Practices and Additional Supports

Practices for Engaging and Supporting Students' EF Skills (General Instruction)

Scaffolding

Provide scaffolding for students across a variety of levels, and emphasize that the goal for students should be to use the scaffolds they need that day to help them be successful. Consider asking students to check in with themselves at the beginning of the day or the class period to think about how they are feeling, and if there are EFs they might need more support with that day.

Collaborative Tasks

Create opportunities for students to collaborate with peers in various settings and formats (small group, pairs/partners, etc). Provide guidance and roles for each person in a collaborative group, and ask the group to set process goals and reflect on those goals at the beginning and end of the collaborative time. Collaboration requires deeply engaging your EF skills, so providing structures can support cognitive load and student agency.

Additional Instructional Supports

Working Memory 🧠

Use visual cues and multiple representations where possible, such as anchor charts, number lines, and checklists
“Chunk” directions into shorter sections, each connected to clear goals to help students monitor their progress and readiness to move forward.
Emphasize making thinking visible throughout a problem, either through writing or talking with a peer. Consider trying this at the start of solving a problem, not just the end.

Cognitive Flexibility 🔄

Encourage students to take multiple solution paths. Model different ways to start a problem and invite students to generate their own. At the end of a problem, have students share their approaches and facilitate a discussion of the benefits of each.
- Please note - there is no “right way” to solve a problem. Please take the time needed to anticipate multiple solution paths when planning for a lesson, and practice identifying what mathematical brilliance each strategy demonstrates.
- Probing Questions:
  1. What connections are being made by solving a problem this way?
  2. What information is visible or easily accessible through this method?
When launching tasks, consider engaging in a class brainstorm of how a particular problem type relates to other or previous problem types. Support students in looking for structure across the mathematics content or opportunities for repeated reasoning.
- “How is this problem similar or different from the previous?”

Inhibitory Control 🎯

Embed “estimate and check” routines regularly. Ask students to anticipate strategies or estimate solutions for a problem and “check” their estimation, such as, “Does this estimate fit what I know about…”
Remember that supporting inhibitory control is not about managing or controlling student behavior. Find ways to reframe your language with students to invite them to reflect on their attention and engagement towards the task or goal at hand, and identify what they might need. This may include taking time to reset and refocus, working through something outside of the math task at hand, or inviting that student to set a new goal with you.

Executive Function Skills and Mathematical Practices

SMP x EF

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