Executive Functioning Lesson Plan

Standards Addressed

• Self-Awareness: Recognizing one's emotions and values as well as one's strengths and limitations.
• Self-Management: The ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations.

Materials

• Executive Functioning Support Menu
• Sticky notes or index cards
• Chart paper or whiteboard

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Identify different ways “being stuck” shows up during learning
• Match types of “stuck” to executive functioning needs
• Practice choosing and using one support strategy
• Contribute personally meaningful strategies to a shared support menu

Assessment

Students can be assessed on their ability to:

• Identify different situations in which they feel stuck and which category of stuck it is
• Identify different strategies they have tried to get their brains unstuck
• Brainstorm additional strategies for getting unstuck and determine which category they could help with

Activating Prior Knowledge

• Ask students to think about a time when they wanted to start something but felt overwhelmed and stopped. Explain that what they experienced was being “stuck,” and that it happens to everyone.
• Ask students what it feels like to be stuck in their brains and bodies, and record their answers in two columns on chart paper or a whiteboard. Answers might include the brain feeling blank or frozen and the body feeling tired or heavy.
• Emphasize to students that feeling stuck is information, not a failure. It doesn’t mean students are lazy or not trying. When your brain feels stuck, it needs support.

Lesson Steps

1) Introduce students to the four categories of being stuck:

• I don’t know where to start
• The task feels too big
• I tried and it didn’t work
• I feel overwhelmed or shut down

Ask students to share an example of a time when one of these happened to them.

2) Introduce students to the Executive Functioning Support Menu poster. Explain that this menu shows different tools they can try when their brain feels stuck. Explain that many of these strategies can be used for more than one category of being stuck.

Give students a specific example for how they might use the support menu. Identify the type of stuck and choose a specific strategy from that category on the menu. For instance:

• You need to pick a science fair project to complete, but you are stuck because you don’t know where to start. You decide to use the strategy “start with the easier part” by making a short list of your favorite areas of science (astronomy, chemistry, etc.).

3) Give students sticky notes or index cards and ask them to brainstorm other strategies that have worked for them when they’ve felt stuck. Students can write 1-3 ideas that can be used at school and help their brain (not be used to avoid the task).

4) In pairs or small groups, have students share ideas and decide which category of stuck their strategies help with the most. Add a few student ideas to the poster by writing them on chart paper next to the section they belong to.

Reflection

Remind students that the goal isn’t to power through being stuck. The goal is to notice what’s happening and choose a strategy to help. Ask students to pick their favorite 2-3 strategies from those discussed. They might be ones on the poster, ones they came up with as a class, or a combination of both.

Have students write each of these strategies on separate sticky notes (“When I get stuck, I can....”) and keep them in an area that is visible or easy to access for the next time they are feeling stuck.

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Here is the printable version of  Executive Functioning Lesson Plan.

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Social Cipher’s Executive Functioning Minigame covers skills such as task initiation and flexible thinking. Try it for free as part of our Pilot Program (must have at least 10 students to participate)!

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