Giving Students a Leg Up: Strategies to Support Students Who Have Weak Executive Functioning Skills
2015; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 82; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1943-4871
Autores Tópico(s)Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Resumo[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To address the needs of the high population of students with learning disabilities at my school, a colleague and I created an inclusion science class that focuses on active, hands-on science. With one of us qualified in science and the other in special education, differentiated instruction has been relatively easy to design and implement. The course prepares students of various learning abilities for the state-mandated end-of-course biology assessment. Many of our students have weak executive functioning skills and need numerous accommodations to succeed in school. The term executive functioning can address many diagnostic conditions (Morin 2014), relating to cognitive functions that activate, integrate, and control other mental functions. Housed in the frontal lobes, these management parts of the brain plan, start, oversee, and finish tasks of all kinds. When their executive functions are not working properly, students experience significant and varied learning problems. (Attention deficit disorder [ADD] and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] are just two examples.) These students not only have difficulties getting work done but often lack social skills and have lower self-esteem than their peers. Students with weak executive functioning need help planning, organizing, and managing their time. They also need work with behavior--response inhibition, selfregulation of affect, task initiation, flexibility, and goal-directed persistence. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] FIGURE 1 Assignment checklist. Biology Assignments LAB Activity: M&Ms LAB Activity: Fortune-Telling Fish LAB Activity: Using Microscopes Cell Notes and W/S LAB Activity: Examining Cells LAB Activity: Cell Models LAB Activity: Cell Brochure Cell and Organelle QUIZ LAB Activity: Leaf Comparisons LAB Activity: BTB LAB Activity: Photosynthesis Respiration Notes and W/S LAB Activity: Respiration LAB Activity: Venn Diagram Plant Notes and W/S LAB Activity: Examining Stems LAB Activity: Examining Flowers LAB Activity: Examining Seeds LAB Activity: Examining Fruits and Veggies LAB Activity: Design Your Own Protists Notes and W/S LAB Activity: Examining Pond H2O Writing Conclusions Ecosystems Notes and W/S Food Webs Notes and W/S LAB Activity: Food Web Posters Water Cycle Notes and W/S LAB Activity: H2O Cycle Bracelets Carbon Cycle Notes and W/S Nitrogen Cycle Notes and W/S Population Notes and W/S LAB Activity: Population Growth LAB Activity: Analyzing Pop. Growth Class Reflection and Presentations Biology EOC and COE Update Our goal is to help students develop higher-level executive functioning skills so they may engage successfully in the learning process. Setting up units that foster high executive functioning With each unit in the curriculum, we reflect on how the materials were used previously in our regular classrooms and how they will be used with this special group of students. We identify goals and state clearly to students what they are expected to learn and how they will demonstrate their knowledge. We schedule opportunities where we can check each student's progress. We also discuss how important it is to come to class each day, on time, to stay on track with assignments. Once the unit has been set up, we re-evaluate all paperwork, including worksheets, assignments, lab investigations, and models, redesigning them as needed to make them more effective and useful. We use larger text fonts, more white space on the page, and boldface type. We keep reading and vocabulary to the minimum required for student understanding and mastery. Our students stay more engaged when not overwhelmed by text, but they still must interact with text. We often read the assignments to our students out loud and have them, as they read along silently, highlight key vocabulary along with important concepts and information. Teaching strategies Next, we focus on the various teaching strategies we can use to help our students enhance their executive functioning and memory skills. …
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