We were delighted to welcome so many of our colleagues to the VNET Annual conference last week.
One of our keynote speakers, Amjad Ali, wowed delegates with a pointed, poignant delivery on adaptive teaching! Here he reiterates some of the points he made about Executive Functioning Skills…
Everything we expect, irrespective of how high your expectations are, expect we in fact do, must be modelled, taught or learnt. Not only should it be shown to us before we can do it, it should be reminded to us and then repeated too! Why? Why do we have to do so much? Well, ask yourself, why are there signs in bathrooms reminding us to wash our hands! Remember, none of us could simply do things. We had to be taught it or learn it. From birth to death, we are acquiring new teaching, learning and therefore Executive Functioning Skills (EFS). Our development of these skills depends on this process of learning and teaching.
Do we teachers, leaders and or SENDCOs know what the core EFS are?
What are these different skills that are being referred to this in blog so far? How many are they? (Note, you are using some of these skills to try to figure out what the skills are!) I also have a hunch, that many a teaching and learning policy, many a standardised powerpoint, many a lesson routine checklist encapsulate these EFS, even, if they are doing it by accident!
Do we know which students demonstrate challenges in those skills?
Which diagnoses do your students have that by definition demonstrate a challenge or a difficulty in these EFS? Have you spoken to your students and noticed any obstacles that need crossing/overcoming? What format did this take?
