Task initiation (Executive Functioning Skills) - you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. Similarly, you can give a student a task, but it doesn't mean they are going to get started on it. How do we teach kids to avoid procrastination and to get started on their work in a timely manner? These ten strategies are ways you might consider deliberately teaching this skill to your students ..read more

Time Management (Executive Functioning Skills) - you can plan and organize yourself all you want, but if you are unable to manage the time you are allotted, nothing is going to get done. Teachers either micromanage a student's time so much that the students do not learn to do this for themselves, or we give them a big block of time with no guidance for how to manage it. What if instead we gave them some guidance for how to manage their time and then the space to do so ..read more

Focus (Executive Functioning Skills) - none of the other executive functioning skills work effectively if a student is not able to focus. Developing this skill through setting the environment, having teacher clarity, and being aware of mindfulness are just some of the strategies shared in order to build the focus endurance of your students ..read more

Self Control/Regulation (Executive Functioning Skills) - are you unable to keep your emotions in check? Can you not resist the urge to do something when it tempts you? Do you find yourself blurting out answers the second they pop into your head? If the answer is yes to any of these you might have a self-control/self-regulation issues. This is either not giving in when something distracts your focus or being able to deescalate yourself when you are getting emotionally worked up. Some think this has to do with maturity, but self-control/regulation are skills that can be taught if they are delibe ..read more

Flexibility (Executive Functioning Skills) - all of the other executive functioning skills do not really work if you are not flexible with your thinking. Your plans change, the time management is wrecked by an assembly, and trying to keep your focus might be affected by circumstances beyond your control. You have to adapt and be flexible when things do not go how you intended them to. This is not just the classroom, this is life. How then do you purposefully teach children to have flexibility? Strategies, activities, and tips abound in this unfiltered and unedited Todd Talk tries to demonstrat ..read more

Overview of Executive Functioning Skills - Executive functioning skills are the things that successful people do on a daily basis which leads to their achievement. It includes skills such as task initiation, planning, attention, and time management. These are skills we expect many of our students to possess, but how deliberately do we teach them? This will give you a basic overview of 10 executive functioning skills and how they might be taught in the classroom. This introduces a series of Todd Talks which will dive into each one of these in more detail ..read more

Trends (Depth and Complexity icon) - trends are patterns that take place over a period of time. This period of time could be a month, could be a year, could be several years. By observing the patterns in this trend, we can try and predict where the trend will go next. By doing this you can take advantage of fortunate trends while avoiding negative ones ..read more

Unanswered Questions (Depth and Complexity icon) - Often in school, students are presented with questions that they are expected to find a correct answer to. This could be a math problem, how to spell a word, the name of a figure, event, or date in history, or how sounds waves work. In life however, sometimes there is no easy answer, and there are even times when there is no answer. How do we cope with these unanswered questions? And why do we ponder them when we know there is the likelihood that they will never be answered ..read more

Reflection in the Classroom - The traditional method of teaching is introduce something, have students practice it until they get it, and assess whether they have gotten it or not, then move onto the next something that has to be taught. What is missing here is the additional layer or step of reflecting upon what was learned. It is here where students explore what they truly learned and provides the teacher with feedback on how effective the learning was. In order for reflection to be meaningful, the class much be set up where this is part of the environment. You start by giving students promp ..read more

Social and Emotional Learning - Sure, schools do a pretty decent job of addressing the academic needs of their students, but how much attention is paid to helping these children meet their social and emotional needs? We need to be more intentional and transparent when it comes to showing students how to manage their emotions and social issues, otherwise they will not be able to work up to their potential ..read more