Executive Functions Group

Proposal

- 6-8 students (ideally ninth or tenth graders)

- Meets for 20-30 minutes
- Will meet every week after school beginning in term three in either
- Snacks will be provided
- Based on “Addressing Executive Function at The Secondary Level: In the
Classroom and as an RTI Intervention” Atlanta Public School, 2011
- Each week will feature a different topic that will build on each other
- Will collect data
- Pre/Post Test
- Analyze GPA before and after group intervention
Executive Functions Group

Pre-Test

1. I feel organized and I manage my time wisely.

A. Strongly Agree
B. Agree
C. Neither Agree nor Disagree
D. Disagree
E. Strongly Disagree

2. I feel confident that I have the tools to be successful in school.

A. Strongly Agree
B. Agree
C. Neither Agree nor Disagree
D. Disagree
E. Strongly Disagree

3. Which of the following is an example of a “growth mindset”?

A. I am not good at this
B. This is too hard
C. I am not good at this yet, but I can learn how to be better
D. I don’t want to try this because I might fail

4. Which of the following is not a learning style?

A. Visual Learner
B. Auditory Learner
C. Tactile Learner
D. Menal Learner

5. Cameron has a low grade in his math class. The reason why his grade is so low is
because he has a number of missing homework assignments. Which of the following is
a helpful "S.M.A.R.T" goal that could help Cameron bring up his grade?

A. Bring a personal device to every class

B. Never forget a homework assignment again
C. Pass in at least three homework assignments by the end of the week
D. Get an “A” in math for the year
Executive Functions Group

Class One: Intro

Pre-Test
Introduce ourselves
- Name
- One thing that’s going well this school year
- Favorite thing to do outside of school
- Choose a would you rather (print out 10 of these and put them in a cup)
My expectations
- Be kind and respectful of others
- No judgement
- Be present and participate (don’t always mean raising your hand but you are at
least doing the activities)
- Don’t talk when others are talking
- No phones (unless I tell you it’s ok)
Your Expectations/Group Rules
- Have students come up with at least 5
Executive functioning skills (write these on board)
- Mental processes that help us with
- Organization
- Planning
- Paying attention
- Memory
- Managing-time
- Organization
- Planning
- Keeping emotions in check
Draw picture of brain
- Speak about frontal lobe
Introduce what we will work on specifically
- Learning styles
- Goal setting
- Time-management
- Organization
- Note-taking
- Study skills
- Self-monitoring
- Keeping emotions in check
Executive Functions Group

Class Two: Keeping Emotions in Check

Two Mindsets
- Growth Mindset
- Your intelligence can grow
- Your ability can change as a result of hard work, perseverance, and
practice
- “Math is hard but I can get better at it.”
- Will always keep improving and realize their full potential
- Fixed Mindset
- Intelligence and talent are innate traits that don’t change
- You are either smart or you are not
- “I can’t learn math. I’ve never been good at math and I will never be good
at math so there is no point in trying.”
- Does this sound familiar?
- Won’t achieve their full potential
How it looks
- Growth mindset
- Just want to look smart
- Embrace challenges
- Persist in the face of setbacks
- Learn from criticism
- Are inspired by the success of others
- Fixed Mindset
- Want to improve their abilities
- Avoid challenges
- Give up easily
- Ignore useful feedback
- Feel threatened by the success of others
- Have a desire to learn
- Studies show that students with a growth mindset are:
- More motivated and engaged (even when the work is challenging
- Are more likely to review or revise their work
- Score better on standardized tests
- Have higher GPA’s
- Fail fewer classes
- Are more likely to persist in high school and college
- Takeaways
- Think of your brain as a muscle; you need to work it out
- (How did the rock get so big?)
- Growth mindset doesn’t happen over night; it takes time, hard work,
practice
- You almost need a growth mindset to develop a growth mindset
- School is tough and can be frustrating
Executive Functions Group

- The biggest part of developing a growth mindset is getting through those

frustrations/challenges
- Take a moment and think, then we will go around the room and everyone will
say:
- A trigger = something that frustrates/upsets you
- What happens when you get frustrated?
- What does that result in?
- Helpful tips:
- Recognize that you are upset/angry
- Know that it’s ok and that it is normal to get upset/angry
- However, it’s not going to help us in the moment
- 5 technique
- 5 deep breaths
- 5 things you see
- 4 things you feel
- 3 things you hear
- 2 things you smell
- 1 thing you taste
- We will do this before every session
- Once you are calm, develop a plan to get through this
- If you can’t figure it out, seek out someone who can
- Friend
- Parent
- Teacher
Executive Functions Group

Class Three: Learning Styles

Grounding Technique
What are learning styles?
- Every student learns differently
- The way that a student best absorbs, learns, understands, and remembers
information
3 different types of learning styles
- Visual learners
- Learn best through images, pictures, maps, and graphic organizers
- Auditory Learners
- Learn best through listening and speaking (like in a lecture or a group
discussion)
- Tactile Learners
- Learn best by figuring things out by hand
DISCLAIMER
- Just because you learn best in one way, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn things in
a different way
- You can develop and improve skills over time
- GROWTH MINDSET
Learning Styles Worksheet

https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Special-Education-Servi
ces/Documents/IDEAS%202014%20Handouts/LearningStyleInventory.pdf
Executive Functions Group

Class Four: Setting Goals

Grounding Technique
Why set goals?
- Provides you with a direction
- It can help you to focus your efforts on what’s important
- Helps you to take accountability
- Helps you to develop a plan of action
SMART
- S = Specific
- What exactly do you want to achieve?
- M = Measurable
- How can you measure your goal?
- A = Attainable
- Is this possible?
- R = Relevant
- Is this goal relevant to me?
- T = Timely
- When will this goal be accomplished?
- Have someone give an example of a goal
Short Term & Long Term Goals
- Short Term
- Something you want to do in the near future
- Today, this week, or this month
- Long Term
- Something you want to do further in the future
- At the end of the semester, at the end of the year, by the end of high
school, by the age of 25, before I die
Worksheet
- https://worksheetplace.com/mf_pdf/Short-and-Long-Term-Goals.pdf

Great way to keep and set goals is by using a planner, which we will do next week

- Gauge who has a planner and who doesn’t, interest in physical planner vs.
Egenda
Executive Functions Group

Class 5: Planners

Grounding Technique
Get your planners set up
- EGenda
- Download from App Store
- Insert all classes color coded
- Physical Planner
- Show them a sample planner
- Pass out school calendars
- Each page is a week
- Each day is 5 lines
When should you use your planner?
- Should be written in every class with the homework for that class
- Should write down all the days of tests and quizzes
- Should write down all assignment due dates
Time-Management Tips
- Eliminate Distractions
- NO PHONES! Put your phones in the other room
- If noise bothers you, work in a quiet place alone!
- During a study don’t hang out with friends, do your work alone (would
rather have time to hang out after school than during study, how much
phone really is study)
- Don’t procrastinate (check if they know this concept)
- Avoid putting things off till later
- Get things done before you have phone
- Not only ensures you will have everything done; but it also allows you to
relax and enjoy your time off
- Plan your time wisely
- Never save something for the night before
- Break your work up into smaller chunks and write it down in your planner

Class 6: Organizing
Executive Functions Group

Go grab your backpacks

Grounding technique
Backpacks
- There should be no lose papers
- Every paper should be in its own folder
- Each class should have their own notebook and folder
- This should be color coordinated
- Find time each day to put things away so mess doesn’t build up over time

Class 7: Note-Taking
Executive Functions Group

Grounding Technique
What are some good note-taking tips?
- Include the most important details
- Main ideas
- Vocab words
- Key people
- Dates
- Don’t use full sentences; keep it brief
How it should look:
- Main idea
- Detail
- Detail
- Supporting detail
- Detail
Worksheet:

Before the end of World War II in 1945, a new international organization called the
United Nations was established. Its goal was to work for world peace and the
betterment of humanity. One branch of the UN, the General Assembly, is a kind of
democracy. There, nations discuss problems, hoping to settle conflicts peacefully. Each
nation has equal representation. The UN’s charter is based on the traditions of
democracy. The UN’s authority comes from the nations of the world. The charter
reaffirms basic human rights, the need for justice and the rule of law, and the desire for
social progress.

- United Nations established in 1945 before the end of WW2

- Goal:
- Work for world peace
- Betterment of humanity
- Helps nations to
- Discuss problems
- Settle conflicts peacefully

Now you try:

One of the UN’s most important contributions is the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The General Assembly adopted the Declaration in 1948. This document draws
on democratic ideas. It sets a worldwide standard for basic social, political, and
economic rights. Included are the right to life, liberty, and security. Also stated are the
rights to equal protection under the law, free movement, and free association and
assembly with other people. To these rights were added social and economic rights: the
rights to work, to rest and leisure, and to education. The declaration’s purpose is to
serve as an international code of conduct.
Class 8: Study Skills
Executive Functions Group

Grounding Technique
Eliminate Distractions
- No Phones! Put them in a different room
- Work in a quiet place
- Studying with friends can be a great way to
- Get help
- Ask questions
- Double check that you know the knowledge
- However, you should study by yourself first to make sure you are comfortable
with the material, and then study with your friends
Manage Your Time
- Don’t save all your studying for the night before (What if you don’t understand
something?)
- Break up your studying into smaller chunks
- Studies have shown that this is the most effective studying technique
- Cramming doesn’t work
- Think of studying as homework
- Plan your study schedule in your planner
Study technique
- Look over your notes
- Meet with your teachers
- Study by yourself beforehand make appointments with them to go over
things you don’t understand
- Make flashcards to help memorize information
Quizlet
- Log into your account/create one if you don’t have one (can use personal device,
phone is ok)
Flashcard/Studying Tips
- Group/chunk information into related topics make it easier to remember
- Ex. study all chapter two vocab words at once
- Put all information about the same topic on one card
- Remember your learning style
- Visual learners
- Use Images (on quizlet you can add an image to each card)
- This will help them to remember the content
- Auditory Learners
- Use rhyming/acronyms to memorize information
- PEMDAS = parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division,
add, subtract
- My very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas =
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, Pluto
Class 9: Self-Monitoring
Executive Functions Group

What is self-monitoring?
- Taking a step back to make sure that everyone is how you want it to be
Works for:
- Paying attention in class
- Looking over papers
- Test-taking
Paying Attention In-Class
- Take notes throughout class
- Helps to keep your brain “on” and focused during class
- Sit in the front
- It’s harder to not pay attention if the teacher is right in front of you
- Avoid sitting next to people who will distract you
- Ask least one question a class to stay engaged
- If you are fidgeting
- Deep breathes/grounding technique
- Mentally reset
- Go use the bathroom
Papers
- Check the assignment guidelines to make sure you are using the proper format
and the paper is the correct length
- Look at the rubric to make sure you have everything
- While double checking your paper, read the whole thing out loud
- Have a parent/friend look over it
- Bring it to your teacher before it’s due (allow yourself some time for edits)
Test-Taking
- Cross of choices that you know are not possible
- You can only increase your chances of getting the problem correct
- ¼ = 25% chance, ½ = 50%
Post-Test

Post-Test
Executive Functions Group

1. I feel organized and I manage my time wisely.

A. Strongly Agree
B. Agree
C. Neither Agree nor Disagree
D. Disagree
E. Strongly Disagree

2. I feel confident that I have the tools to be successful in school.

A. Strongly Agree
B. Agree
C. Neither Agree nor Disagree
D. Disagree
E. Strongly Disagree

3. Which of the following is an example of a “growth mindset”?

A. I am not good at this
B. I am not good at this yet, but I can learn how to be better
C. This is too hard
D. I don’t want to try this because I might fail

4. Which of the following is not a learning style?

A. Visual Learner
B. Auditory Learner
C. Tactile Learner
D. Menal Learner

5. Cameron has a low grade in his math class. The reason why his grade is so low is
because he has a number of missing homework assignments. Which of the following is
a helpful "S.M.A.R.T" goal that could help Cameron bring up his grade?

A. Bring a personal device to every class

B. Never forget a homework assignment again
C. Pass in at least three homework assignments by the end of the week
D. Get an “A” in math for the year