In my private practice, I meet many students who struggle with executive functioning skills, time management, in particular. In this post, we’re going to focus specifically on transitioning between tasks. This challenge shows up in a variety of different contexts depending on the age and grade of the student.
- With younger students, this may look like making sure homework is in the child’s backpack to ensure assignments make it home and/or back to school.
- For middle-schoolers, the process of moving from classroom to classroom needs to be overcome.
- For high school students, who are asked to be more independent and take care of all of their belongings, most often utilizing a locker, move from one side of the campus to the other in record speed.
In each example, there is a critical point, when children need to shift from task to task. In an effort to help teach students (of any age) to transition more fluidly, I want to offer a quick but effective technique to help make that transition less chaotic and more structured.
The concept of metacognition is an umbrella of sorts for all of the executive functioning and time management skills. Metacognition is defined as “awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes.” In other words, thinking about your thinking. A common example to help you begin to understand this concept would be the development of the awareness that you have trouble remembering names of people and then reminding yourself to repeat their name aloud a few times when you first meet them to help you commit their name to memory.
I’ve included an illustration above from Mary D. Skalar and her website http://executivefunctioningsuccess.com. Her program, Seeing My Time, is excellent and I use it myself in my private practice with my students.
As you can see from the illustration, metacognition is cyclical, and it’s possible to spiral into an unending repeating pattern of thoughts once you dive in. This can create a difficult moment for a student and for the teachers or parents supporting them. So, I want to introduce a brief technique to help the student stop what they’re doing, take a moment to process what’s actually right in front of them, and make a thoughtful choice about it.
Here are the three simple steps:
- Stop everything.
- Take a deep breath.
- Take stock of the situation to make a thoughtful decision.
For example, you’re in the car after school and about to go into the house. All the kids are ready to run in and do a variety of tasks, like changing clothes, getting a snack, watching TV, etc. Before you get out of the car, utilize this technique as a family. Ask everyone to stop what they’re doing, and take a deep breath together…maybe even two or three, if needed. Then bring consciousness to the moment by having each of your children make a decision about what will be the first thing they do when they get into the house.
Is it going to be taking off their shoes? Hanging up their backpack? Going to their room and changing their clothes? The task does not matter as much as making a thoughtful decision about what to do first.
You can utilize this technique whenever your students or children are struggling to mentally shift gears. For example, the children are at home now. They have gotten a snack, changed clothes, had a break. Now it’s time to start homework. So, everyone stops, takes a breath, and then you all shift into homework mode. You’re making a thoughtful decision to now go begin the homework phase of the evening. What is the first assignment each child will tackle?
If you receive a little bit of pushback, and your kids aren’t ready yet to shift focus, it’s okay to have a little bit of negotiation: “How much more time do you need on your break? Five more minutes? Awesome. We’re going to set the timer, so when this timer goes off, that’s going to be our stopping point.”
Practice with this metacognition exercise ensures students are engaging actively with the cognitive process of stopping and making a definitive, thoughtful choice about what’s next, not just letting their brain run wild with the next impulsive thought.
Now that you have an introduction to the concept of metacognition, my challenge for you this week is to try this technique this evening with your children or today in your classroom, if you’re a teacher.
Be sure to let me know how it goes by posting a comment in our online community, Education Alliance, on Facebook. You’ll also connect with other like-minded parents and educators who support children who struggle with learning. And you can access helpful videos, share resources and participate in live Q&As inside this group, all with the goal to support you as you work with your children and students.
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See you next week for another edition of this six-part series: Time Management Skills to Help You & Your Child Today.
