Executive Function Strategies for Organization

Goal Setting Strategies

• Overtly teach goal setting for individual assignments, multi-step projects and long-term assignments.
  • Gives students greater commitment and motivation to establish own goals.
  • Student determined goals help with:
    • Feelings of accomplishment,
    • Self-efficacy,
    • Motivation.

Organization and Prioritization Strategies

• Help students develop methods to organize:
  • Materials.
  • Ideas and information.

• Provide organizational strategies for note taking from lectures.
  • Cornell notes or two column notes.
  • Use of Inspiration software.
  • Graphic organizers.
  • Note-taking templates.
  • Guided notes.

• Organizational strategies for note taking from textbook.
  • Margin notes.
    • Eraseable highlighters.
    • Sticky notes to mark important portions.

• Organizational Strategies for Studying for Tests
  
  • Teach student to read the answers first in multiple choice questions.
  • Give organizational structure for responding to essay questions.

• Use of rubrics or other systemic methods of informing a student exactly what is expected for a job well done.
  • Positive examples of completed assignments and products.

• Strategies for organizing written assignments.
  •  E.g., the Step up to Writing Curriculum

Adapted from:

Meltzer, L., Sales Pollica, L., Barzillai, M., (2007). Executive Function in the Classroom in Executive Function in Education: From theory to practice, Lynn Meltzer Ed. New York: Guilford Press.