References and Resources

Reflection in Learning

The 5R Framework for Reflection. University of Edinburgh.

This framework is useful for students who are new to reflective writing, as it structures the moves made in reflection and provides concrete examples of types of language to use at each stage. This is part of a much larger reflection toolkit which includes multiple frameworks for reflection, case studies of reflection in action in academic settings, and resources for instructors and facilitators.

How Dialog Journals Build Student-Teacher Relationships. Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy.

Recommends the use of a journal for student and teacher to communicate, to build a relationship between student and teacher, to help the teacher learn about student interests, and as a space to introduce personalized learning. While this advice is targeted at much younger learners, the core lessons of this -- treating education as an ongoing conversation between student and instructor, and supporting students in reflective writing -- are replicated in the conversational reflection structure.

Executive Function

A Guide to Executive Function, Harvard University Center on the Developing Child. Including a practitioner guide for supporting executive function in adults.

This guide includes a description of executive function areas and how executive function is developed, as well as strategies for supporting executive function in adolescents and adults (as well as young children). It also includes resources for understanding how stressors and advertise childhood events can lead to underdeveloped executive function.

Supporting Neurodiversity in Active Learning and HIPS, Zoe Reidinger, Taylor Rohena, Sarah Stanlick, Kris Wobbe. AAC&U Annual Meeting 2023.

This guide offers suggestions for adapting traditional, course-based accommodations (e.g. extra time on test) to accommodations appropriate for project-based learning. It also lays out some of the challenges faced by students who have executive dysfunction in particular areas.

Executive Function Disorder & ADHD, Attention Deficit Disorder Association.

The ADDA is an organization for supporting adults with ADHD; this resource explains the relationship between executive dysfunction and ADHD.

Teaching Executive Functions to All Students. Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy.

A review of Mitch Weathers' book, Executive Functions for Every Classroom: Grades 3-12. Provides actionable and immediate advice for how to scaffold executive function within a traditional classroom setting. Much of the advice here -- to establish routines, encourage reflection before/after activities, and have students organize information chronologically -- influenced recommendations in this guidebook for design journals and reflection prompts.

Embracing Neurodiversity

Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School. Carla Shalaby, The New Press. 2017.

Shalaby conducted an ethnographic study of four elementary school children who were identified as "troublemakers" by their teachers. These are students who did not do the work, could not focus in class or were even actively disruptive, and who seemed "unteachable". Through her study--which included classroom visits, home visits, and interviews with children, teachers, and family--Shalaby found that these students had funds of knowledge and approaches to life that held great value, just did not align well with formal education. Often these were neurodivergent students whose parents felt pressure for them to conform to normative behaviors. A thought-provoking book that inspired design choices in this toolkit such as holistic assessment, openness to the value students find in their learning, and complete trust in student self-assessment.

Neuroqueer Heresies. Nick Walker, Autonomous Press. 2021.

Walker's collected writings on embracing neurodiversity and critiquing pathologization of autism and ADHD, instead advocating for celebrating difference. The original conceptualization of this project focused on support for neurodivergent students; this book helped clarify the goal to be on support for executive function specifically. The goal here is not to fix neurodiversity or force all students into a normative framework; rather, the goal is to provide support for developing skills that students can find helpful for navigating a society that privileges neurotypicality. Simultaneously, the assessment mechanisms and project design is intended to work for all students, and supports students learning and processing information in a wide variety of ways.