Executive Functioning Support

An extensive array of executive functioning support strategies is systemically embedded into our program to help all students with planning, organization, and time management. Students learn different strategies so they can adopt those that are most helpful and make them life-long habits in school, work, and their personal lives. While support mechanisms are the same throughout the grades, as students mature, the responsibility for implementing those strategies changes hands from teacher to student so that students can independently advocate for themselves by the time they move on to college.

Here are just some of the strategies in place at C/A to help support executive functioning skills:

• Advisors meet with students every day to help keep them organized and stay on top of assignments and grades. Lockers, backpacks, notebooks, planners…all checked. High School advisory meets once a day; Middle School advisory meets twice a day; Lower School supports organiztion throughout the day and has a formal advisory time once per day.
• A Master Notebook System, originally developed by Landmark College, is a powerful, stress-reducing organizational tool, so we start using it in 3rd grade and use it consistently through junior year in core academic subjects. Color-coding is an easy way to remember which notebook to grab before class. And students stay organized in each class with a consistent divider system to file information within their notebooks.
• Electronic organizational tools prepare our students for the growing electronic global world. Using school-provided Google accounts, laptops, and a master notebook system mapped to Google Docs, almost all senior level courses are paperless, as well as all writing classes in Grades 6–12.
• Planners are actually used at C/A—every day, in every subject. Teachers make sure homework assignments are recorded and study hall proctors use them to check for homework completion. Plus, teachers help break down long-term assignments with interim milestones and due-dates until students feel comfortable planning on their own.
• With consistent classroom set-ups students know the plan. The same visual cues are used in every classroom, making it a breeze to find the class agenda, objectives, warm-up exercises, and homework. It’s easier to work well when you know what’s expected.
• We break up the school day to keep brains functioning and on-task. Kids never have more than two academic classes in a row without a break for advisory, lunch, or snack. In the Middle and High School, all academic classes are completed in the first half of the day.The last periods of the day are a time to slow the pace down with electives, P.E., or study halls. All core, basic skill academics are completed prior to lunch in the Lower School; afternoons are filled with electives and interactive, hands-on science and social studies.
• A generous five minutes in between classes give ample time to prepare and organize for the next class, even when classes are in different parts of the building.
• Consistent reading and writing strategies taught throughout Lower, Middle and High school help students get the most from texts, organize their thoughts, and demonstrate their knowledge.
• Mandatory use of Edline in Grades 6–12. Every teacher keeps homework assignments, notes, class handouts, upcoming dates for tests and quizzes, and current grades as close as the click of a mouse. (Parents can check into Edline, too.) Some teachers even post electronic text.
• Technology is everywhere and we encourage our students to use it. Whether it’s using a laptop, computer lab, iPad, emailing homework, participating in an interactive lesson on a SmartBoard, or learning to use assistive software like Read and Write, Texthelp, and Inspiration…all of which we teach extensively in all grades.
• Directed study halls look more like an extension of class. Teachers actively help students evaluate the work to be accomplished, help prioritize it, assist with questions, and check it for completion. Best of all, kids who stay for after school study hall often leave school with everything finished for the night.
• Students never sit down for 45-minute lectures. People learn in different ways so teachers prepare their lessons with multiple modalities in mind. Often, a class will start with a 10-minute mini-lesson, then move to an interactive activity, or assignment. Several “state” changes and movement between activities keep students interested, challenged, and wanting to learn more.