Executive Functions Checklist for Primary and Secondary Classrooms

By Dr June Siew, Head of DAS Academy

In the hustle and bustle of a classroom, helping students stay focused, remember instructions, and manage their behaviour can be a daily challenge. These skills, known as executive functions, are crucial for academic success, yet they don’t come easily to everyone. Whether you’re teaching primary or secondary students, this checklist is designed to equip you with simple yet effective strategies to support your students’ executive functions.

Mastering Attention: Tips for Effective Classroom Focus

Key principle: No attention, no retention

• Use attentional aids e.g. standing table, wobble seat, kick bands, mint
• Pair listening with a task whenever possible e.g. take notes, fill in blanks, ask a question, perform a task
• Don’t lose them: Clarify acronyms, symbols, and anything ambiguous.
• Quick check-ins of understanding using thumbs up or down/ traffic light flips
• Insert an activity after every 10 minutes of listening to lift the attention curve
• Structuring the environment for learning (targeting memory)

Structuring the Learning Environment: Memory-Boosting Techniques

Key principle: Less is more to reduce memory load

• Stick to three steps or less when providing instruction
• Use mnemonics: Organise multiple steps/ ideas into friendly age-appropriate mnemonics.
• Present any information in at least two modes: auditory and visual
• Ask students to repeat your instructions before taking action. E.g. Who can tell me the first thing to do? Who can tell me the second thing to do?
• Leave important instructions/ formulas on the board as long as you can
• Consistently use the same marker colour for important information left on the board
• Math: Remind students to write word statements to accompany number statements, write out formulas
• For long-term retention, tag newly learnt information to information in the student’s existing memory e.g. Use “Sephora” as a reminder word for new vocabulary “plethora”.

Managing Inhibition: Planning and Replacement Strategies

Key principle: Fail to plan, plan to fail. The key to managing inhibition is to have a plan and a replacement activity. If you leave it to willpower, you are bound to lose.

• Keep temptation out of sight
• Talk to students about their struggles and discuss feasible alternative strategies with students beforehand.
• Use the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBII) method to guide the student to finding a healthy replacement behaviour, while ensuring the reasonable needs of students are met.
  • S: Describe the specific situation in which behaviour occurred. Example: “This morning at the 11 am team meeting…”, instead of “last week”
  • B: Describe the actual observable behaviour. Keep to facts. Don’t insert opinions or judgements. Example: “You interrupted me while I was telling the team about the monthly budget,” instead of “You were rude.”
  • I: Describe the results of the behaviour: Example: “I was impressed when you addressed that issue without being asked” or “I felt frustrated when you interrupted me because it broke my train of thought.”
  • I: What were their original Situation-Behavior-Impact/ need? This enables you to draw attention to the gap between intent vs. impact. Example: “What were you hoping to accomplish with that?” or “What was going on for you?” The healthier replacement behaviour needs to satisfy the student’s reasonable need for it to work.

Cognitive Inflexibility: Strategies to Adapt and Thrive

Key principle: Validate the child’s emotions and experiences, set limits calmly and not give in

• Pre-empt students of the possibility of changes and how they can react
• Provide controlled options to allow some autonomy
• Ignore antics and persevere
• Acknowledge and give a lot of feedback when students are trying
• Distraction may work for younger kids
• Minimise the number of changes

Overcoming Procrastination: Simplified Task Management

Key principle: Simplify big tasks for students.

• Make the first step very easy e.g. for an essay, get the student to use artificial intelligence to generate an initial draft that he can then edit
• Provide multiple datelines instead of one big deadline
• Conduct accountability checks during the datelines e.g. set up a meeting to check on the progress of work at each deadline
• Set clear consequences for missing the deadline

Catch them doing good: Reinforcing Positive Behavior

Research suggests that the best way to become proficient at a skill is to practice.  For children who struggle with executive functions, these skills will develop over time with frequent practice and chances to develop their skills.  Be sure to provide positive feedback and praise their efforts throughout the process!

• Praise them when you notice them practising the skills. E.g. Julian (name), well done (general praise), you got your book out and look ready to learn (specific praise).

Ready to take your teaching to the next level? Discover our specialised executive function courses designed to enhance attention, memory, and more in your students. Explore our offerings and unlock new strategies to support your classroom today!