Teachers as Air Traffic Controllers: Helping Adolescents Navigate the Unfriendly Skies of Executive Functioning.
Link To Article:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.western.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=9cd4bea2-268b-4ba5-8dd1-f25fcac1e804%40pdc-v-sessmgr03
This article was refreshing in that it took basic principles for teaching adolescents, derived from significant amounts of data, and put together a comprehensive article full of direct strategies for teachers to apply to their classrooms. They also did a good job of starting off their paper with a comprehensive definition of what executive functioning is, something that a surprising amount of articles on executive functioning fail to do.
They define executive function as "having the cognitive flexibility to plan, organize, stay focused, access one's working memory, and self regulate one's behavior." The analogy that they posit to readers is that having a strong set of executive functioning skills is akin to having a good "air traffic controller working to maintain the safe, orderly and expeditious flow of aircraft at a busy airport."
They mention, as most articles on this topic do, that executive functioning is primarily controlled by the pre-frontal cortex, which isn't fully formed until 21 years of age, although other studies have marked it as not being fully developed until age 25.
Once they lay out their initial findings, they stress the importance of observation as teachers seek to individuate their instruction to a classroom of diverse minds at differing stages of development. Indeed, teachers need to be Air Traffic Controllers as they aid their students in their development of their own executive functioning capabilities.
Among the bits of advice that the authors give the teachers are:
Daily Planners
Weekly Locker Checks (for organization)
Clear expectations and building background knowledge
Verbal Cues
Model Planning and Chunking
Directions (in multiple formats)
Notes and Outlines
Acronyms and Mnemonic Devices
"Stop" signals, problem-resolution and self-calming techniques
I especially appreciated the "Notes and Outlines" Section of the paper. The authors outlined a strategy in that the teacher provides the students with a template on which to organize their notes, and gradually transitions the students into making their own templates as the school year progresses. We have used this in my classroom to great effect. By the end of the unit, students are not only able to take organized notes, but they are able to organize the way in which they take notes completely of their own accord. This is yet another article that hi-lights the importance of implementing executive functioning strategies in any middle school classroom.
Hodgkinson, T., Parks, S., (2016) Teachers as Air Traffic Controllers: Helping Adolescents Navigate the Unfriendly Skies of Executive Functioning. Drake University, School of Education, Department of Teaching & Learning, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.western.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=9cd4bea2-268b-4ba5-8dd1-f25fcac1e804%40pdc-v-sessmgr03
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.western.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=9cd4bea2-268b-4ba5-8dd1-f25fcac1e804%40pdc-v-sessmgr03
This article was refreshing in that it took basic principles for teaching adolescents, derived from significant amounts of data, and put together a comprehensive article full of direct strategies for teachers to apply to their classrooms. They also did a good job of starting off their paper with a comprehensive definition of what executive functioning is, something that a surprising amount of articles on executive functioning fail to do.
They define executive function as "having the cognitive flexibility to plan, organize, stay focused, access one's working memory, and self regulate one's behavior." The analogy that they posit to readers is that having a strong set of executive functioning skills is akin to having a good "air traffic controller working to maintain the safe, orderly and expeditious flow of aircraft at a busy airport."
They mention, as most articles on this topic do, that executive functioning is primarily controlled by the pre-frontal cortex, which isn't fully formed until 21 years of age, although other studies have marked it as not being fully developed until age 25.
Once they lay out their initial findings, they stress the importance of observation as teachers seek to individuate their instruction to a classroom of diverse minds at differing stages of development. Indeed, teachers need to be Air Traffic Controllers as they aid their students in their development of their own executive functioning capabilities.
Among the bits of advice that the authors give the teachers are:
Daily Planners
Weekly Locker Checks (for organization)
Clear expectations and building background knowledge
Verbal Cues
Model Planning and Chunking
Directions (in multiple formats)
Notes and Outlines
Acronyms and Mnemonic Devices
"Stop" signals, problem-resolution and self-calming techniques
I especially appreciated the "Notes and Outlines" Section of the paper. The authors outlined a strategy in that the teacher provides the students with a template on which to organize their notes, and gradually transitions the students into making their own templates as the school year progresses. We have used this in my classroom to great effect. By the end of the unit, students are not only able to take organized notes, but they are able to organize the way in which they take notes completely of their own accord. This is yet another article that hi-lights the importance of implementing executive functioning strategies in any middle school classroom.
Hodgkinson, T., Parks, S., (2016) Teachers as Air Traffic Controllers: Helping Adolescents Navigate the Unfriendly Skies of Executive Functioning. Drake University, School of Education, Department of Teaching & Learning, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.western.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=9cd4bea2-268b-4ba5-8dd1-f25fcac1e804%40pdc-v-sessmgr03
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