Executive Functions (Part 1): Understanding Why Some Students Struggle

Transcript: Challenge

Gina: Hi, I’m Gina. I’m a student at Morrison High School, and this is my class project: A day in the life of my school. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly how I hoped it would turn out. The morning I took pictures at school, all of my best friends were talking about the exact same thing: studying.

Ugh.

So after first period, I ran into Erin. (Here’s Erin. Hi, Erin!)

Erin: Hi, Gina.

Gina: And guess what?

Erin: Man, I am in so much trouble, I’m not… I haven’t turned my work…

Gina: Erin’s upset that she has a bad grade in Ms. Flemming’s geography class. Ms. Flemming said Erin has a lot of “incompletes” on her homework, and she did poorly on yesterday’s test. She also said Erin probably hadn’t studied hard enough. Erin told Ms. Flemming that she did too study hard and that Ms. Flemming wasn’t being fair. Erin has ADHD. I just thought you should know that. She has trouble focusing and organizing.

[Reacting to Erin opening her super-messy locker] Uh, Erin?

Sometimes she even forgets where she’s put her homework and she has to do it again. And again. And again. Can you imagine?

A few seconds later, my friend Kyra showed up. (Here’s Kyra.)

Erin: Hey, how’d your test go?

Gina: And guess what again?

Kyra: It went awful…

Gina: Kyra is mad because she bombed a test on “The Iliad” in Mr. Paige’s class.

Mr. Paige: I’ve got this test, and I’m going to have to say that it’s just not what I thought you could do. I see you taking notes…

Mr. Paige said he’s frustrated because Kyra seems to pay attention and understand in class, but then does poorly on exams. Kyra has a learning disability and ADHD. She also says she studied but sometimes she has trouble remembering everything and being focused.

Okay, then here comes my other friend Hannah. She’s smart and gets good grades. She tells us she’s got a good grade in Ms. Flemming’s class and did really well on Mr. Paige’s test. That makes Erin upset. Erin says that everything comes easy to Hannah and she should maybe keep in mind that it’s not that way for everybody. Kyra says kinda the same thing, and Hannah’s, like, wait. I worked for hours and hours to study and not everything comes easy to me either, you know?

Mr. Paige and Ms. Flemming are good teachers, but I guess they think Erin and Kyra aren’t studying hard enough or are just being lazy or whatever. I know, right?

So…Erin studies a lot but obviously isn’t organized. Kyra studies a lot but has trouble remembering stuff. Hannah studies a lot (and probably cries), and nobody seems to care that they’re messing up my project.

Anyway, here’s your Challenge:

Why do some students struggle with learning and completing tasks?

How can teachers effectively teach study skills strategies?

Okay, thanks, bye!