Support planning and thinking skills
Support ākonga to manage their time and attention in the classroom
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Support time management
Support time management
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 students 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 students to retain information, build their understanding and stay focused.
- Discuss with students 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 students’ planning and organising.
- Use charts, visual calendars, colour-coded schedules, visible timers and cues to increase the predictability of regular activities and transitions.
- Encourage students 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 students 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 students a variety of graphic organisers and flowcharts to support thinking.
- Give students multiple opportunities to engage with new ideas and concepts.
- Provide extra time for students to think and process before responding.
Useful resources
Useful resources
Signly App
The Signly app enhances accessibility by providing visual sign language descriptions of exhibits and information, making it easier for deaf and hard-of-hearing users to understand their surroundings. By using visual signs and videos, it offers clear visual aids that improve communication in museums and public spaces.
Publisher: Signly
Next steps
More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13”:
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How to use this site
Guide to Index of the guide: ADHD and learning
Understand:
Strategies for action:
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Identify needs and how to provide supportShow suggestions for Identify needs and how to provide support
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Support self-regulation and positive behaviourShow suggestions for Support self-regulation and positive behaviour
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Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8Show suggestions for Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8
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Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13Show suggestions for Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13
- Support participation and confidence
- Present information in different ways
- Support planning and thinking
- Provide options for learning and assessments
