute, what you can do is set a five minute focus window or interval and say, alright. So for the next five minutes, our full attention is on reading and finding at least one word to underline so that we can talk about it together as a group.
And then before they get started, you can say, alright. So after our five minutes, what will this look like? K. It's gonna look like I've finished this paragraph or I've finished this page, and I have one to to three words that are underlined.
Beautiful. Great. So then we're gonna go ahead and set that focus window. And for the next five minutes, they are working on completing the plan, and you're supporting as needed.
So if for whatever reason somebody's off or whatever, then you can just redirect and say, oh, yep, sometimes you'll try to get stories and stuff in here. And it's like, nope, we're on our interval. We're on our on interval. You can tell me that when we're off interval.
And then at the end of that focus window or that session, you can just do a quick reflection of what helped your brain today. Did our goals and our steps make this easier? What felt hard? What felt right?
And that's it. It doesn't have to be this big separate EF lesson. It's just this kind of quiet structure that's wrapping around everything that you're already doing.
And this starts to just become a part of And once students really get used to this rhythm, they start doing parts of it with you, right?
Like you said, you start every single one of your sessions this way. Your students know what to expect, and they're ready to kind of sit down. Okay, we're going to make that goal. My brain feels at a two today. Okay, my focus window is five minutes today. And it just becomes natural.
And so, yes, it might seem like this takes a little bit of work when you first implement it, but eventually you're gonna get to a point where it's like this is just second nature.
Yeah, absolutely. No, it just becomes a part of the lesson. When you can really have students that start to come to that, that's when you know that the framework is working because it becomes theirs and not just yours. I've even had a number of my students who are like, you know what?
I don't need a break between our intervals today. I've got this. And I'm like, wow. How incredible is that?
Or I've had the same students coming in and saying, woah, I'm extra fidgety today. I'm feeling it. Like, I'm feeling that extra fidgety. I don't know why.
And then starting to almost reflect, I wonder why I'm feeling that way. How beautiful is that?
That is incredible. And I do love that. I love when our kids start noticing that for themselves.
So if a teacher is listening and feeling a little overwhelmed, what would you say to them? And where is the best place to start?
Yeah. I mean, honestly, you can definitely work through that five step framework. It does put it in the sequential order. But if it's feeling overwhelming, I would say just pick one step to start.
You don't necessarily need to run all five steps in every single lesson starting tomorrow. Right? That maybe could feel like a lot. And so instead, you could just ask yourself, what would make the biggest difference for my students right now?
So if your students are struggling to get started on tasks, maybe start with goal setting, right? Your students seem a little dysregulated, then begin with those regulation check ins. Or if your students are bouncing from one thing to the next, then maybe start those focus windows and see, hey, we're going try this experiment to see how long can we focus, how long can we maintain that. That's the brain obviously is not a muscle.
But sometimes I'll say, we're gonna work this muscle. Right? We are going to make this stronger just like if we were doing push ups or something else. And you choose one step and try it for a week or two and just notice what shifts and then add in another step when you're ready.
And you can even say to your students, like I said, we're gonna try something new this week to help our brains feel calmer and more focused. And we're gonna practice setting a small goal at the beginning of our work and then seeing how it goes.
Yeah. And remember, again, it's just one step at a time, one tool at a time and trusting that those small shifts really do add up. You do not have to overwhelm yourself. You do not have to go gung ho, you know, day one.
Try one thing, see how that works, get really good at that, and then introduce another step.
So as we wrap this up, we just wanna remind you that you are not alone in this. If you're feeling tired or stretched in or like you're trying to hold so many pieces together, your students are more likely feeling that way too.
It's honestly just what life tends to feel like at times, and bringing a simple EF framework into your literacy block can be the thing that makes everything else feel more manageable. Exactly.
And honestly, it's like we talked about at the beginning, that co regulation.
So your calm structure starts to become their calm structure. And I know in the last episode, I talked about this a little bit. But just having that space where you feel like, I can breathe. We can all breathe. We are all breathing together makes the future just feel a little bit less like, eat. Like, I don't know, scary at times.
And so when you can model that goal setting and that checking in and focusing in those short bursts, making a simple plan, and then reflecting back with curiosity, you're giving them something that they will carry far beyond the classroom. Like you said, this is something they can take with them their whole life.
And if it's helpful, we have a set of slides also that can help with this process that you can incorporate right into your teaching. So we'll link to them in the show notes, so definitely check those out.
And thank you for spending this time with us today. We're so grateful that you're here. And as always, we're cheering you on as you jump into this. And our goal is to help support clarity, calm, and renewed confidence this year. So hopefully, of these strategies can be helpful.
If this episode was helpful, we'd love for you to share it with a colleague who might need a little EF support too.
And as always, you can come hang out with us on social media, or if you want to dive even deeper, we have a spotlight professional development training called Support EF Through the Grade Levels, which we will link in the show notes. Absolutely, and we'll see you next Podcast.
Make sure to subscribe for more strategies and insights to make delivering effective literacy instruction easy or at least easier. And if you found this episode helpful, share it with a friend or leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcast. It really does help others find the show, and we are beyond grateful for your support. Thanks for listening. Until next time. Happy teaching.
