Date
11 October 2024

Provide options for executive functions

Suggestion for implementing the strategy ‘Provide multiple means of Action and Expression’

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Overview

Overview

Explore the 'options for executive functions' guideline.

Recognise which approaches and strategies are already part of your practice.

Take note of anything you hadn't considered before.

Guide goal setting

Guide goal setting

Provide students with strategies to break down goals and determine the steps needed to achieve their goals.

Explore practical UDL strategies in the Goalbook toolkit.

10829 [graphic-organisers.JPG]

Source: Cherie Le Quesne, Karori Normal School

Source:
Cherie Le Quesne, Karori Normal School

Support self management

Support self management

Over time, introduce students to a range of tools and approaches to help them organise themselves.

Consistently build them into your learning environment.

  • 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.
  • Offer stickies to remind students of tasks or what to do next.
  • Teach mnemonics to prompt memory and the retrieval of important concepts or approaches they can use.
  • 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 tools such as Trello to organise what needs to be done and when.
  • Provide options so that students can submit work online.

Reflection questions

Reflection questions

 
  • How will I support students to set reasonable learning goals to extend themselves (for example, prompts, scaffold efforts, model examples of process and product, checklists)?
  • What tools do the students need to reach their goals (for example, embed prompts to stop and think, show and explain work, portfolio review, checklists, templates)?
  • How will I support students to organise information (for example, graphic organisers and templates, prompts for categorizing, checklists)?
  • What tools will I provide to support student thinking (for example, concept maps, apps, graphic organisers)?
  • How will I provide explicit, informative, and timely feedback that supports learners in monitoring their progress and guiding their efforts (for example, questions, progress reporting/documenting, rubrics)?

Useful resources

Useful resources

Website

Seven ideas for student reflection

Seven simple ideas to get your students reflecting on their own thinking and learning.

Publisher: 4 O'Clock Faculty

Visit website

Website

Three brain-based teaching strategies to build executive function in students

Read time: 10 min

This is a blog post that provides some teaching strategies to help build executive function in your students.

Publisher: Edutopia

Visit website

Next steps

More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Provide multiple means of Action and Expression”:

Return to the guide “Universal Design for Learning”

Guide to Index of the guide: Universal Design for Learning

Strategies for action:

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