Maintaining Structure in a Time of Chaos

Now that the holidays are in full swing, we have officially entered what is usually the most hectic time of year. But the typical chaos of the holiday season looks somewhat different this year. Some students are learning from home. Those who are learning in person face the constant possibility of going remote any day. The usual chaos of the holidays has been exacerbated by all of the unknowns. Because kids (and humans in general) thrive on routine, it will be important to bring as much structure, predictability, and normalcy as possible to our lives during the holiday break. Here are some strategies you might consider for yourself or your child(ren):

1. Try a consistent wake-up time

Research shows that setting the alarm for the same time every morning is better for our physical and mental health. This can be especially hard on the weekends, when all we want to do is sleep in, but the benefits outweigh the desire to hit snooze. Of course, if you had a late night, catching up on sleep is more important. But if you can, try to aim for an earlier bedtime to make sure you get in all the hours you need. Start your day with something you can look forward to, whether that’s a cup of tea, a yoga routine, or your favorite breakfast. Once you settle into the new routine, you may notice that your exhaustion and stress levels have decreased.

2. Make a to-do list first thing in the morning.

When our days vary as much as they do around the holidays, put everything that’s stressful down on paper. Whether it’s to-do items, decisions to be made, or just circumstances your mind is lingering on, write it down. It won’t make your worries go away entirely, but it can be a powerful way to help you work or think through tasks you’re not excited about.

3. Create a midday break routine.

Break up the daily unpredictability with a new midday routine. Choose a time that you are usually free around the middle of the day. It could be right after lunch, or when you usually get home from school. Set aside 10 to 15 minutes to do something you find comforting, relaxing, and familiar. Maybe it’s sitting in your favorite chair with a magazine, or mindlessly scrolling through your phone while you have a snack. Try to carve out those few minutes to unwind and reset each day, no matter how busy your day is.

4. Take some control. 

During a time when so much is out of our control, it’s important that we feel that we are in control of something. Whether it’s internal (our thoughts, behaviors, and habits) or external (our environment and surroundings), everyone needs to be in control of something. Make sure the control is productive. If you have the time for it, start that reorganizing project you’ve been thinking about for months. If you need a less time-consuming outlet for control, try to gain some control over your emotions by journaling. 

5. End your day with a family routine, a personal care routine, or both.

Bring some closure to your hectic days by establishing a nighttime routine. If everyone's schedule allows, involve your whole family. It could be a quick round of a card game or a short TV show that you all watch together. If you aren’t able to unwind as a family, then begin your own individual self-care routine. Whether it’s journaling to gain that mental control, or doing a quick stretch to loosen up your tense muscles, think about what you need most to wrap up your day and be able to wake up the next morning (hopefully at the same time as today!) ready to do it all again.

Using Tools Effectively: Calculators

The debate over calculator use (and overuse) hinges on the notion that an over-reliance on the calculator will prevent students from mastering math for themselves. But why agonize over long division when we can solve problems with the touch of a button nearly wherever we are? The calculator is a valuable tool, and one that can be especially helpful for students who struggle with math sense. However, it can’t become a replacement for showing work or understanding the logic behind each problem. 

Just yesterday, I was reviewing a diagnostic SAT result with a bright student who has a tendency to leap for his calculator on every problem, but seldom writes anything on the page. What we discovered, revealingly, was that while he had missed several questions on the calculator section, he had aced the section of the test where no calculators were allowed. We reasoned that he should be more cautious about giving up his thought process to the machine. On the other hand, I have another student who is so frustrated by frequent errors in adding up when she works by hand that every assignment is anxiety-inducing—and using a calculator once she’s set everything up on paper helps her to balance accurate calculations with an accurate understanding of what she’s actually calculating. 

Being able to master procedures and concepts in math is crucial, but showing that mastery is just as important. Lots of people (especially students!) misunderstand why teachers ask students to show their work. Students are asked to show their work because it helps them think. With their thought process on paper, kids are able to review and check their work. They can see their calculations and the steps they took to find an answer. They can identify simple mistakes if their final answer seems off. And even if the student doesn't catch them, the teacher will. With work on paper, instructors can understand a child's thinking and provide more targeted support. Plus, with calculations on paper, there is the chance to earn partial credit in most classes! Mastering this skill is crucial for students who struggle with executive function skills. And working on graph paper can make a world of difference for students. If kids learn to put just one number in a box, they can effortlessly organize problems and place value.

The morale of the story is that no one should be shamed for using a calculator, so long as it’s not turning into a means of avoiding the work of understanding how things fit together. Math often involves some level of fruitful struggle as we grow, absorbing new ideas that challenge what we knew before. Calculators can help in that struggle, but the goal should not be to erase the struggle entirely: it’s how we learn!

Parent Behavioral Training

Parenting is hard. There are endless books to tell us how to do it. However, they aren’t always very useful. That’s because every child is different. Some are more flexible and adaptable, while others are more stubborn and defiant; sometimes these behaviors are related to personality, and other times they stem from ADHD or other disabilities. And even the easiest of kids can sometimes get out of control. Parent behavioral training is a powerful tool for parents who feel overwhelmed by conflict and stuck as to how to help their family. These evidence-based programs don’t have strict rules to follow. Instead, parent behavioral training programs teach parents a set of strategies to establish better communication with their child. Listen to Braintrust CEO and Co-Founder, Mara Koffmann, in conversation with psychologist, Dr. Melanie Fernandez, to learn more about parent behavioral training.

Key Takeaways

• Positive reinforcement is always the best policy because kids want the approval of their parents. Don’t concentrate on what the child is doing wrong. Instead, celebrate what a child does well. This will lead to more positive interactions.

• Rewarding good behavior can be effective. Of course it can be frustrating to reward your child for doing what is expected of them. However, it is an investment in more good behavior. Plus, the rewards don’t last forever! They do need to be consistent and frequent in the beginning. However, the rewards should taper off as a new behavior becomes routine.

• Consistency is key! Parents must be very clear and consistent in order for these interventions to work. Often times reward charts and visual checklists can help to create the structure to make these interventions most effective.

• These are short-term treatments. Working with a specialist for just a handful of sessions can lead to big results! There are lots of parent behavioral training programs out there, so talk to a psychologist about the best fit for your family.

Controlling the Controllable: Organization

With so much uncertainty in school these days, it’s all the more important to take control of what we can—and this means mastering simple organizational strategies to manage students’ physical space and materials, first of all.

One of the most common challenges associated with executive function issues is organization. Students who struggle with executive functioning (and even many who don't) have a hard time organizing information and materials. Depending on the severity of these organizational challenges, students’ academic performance can be moderately impacted at best, and stopped in its tracks at worst. But even for the least organized student, there is always the potential to grow. With the right tools and strategies, students can go from having zero organizational skills to independently creating systems to help them succeed with academics and beyond.

Organizing Materials and Physical Space

You've already asked your kids to clean their rooms three times. Each time, they've said they will in a minute. Every time you return to find that they haven't started yet, your blood pressure rises. Your tone changes, and so does theirs. Sometimes, they make a show of "cleaning," without real effort, and you just don't have the energy to push them. Other times, they flat-out refuse, and this escalates into a full-blown fight.

Does this scenario sound familiar? This dance is all too familiar to many parents and can happen with kids of any age. What many parents don't know is that the child's resistance to cleaning their room may be a sign that they just don't know how. When a child resorts to shoving their pile of toys under the bed, it's not always out of laziness. It may be that they genuinely didn't know what else to do with their things. This is especially true for any student who struggles with executive functioning. Instead of repeating the cycle, here's how you can help your child develop these skills: 

• Make sure everything has a specific place. Once your child is old enough, involve them in the process of organizing their room. A kindergartener might not be able to perfectly fold all of their shirts and pants. However, they can decide which drawer will be designated for which items, or which bins are for blocks and which for art supplies.

• Use labels. The extent of your labeling is up to you, but keep in mind that the more difficulty your child has with organization, the more labeling can help. You can use pictures, words, or colors. They key is creating a simple system that your child will understand and be able to follow.

• Use the “KonMari” method. Marie Kondo has famously been helping people of all ages stay clutter-free through her method of organization. She suggests going through items one category at a time, deciding if each individual item "sparks" joy or not. If it doesn’t, throw it out or recycle it. For students who have an especially hard time getting rid of things, start with three categories: "keep," "toss," and "undecided." Once they’ve gone through items once, they can revisit their undecided pile and ask themselves once more if these items bring joy.

• Clean up with them, but don’t do it for them! Think of yourself as your child's cheerleader while they tackle the mess. You can offer encouragement and guidance if they run into obstacles (like where should I put this giant stuffed bear? Or what should I do with the dirty clothes that won’t fit in my overfilled hamper? Maybe you’ll tackle a lesson on doing laundry next time...)

Remember, taking these steps to ensure your child is learning organizational skills may feel tedious and time-consuming, but it's worth it. But not only are you setting them up to take better care of their belongings and the space in which they live, you are making your own life easier in the long-run by helping them build this independence!

Reading Levels, Explained

Teachers give assessments in order to get a picture of students’ progress and mastery toward skills. Similarly, teachers in lower grades assess students’ reading to find their “just right” level. This is crucial information to have in identifying any gaps in decoding, fluency, or comprehension. You may want to know your child’s reading level so that you can be in the loop about their reading progress, and know what steps, if any, to take at home to help your child grow in reading.

How do teachers find students’ reading level?

Reading levels are determined through running records. When administering a running record, the teacher sits with one student at a time. The teacher has a book chosen, and will usually give the student a sentence or two of background, show them the cover, and read the title to them. Then they ask the student to read the book (or only the first few pages) out loud as the teacher marks accuracy, misread words, fluency, expression, etc. Some teachers time students on their reading, some don’t. 

When the student has finished reading the book, the teacher will ask the student comprehension questions to determine the level of meaning the child was able to take from the book. These questions often belong to one of three categories: within the text, beyond the text, and about the text. Within the text questions deal with information that the student only needs to recall. If they were paying attention to what they read, they should be able to answer these questions. Beyond the text assesses how well students can think more critically about the text by making inferences about characters, drawing connections to their own lives, etc. About the text questions deal with text structure, text features, and author’s purpose. If the student scores within a certain range, then that is their “just right” level. If they score below the range, the teacher retests on a lower level, and if they score above the range, they retest on a higher level.

How important is my child’s reading level?

As far as your teacher is concerned, knowing your child’s reading level is very important so they can properly instruct and guide your child toward the right reading level to promote progress. It is important for you to be informed about whether your child is reading on, above, or below grade level, and that information may be best relayed by telling you your child’s exact level. However, it is not always necessary for the student to know their level themselves. There may be cases where it is helpful to tell the child their level. For example, if the student is frequently drawn to books that are far too easy, knowing their level and giving them access to books that are labeled accordingly, will ensure that they are choosing books appropriately. In other cases, telling students their levels can often be counterproductive. Some students get so caught up in levels that knowing actually causes more anxiety than it’s worth.

The Bottom Line

Teachers need to know students’ reading levels in order to instruct appropriately. Parents may want to know levels, but shouldn’t be too concerned unless the child is reading well below grade level, in which case the teacher will probably discuss options. Even then, it’s never a good idea to make a big deal out of reading levels, especially in front of a child. Becoming a reader is about finding joy in reading, not reaching a higher level. Students should be choosing books based on what interests them. As long as the books they choose are appropriately challenging (not too easy and not too many words they don’t know), then they are on the right track.

When “Just Do It” Doesn’t Work

Along with skills like time management, prioritizing, impulse control, and organization,  initiation—the simple act of getting going—is an important piece of the Executive Function puzzle. We’ve all fallen prey to procrastination at some point, when a task is unappealing, overwhelming, or opaque. Often the dragging of feet diminishes once we take a first step, and with the right push momentum takes over. These tips are designed to help students overcome the initial friction of initiation and get to work.  

Avoid the blank page blues

The cliché of writer’s block, in which a frustrated artist hunches over before an empty page, is rooted in reality. In French, this frustration is called l’angoisse de la page blanche, or anxiety of the blank page. There are many reasons why that white space is intimidating—because it represents a heap of work still left to do, because it doesn’t offer any structure for making forward progress, because anything that appears on it is immediately subject to perfectionistic self-critique. To say goodbye to the blank page blues, never write from nothing. Start with notes, a graphic organizer, an outline. Dive into one quote or idea halfway through the paper that you feel particularly comfortable about. As soon as you can, and with as little reflection as possible, get words down on the page—it’s important to demystify the process of writing so that we can avoid falling into the temptation of French angst and instead go about our writing one step at a time. 

Work in chunks

On that note, always set yourself interim goals and shorter tasks, breaking down large assignments into their component pieces. Work step by step, sentence by sentence, and you’ll find yourself making quicker progress with less anxiety about the larger assignment. 

Break bad habits

We all develop patterns of procrastination that emerge when we’re feeling anxious, unmotivated, or unsure how to proceed. This could mean checking social media, reading the news, falling into a cycle of youtube videos—even ‘productive’ procrastination like cleaning our space or checking email. Recognize these habits and do what you need to in order to short circuit them, as outrageous as it may seem. Put your phone in another room, download a site-blocker to restrict your internet access to the sites you need for a limited time, and find a space with minimal distractions. 

Build healthy habits
As you resist old patterns, create new ones. Start every work period with a certain song, or in a specific environment when you can—develop a habit that your body will recognize and snap into work mode. As part of these habits, use a timer, whichcan be invaluable for tracking smaller goals, keeping yourself on task, and delineating work and break times.

Teaching Kids How to Self-Monitor

Self-monitoring refers to our ability to track what we are doing and how or why we are doing it. We self-monitor (or at least we should) in every setting and activity. From how we read and write, to how we engage with friends and family, self-monitoring greatly improves our academic performance, social interactions, and daily life. The more aware we are of what we are doing and why we are doing it, the better we are able to perform any given task. And while self-monitoring is important for all of us, it is especially essential for students. The earlier they can learn to self-monitor, the better.

Strategies for Teaching Students How to Self-Monitor

Build metacognition.

The first step in improving a student’s self-monitoring skills is to improve their awareness of their own strengths and challenges, which is to say their metacognition. Otherwise, kids won't be able to plan for challenges, identify successes, and learn from mistakes. One way to help students get to know themselves is by giving them a metacognitive survey. Surveys like this one can help them become aware of their strengths, values, learning styles, and study habits. As a result, they'll be able to self-evaluate more effectively.

Create checklists.

A simple but impactful strategy to help students learn to self-monitor is to create checklists with their most common mistakes. This will not only help students learn to identify the errors they make most frequently, it will also help them actively check their work to avoid those same mistakes. This strategy can be applied to a series of math problems, a piece of writing, a recording of them reading a text – you name it! The key is to reinforce that mistakes are just information for learning, but students must learn from them so they don't make the same ones again.

Question often.

As students are working, they should periodically stop and ask themselves what they are doing and how or why they are doing it. Questions like “does that sentence look right?” or “did I show my work in a way that makes sense?” can help students self-evaluate and learn from experience. The best way to get students comfortable with asking themselves these questions is for them to see it modeled often and in different contexts.

Identify their purpose.

As students are going through their day, they should stop and reflect on their purpose. Why am I reading this book? What is this emotional reaction helping me accomplish? Am I communicating what I want to get across in this paragraph? Once they have identified their purpose in any given task, they can evaluate whether they are on the right course.

Stop, Review, Reflect.

A big part of self-monitoring is self-evaluation. As important as it is, many students are resistant to checking their work. But self-evaluation is about much more than double-checking answers. It’s about reflecting on not just the end-result, but the process, and how the student felt in that process. It’s about identifying gaps in skills, strategies, or knowledge that may have caused any errors or frustrations, and coming up with a plan for how to do better next time. Once again, there is nothing wrong with making mistakes; they are a part of the learning process. Identifying those mistakes through self-monitoring and learning from those experiences is the key to growth and improvement!

Learning to Communicate (with Adults)

School is much more than a place to learn your times tables. In addition to straightforward content like algebra, Egyptian history, and the products of photosynthesis, students must learn a set of soft skills associated with self-advocacy and communication. This extra curriculum is often not directly taught—and some parental guidance early on will help establish a dynamic in which parents can step back and let their students develop independently. 

Students should be reminded, gently but persistently, of the importance of good relationships with their teachers and how to earn them. If students can demonstrate a willingness to work diligently, ask interesting questions, and support their classmates’ learning, they’ll earn a relationship that can pay off when they need a bit of extra help or flexibility with a deadline. For high school students—or middle schoolers applying for selective high schools—these relationships are also key for applications as recommendation letter season rolls around. 

As part of building a positive relationship with their teachers, students should establish a channel of communication that is respectful and direct, without intruding unnecessarily on the teacher’s time. It can be very useful for students to be in touch with teachers over email when they need to ask a clarifying question about a major assignment or upcoming test, but given the informality of most digital communications, students will often need some coaching to understand the requirements of a more ‘professional’ email, with correct grammar and punctuation. As a young classroom teacher, I regularly received emails with no capitalization or punctuation from students—and while I was more forgiving than many of my older colleagues, in the worst case these emails risk being perceived as rude or lazy. Parents can help guide these emails with younger students, while supporting a movement toward self-advocacy that will serve them in high school and college.

It’s worth discussing these communication skills with your child early on, so that they can develop the right habits to advocate for themselves throughout their school careers! And really, they’re likely to learn better if they feel connected to their teachers—so this is a skill well worth strengthening. 

Elevate Learning with Mnemonic Devices

Remembering is hard! That is especially true of remembering the types of complex (and sometimes uninteresting) information kids have to learn in school. Memorization through repetition is rarely effective. That's why it is so important to teach kids the power of mnemonics. Then they can learn to be more strategic and creative when it comes to remembering. That's because mnemonics make information more sticky. By connecting unmemorable information to something more memorable, kids can create lasting knowledge. 

Examples of Popular Mnemonics

Young students sometimes use the phrase “big elephants can’t always use small elevators” to remember the spelling of "because." When they get older, they remember the order of operations through PEMDAS. There is also ROY G BIV for the colors of the rainbow. The list goes on and on. That's because they are popular for a reason: mnemonics actually work! Once students buy into that fact, they can create their own mnemonics for the information they need to learn. All it takes is a little practice and creativity.

Types of Mnemonics

IMAGES AND VISUALS

The brain often remembers visual information more easily than written or verbal details. Students can take advantage of their visual memory when it comes to trying to remember anything from the meaning of a vocabulary word to how to spell it, or the journey of a blood cell through the circulatory system to chemical equations. The visual reference can highlight spelling features, diagrams, relationships – you name it! The key is that it is memorable to the student.

Another variation on visualization strategies includes creating imaginary relationships between images and objects. For some, placing images or objects in a familiar location helps to create memorable associations with existing memories. According to the internet, this is a good strategy for memorizing a deck of cards (we haven't tried!). Similarly, you can picture how a series of objects or figures relate to one another. If, for example, you had to remember the words "banana," "beach," and "skunk," you could imagine a skunk in the sand eating a banana. The goal of these strategies is to create relationships between seemingly random things in order to "chunk" them together. This helps to use limited working memory space more effectively!

ACRONYMS AND ACROSTICS

An acronym is made by taking the first letter (or initial letters) of a list of words to create a more memorable word. We can all learned PEMDAS to remember the order of operations, or HOMES for the five Great Lakes. Acrostics are similar to acronyms, and more commonly called silly sentences. Instead of PEMDAS, students could remember "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally;" and instead of HOMES, they could think of Hairy Orangutans Make Excellent Saviors. Once again, the key is creating an acronym or acrostic that is memorable!

MUSICAL AND RHYMING MNEMONICS

Perhaps the most famous musical mnemonic is the classic alphabet song. Without this simple, catchy tune, the alphabet would be much harder to memorize. These devices use melody or rhyme to help students remember rules or procedures. A popular example of this is “30 days have September, April, June, and November." All of the incredible School House Rock songs also take advantage of music and rhyming to make content more memorable. Plus, research has shown that musical elements like rhyme and melody not only make information more memorable, but actually improve the general performance of our memory.

In Conclusion

Next time you find your child cramming for a quiz or test, encourage them to create some mnemonic devices for the information that just won't stick. Maybe they need a silly sentence to remember difficult formulas, or a memorable picture to recall the steps of a process? And not only will mnemonics make information more memorable, they'll also make learning more fun!

College on the Brain

As the first round of early application deadlines for colleges looms on the horizon, we’ve been reflecting on the best way to approach a student’s entire academic career with this transition in mind—and that doesn’t mean stressing out about building an ‘impressive’ resumé that will feel inauthentic or contrived. It’s important to live in the present moment and enjoy growing up without having college as a permanent fixture on your mental horizon—and if you live in that present according to these precepts, you’ll be ready when the time comes. 

Follow your natural curiosity 

Instead of thinking of extracurricular activities, volunteer opportunities, and course choices as a laundry list of requirements to be checked off and added to your resumé, focus on making the most of the time you have to explore what interests you, trying new things or going further with a particular passion. The cookie cutter student follows a model she believes will cause her to appear successful in the eyes of an admissions committee; the authentic student follows her natural curiosity and winds up building a much more compelling profile. Absolutely do get off the couch and get involved! Life is short. But get involved with what interests you, not what you imagine will be interesting to an admissions officer. 

Seek out challenges

Once you’ve found a niche or two, an activity or subject you can tinker with for hours without getting bored, look for ways to challenge yourself in that realm. Take initiative to learn a new skill or complete a significant project in your niche, collaborate and/or compete with others who share your passion, and emulate your heroes, be they favorite musicians or favorite athletes. And in general, seek out challenges: colleges are more impressed by a 3.75 in a challenging course load than a perfect 4.0 in classes that you can coast through. We learn by being challenged, struggling, and then adapting by mastering a new skill or new content—so if you take Spanish but aren’t comfortable in conversations, find a way to immerse yourself with extra classes, volunteer opportunities, or travel. Take a step out of your comfort zone, and take some level of initiative that your peers might not be to see how far you can go. 

Build independence 

One thing hardly anybody is prepared for when they first arrive at college is the massive leap forward in independence. For your own well-being, and to show colleges that you’re ready for this next life-stage, make sure that as you move through high school you become comfortable with tracking and being responsible for all of your own assignments, communicating with teachers, and maintaining a positive work-life balance. Bonus points if you can learn to cook a few things before leaving for dorm life!