Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom

Lynn Meltzer

Guilford Press, Mar 23, 2010 - Education - 252 pages

Accessible and practical, this book helps teachers incorporate executive function processes—such as planning, organizing, prioritizing, and self-checking—into the classroom curriculum. Chapters provide effective strategies for optimizing what K–12 students learn by improving how they learn. Noted authority Lynn Meltzer and her research associates present a wealth of easy-to-implement assessment tools, teaching techniques and activities, and planning aids. Featuring numerous whole-class ideas and suggestions, the book also shows how to differentiate instruction for students with learning or attention difficulties. Case examples illustrate individualized teaching strategies and classroom accommodations. More than a dozen reproducibles are included; the large-size format facilitates photocopying and day-to-day reference. Purchasers also get access to a webpage where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

See also Meltzer's edited volume, Executive Function in Education, Second Edition, which presents state-of-the-art knowledge on the role of EF in learning across the content areas.

Contents

• The Why What and How: 3
• 2 Creating a Classroomwide Executive Function Culture That Fosters Strategy Use Motivation and Resilience: 28
• PART II Scaffolding Executive Function Processes into the Curriculum Content: 55
• The Foundations of Effective Learning: 57
• The Heart of Efficient and Successful Learning: 86
• Teaching Students How to Retain and Mentally Manipulate Information: 110
• The Anchors for Academic Success: 140
• The Cornerstones of Independent Learning: 160
• A Critical Component of Executive Function: 175
• Addressing Executive Function Weaknesses across the Grades: 203
• Executive Function Weaknesses That Affect Organizing Prioritizing Planning Shifting: 205
• Executive Function Weaknesses That Affect Working Memory Organizing Planning Prioritizing: 207
• Executive Function Weaknesses That Affect Working Memory Organizing Self Monitoring SelfChecking: 210
• Executive Function Weaknesses That Affect Organizing Planning Prioritizing: 212
• APPENDIX Reproducibles for the Classroom: 215
• References: 231
• Index: 247

About the author

Lynn Meltzer, PhD, is President and Director of the Institutes for Learning and Development (ResearchILD and ILD) in Lexington, Massachusetts. She is also an Associate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Fellow and past president of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. For 29 years, she was Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Child Development at Tufts University. Dr. Meltzer is founder and chair of the International Learning Differences Conference, which was established in 1984 and is held at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her 40 years of neuropsychological evaluations and clinical consultations with children, adolescents, and adults have emphasized the theory-to-practice cycle of knowledge. She has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences, including that of the International Association for Cognitive Education in Southern Africa. She is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Council for Learning Disabilities. Among Dr. Meltzer's extensive publications and presentations are the books Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom, The Power of Peers in the Classroom (coedited with Karen R. Harris), and Executive Function in Education, Second Edition. Together with her ResearchILD colleagues, she developed SMARTS Online, an evidence-based executive function and peer mentoring/coaching curriculum for middle and high school students (www.smarts-ef.org).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom; What Works for Special-Needs Learners
• Author: Lynn Meltzer
• Publisher: Guilford Press, 2010
• ISBN: 1606236180, 9781606236185
• Length: 252 pages
• Subjects: Education / Professional Development; Education / Special Education / General; Language Arts & Disciplines / Study & Teaching; Medical / Psychiatry / Child & Adolescent; Psychology / Developmental / Child; Study Aids / Study & Test-Taking Skills