Date
07 August 2025

Support planning and thinking skills

Support ākonga to manage their time and attention in the classroom

On this page:

Support time management

Support time management

Introduce tools such as visual timers to reduce surprise that an activity is over or to signal that a transition is coming.

Use multiple approaches to support concentration

Use multiple approaches to support concentration

Provide options to support concentration and short-term memory.

  • Monitor and moderate the classroom for visual and auditory distractions.
  • Encourage learners to adapt the environment to meet their needs by, for example, wearing headphones, moving to a quiet environment or taking a walk to support their thinking.
  • Present information in a range of ways over an extended period of time to help learners to retain information, build their understanding and stay focused.
  • Discuss with ākonga the effectiveness of the classroom and make modifications and remove barriers where needed.
  • Use of visual prompts and cues to support understanding and access to learning materials.
  • Make links to background knowledge or previous learning to increase connections.
  • Schedule regular short breaks for physical movement.

Offer a range of approaches to support planning

Offer a range of approaches to support planning

Suggestions for supporting learners’ planning and organising.

  • Use charts, visual calendars, colour-coded schedules, visible timers and cues to increase the predictability of regular activities and transitions.
  • Encourage learners to use their mobile devices to schedule alerts and reminders for regular and novel events and task deadlines.
  • Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas and relationships using visuals, mind maps, 3-D manipulatives, outlines, flow charts and real objects.
  • Model and make available graphic organisers and flow charts to support planning and thinking in all curriculum areas.
  • Break tasks and lengthy assignments into small manageable parts. Schedule workflow using Trello to organise what needs to be done and when.
  • Provide options so that ākonga can submit work online.

Support thinking in multiple ways

Support thinking in multiple ways

  • Highlight patterns, critical features and relationships.
  • Use cultural and narrative frameworks to support retention and thinking.
  • Use visuals, 3D manipulatives, outlines, flowcharts, and real objects.
  • Use mind maps to brainstorm ideas and make connections.
  • Support group and class discussions with visual annotations to prompt later recall of key ideas.
  • Offer ākonga a variety of graphic organisers and flowcharts to support thinking.
  • Give ākonga multiple opportunities to engage with new ideas and concepts.
  • Provide extra time for ākonga to think and process before responding.

Useful resources

Useful resources

Website

Popplet

Popplet is a versatile online and mobile mind-mapping tool that allows users to visually organize information, ideas, and concepts.

Publisher: Popplet

Visit website

Next steps

More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13”:

Return to the guide “ADHD and learning”

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