This school year has been another tough year, especially the start of 2022. We have been interrupted by snow and COVID again, causing the last 5 weeks to be especially tough. This inconsistency is hard on adults and especially on kids.
It is really hard to understand why our students can't do the simple things, like turn in their assignments on time, pay attention in class, bring a pencil when they know they need one EVERYDAY, and the list goes on. These behaviors makes it feel like our students are lazy, careless and simply do not care. As an adult looking in, it is hard not to take it personally because everyone is working so hard to help our students succeed.
As I reflected on these struggles the past few weeks, I was reminded that these very annoying and exhausting behaviors our students have are not really a lack of caring (Ross Green reminds us that "kids do well if they can") but in reality are a lack of executive functioning skills. Executive functioning is the term used by neurologist to describe the brain processes that drive our ability to focus, solve problems, organize ourselves, remember information, learn from our mistakes, and manage impulses - all of which help us to learn!!!
Looking back in Margaret Searle's book, Causes and Cures, I found a few quick reminders about these skills and what influences their growth:
* The last 20 years, we have been able to learn about the brain and how it works - but we are just now understanding how this impacts learning.
* There is a wide disparity in people's capacity to manage executive skills - this disparity is especially noticeable in children because the prefrontal cortex is in constant and uneven state of development.
* Planning, attention span, and organization show a spike in development around age 5 but do not peak until our mid-late 20's. (maturity of these skills is 22-23 in girls and as late as 25 or even 40 in boys)
* Life experiences, good nutrition, and sensitive adult guidance also contribute to how well and how fast the frontal cortex matures and students are able to start managing these skills.
* Research shows that 89-98% of children diagnosed with ADD have deficits in multiple areas of executive function - causing students to with disabilities to be as much as three years behind their peers in development
In her book, Margaret identifies 6 major subskills of Executive Function:
The good news is that with the right supports, we can help students overcome these deficits. Over the next few weeks, I plan to discuss each of these six areas, using Margaret's book to help us identify classroom strategies that will help our students the most and in turn, hopefully help you! Thanks for your willingness to learn and grow with me!
Important Information:
* PLC Meetings - We will be reaching out to each PLC group with a meeting agenda this week. Please be watching in your inbox! I also plan to make a snow plan as well. If we have snow again this week, I would like to use that time to meet at teams and do some of the 1/2 day work we have been talking about. We have missed so much school - taking advantage of these virtual days will be important as every in-person day is vital to learning!
* RECN (Early College) - The Early College Team will be traveling to Southridge on Tuesday for our Quad Meeting. It is always a great day for learning!
* Virtual Days - There is a chance of Snow on Thursday. I would not mention this to your students until later in the week so they can be focused for a couple of days (although, I am sure they are aware). We will continue to hope for rain . . but be prepared for virtual.
* Testing - Reminder that the SAT In-School test will be March 2nd for all 11th grade students. Dana is working on a schedule that we will be sharing soon.
Our Purpose: 1 Year or more of Learning Growth
Our Vision:
* Connect with Others
* Collaborative Teams/Continuous Improvement
* Creative/Authentic Learning Opportunities
* Celebrate Success
