Everyone Can Have Effective Executive Function

This is a true story. A student from a leading national college arrives in Washington, DC, for a summer internship. The student is excited because this internship is at a great sounding upstart, not to mention it is a few blocks from the capital. But after a few days the student is in despair. After much discussion with peers and mentors, the student makes the difficult and heart breaking decision to leave. What would cause such a drastic decision? The student replied, "The head guy was so busy he didn't have time to be organized. I could see this would lead to disaster on many levels."

So busy there is no time to be organized... is that you? In our over-committed world, it certainly is very common, especially with students and young adults who feel they must do more in order to be successful in a competitive world. The irony is that this push to achieve often causes people to become more disorganized and then make mistakes that can lead to failures.

There is another group of people who also struggle with lack of organization, and they are not an unusual group at all; their brains just aren't wired for organizational skills. Executive function skills, otherwise known as organizational skills, have nothing to do with intelligence. Being "smart" in school is deceiving because frequently the students who have the highest IQs do not have the highest grades. Why? They have deficient executive function skills.

Both of these groups of people share the same frustrating outcome. They suffer unnecessary failures and frustration because they lack executive function skills. Basically these skills are the ability to manage time, manage materials and self-management. Usually a person who has poor executive function has difficulties in all three areas. The good news is anyone can be trained to have good executive function if he or she is willing to make the effort.

For a student at Darlington to have good executive function skills, he or she must consistently think about the following: who can help me (self-advocacy), where do I have to be and when am I responsible (time management), and what can help me get my tasks done effectively (materials management)?

In any academic environment, adults are there to help students. Coach class at 8 a.m. is specifically set up for that reason in the Upper School, but students can make an appointment with any adult, any time that is mutually agreeable. By Monday morning, because homework is posted for the whole week on each student's web page, students can see when quizzes, tests, papers and projects are due. When academic demands and athletic competitions bunch up, the organized student works ahead, or self-advocates and goes to the involved teacher and gets help working it all out. Many high school students and most college students use the calendar and voice-to-text options on their phone to help them keep track of their daily schedule, but some still use an appointment book. It doesn't matter which they use as long as they do it!

The best plan for managing “executive tools” is to keep a simple system. Because we are in an age that is part technology, yet still part paper, students have to deal with both. For example, if they take notes on their computer, they still have to keep track of important papers such as returned quizzes, tests, labs and articles.

A pocket folder for each subject serves this need nicely; cramming papers in a textbook does not because they will get lost. If a student likes to hand write notes, then a three-ring binder with an added plastic folder for loose paper is best. The paper with the reinforced holes is a good idea, too.

Finally, a plastic filing box with hanging files for each subject, kept by the student's desk, keeps notebooks from becoming overcrowded. With subjects like history, English, and science, students can clip all the papers from a chapter together after a test and put it in the file. Then when exam time comes each chapter is ready, nothing is lost from needlessly carrying it around for months. Many students like spiral notebooks, and they are adequate if they are sturdy and have a pocket for handouts; BUT, for spirals to work well, students really need to use the file box or they become over crowded and papers get lost.

Effective executive function takes some thought and commitment to a system. Anyone can do this with a good attitude and some persistence, so self-advocate! Get yourself some support to help improve your executive function skills and you will find yourself less stressed and more successful as well.