What is executive functioning?
Executive functioning is the set of cognitive skills controlled by the frontal lobe of the brain that allow a student to set goals, manage their time, regulate their emotions, and complete complex tasks. It essentially acts as the "air traffic control system" of the human brain, helping students filter distractions, prioritize tasks, and control their impulses.
Key Takeaways for Teachers
- It's Biological, Not Behavioral: Executive dysfunction is often mistaken for laziness or defiance. The prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until age 25.
- The 3 Pillars: Executive functioning consists of Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, and Inhibitory Control.
- It Must Be Explicitly Taught: We cannot expect middle schoolers to intuitively know how to manage a long-term project. We must explicitly teach them how to organize their brains.
The 3 Pillars of Executive Functioning (Translated for the Classroom)
Psychologists divide executive functioning into three main cognitive pillars. But what do those academic terms actually look like in a middle school classroom? Let's translate the science into reality.
1. Working Memory
The Science: The ability to hold information in your mind and use it to complete a task.
The Classroom Reality: You give a simple three-step direction: "Put your laptop away, grab your math textbook, and turn to page 42." Thirty seconds later, a student stares at you blankly with their laptop still open and asks, "Wait, what page?" That is a working memory failure.
2. Cognitive Flexibility
The Science: The ability to shift gears, adapt to changed circumstances, or look at a problem from a new perspective.
The Classroom Reality: A fire drill disrupts the schedule, and a student becomes visibly agitated. Or, you ask students to transition from group work back to independent reading, and it takes the class ten chaotic minutes to settle down. Transitions require massive amounts of cognitive flexibility.
3. Inhibitory Control
The Science: The ability to master thoughts, control impulses, and resist temptations in order to achieve a goal.
The Classroom Reality: A student knows they shouldn't pull out their cell phone, but the impulse to check Snapchat overrides their logical brain. Another student blurts out an answer while you are still speaking. This is a lack of inhibitory control.
The Middle School Brain (The "Why")
When a student fails to turn in an assignment for the third week in a row, our instinct is to assume they don't care. However, we have to look at the biology.
All executive functioning skills are housed in the prefrontal cortex. This is the very last part of the human brain to fully mature, typically not finishing its development until a person reaches their mid-20s. Middle schoolers are operating with an "under construction" air traffic control system.
We cannot punish a student for lacking a skill they haven't developed yet. Instead, we must treat executive functioning exactly like we treat math or reading: as a skill that must be explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced.
3 Practical Classroom Strategies
How do we support students struggling with executive dysfunction? Here are three teacher-friendly strategies:
- Chunking: Never hand a student a massive rubric for a two-week project. Their brain will immediately shut down in overwhelm. Break the project down into highly specific, daily "Must Do" checklists.
- Visual Timers: Students with executive dysfunction often suffer from "time blindness." Telling them they have "15 minutes left" means nothing. Use a large visual timer on the board so they can physically see the passage of time.
- Eliminate the "Blank Page": The hardest part of any task is getting started. Don't just say, "Start writing your essay." Provide them with the first sentence, or a graphic organizer, to bypass the initial friction of starting.
Tired of fighting disorganization and missing assignments? Teach the skills that matter.
The Life Ready curriculum provides explicit, engaging lessons designed specifically to teach middle schoolers executive functioning skills.