EF skills do not happen in isolation; they are connected and happen simultaneously. Let’s consider how EF skills help us when we go to the grocery store.
Planning: to prepare to go to the grocery store, the planning often happens before leaving the house. I list what I need as I decide about recipes I plan to make. I frequently check on the ‘staple food items’ to see what they are running low on to add to the list.
Organization: As the list is being created, shoppers may choose to group items that can be found in the same department (produce, dairy, meat, etc.). When shopping, people usually need to constantly refer to the list to ensure they are not forgetting anything.
Cognitive flexibility: Grocery shoppers need to look for items on their list, greet people they know, and think about the recipes they are planning to make and whether they need to be adapted based on the available items.
Working memory: shoppers need to hold the grocery list (somewhat) in their mind while focusing on choosing brands of products and comparing the quality and prices of items.
Self-control: the difficult part of grocery shopping when there are so many choices is not getting distracted by considering products not on the list or being overwhelmed by the number of options for the same product. How many different kinds of peanut better can there be?
That is a lot of active thinking going on in the simple task of grocery shopping.
Executive Functioning can be strengthened in the classroom in task-specific ways.
· Students can create and rely on lists as a concrete method of managing complex tasks.
· Slow down instruction, so students have lots of time to process.
· Offer external supports until they become internal (e.g., individual anchor charts connected to their goals).
· Teach reading strategies that will help students remember what they have read (read one page and then sketch a picture related to the substance of the text, increase to read two pages and then sketch what is happening).
· Check out Sesame Street’s “Guess What Is Next” pattern development for support in practicing and building pattern recognition.
