EDUU 9351: Developing Executive Function Skills in the Primary Classroom

Course Overview:

Discover practical ways you can support students’ long-term success through developing their executive function skills. Teachers in primary grades are responsible for both academic and developmental skills. Explore research on Executive Function Skills, why they are important to develop in young learners, and create a plan for implementing the practical tools and strategies you discovered both in the classroom and to share with your students’ parents to support development at home.

Course Objectives:

This course will give student opportunity to:

• Research Executive Function Skills: What is Executive Function? When do these skills develop? What do Executive Function Skills control?

• Reflect on student behaviors that you’ve observed that may have been caused by a lack of developed Executive Function Skills.

• Explore different ways that elementary teachers and parents can support the development of Executive Function Skills.

• Develop a plan for implementing strategies that will support the development of executive function skills for all students in your classroom and at home.

Course Relation to CCS or other Professional Standards

Standard I: Using Knowledge of Child Development to Understand the Whole Child

Standard II: Partnering with Families and Communities

Standard VI: Managing the Environment for Development and Learning

Standard VII: Planning for Development and Learning

Standard VIII: Implementing Instruction for Development and Learning