Unlocking Student Potential
Teaching Executive Function Skills in the K-8 Classroom
Marcy McIver and Peg Dawson
Digital professor copy available on VitalSource once published ?This title is part of The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by Sandra M. Chafouleas.
“It is rare to find a resource that helps you make impactful changes in the classroom without feeling overwhelmed or having to completely rethink core curriculum. This unique book does just that. McIver's hands-on expertise with these strategies and her relevant classroom experiences are evident in every chapter. The lessons presented in this guide will benefit students across grade levels, with or without learning challenges. My team of special educators and I will use this book to unlock students' potential, one strategy at a time, at a student-centered pace.”
—Sandy Maldonado, MEd, Regional Director of Special Programs, Imagine Schools, Texas Campuses
Table of Contents
Introduction: How to Use This BookI. Unlocking Educator Potential: Decoding and Teaching Executive Function Skills
1. Executive Function Skills Explained: Unlocking the Mind
2. The Keys to Enhance Educator Expertise: Unlocking the Skills
3. Preparing to Teach Executive Function Skills: Unlocking the Conditions
II. Unlocking Student Potential: Teaching the 11 Executive Function Skills
4. Opening the Executive Function Vault: Introducing Executive Function Skills to Your Students
5. Response Inhibition: Training Your Inner Cop
6. Working Memory: Lightening the Cognitive Load
7. Emotional Control: Opening the Door to Emotional Mastery
8. Flexibility: Unlocking the Doors to Flexible Thinking
9. Sustained Attention: Harnessing Focus in the Classroom
10. Task Initiation: Breaking through the Wall of Resistance
11. Planning and Prioritizing: Solving the Planning Puzzle
12. Organization: Orchestrating Organized Environments and Minds
13. Time Management: Ticking Towards Success
14. Goal-Directed Persistence: Keeping the Spark Alive
15. Metacognition: The Master Key That Unlocks All Skills
III. Unlocking Lasting Executive Function Success: Essential Keys and Refining Practice
16. The Essential Keys for Executive Function Success
17. Sustaining Executive Function Success: Troubleshooting Mini-Guide for Continued Growth
Epilogue: Where Change Truly Begins
Appendices
References
Index
About the Authors
Marcy McIver, MS, is an educational consultant, executive function and attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) coach, Orton–Gillingham instructor, and former classroom teacher. Ms. McIver provides professional development for educators internationally, with a focus on translating the science of executive function into practical classroom approaches and tools that support learning, self-regulation, and independence. She also works directly with students with executive function challenges; ADHD; and learning differences, such as dyslexia and dyscalculia; and coaches teens and supports parents of children with ADHD. She is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Peg Dawson, EdD, is a New Hampshire-based psychologist who provides professional development training on executive skills for schools and organizations nationally and internationally. Dr. Dawson is a past president of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and the International School Psychology Association, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from NASP. She is coauthor of bestselling books for general readers, among them Smart but Scattered and Smart but Scattered Teens, as well as books for professionals, including Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents.
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