Creating your Teaching Plan:
Your teaching plan represents a designated time period, be it longer (an academic year) or shorter (a summer program). It is up to you! Your teaching plan is composed of Instructional Periods (IPs). Please note that we default to four (4) IPs in your plan. You can adjust your number of Instructional Periods as you see fit, but we recommend four Instructional Periods in a traditional academic year.
Defining an Instructional Period:
Each Instructional Period (IP) includes time for the following instructional strategies – 1) Measure – administering the EFgo™ assessment; 2) Improve – build EF skills by implementing recommended EF activities; and 3) Reflect – Instructor time to evaluate the successes and challenges of EF activities for the IP.
Measure (1-2 weeks):
Each IP begins with the administration of the EFgo™assessment to determine the EF skill level of each student. The delivery of the assessment takes less than five minutes on average for each child or group of children.
For more information on how to launch the EFgo assessment click here
Improve (4-6 weeks):
EFgoPRO™ will use the student scores from the assessment to group and recommend activities specific to the needs of each group and/or child. This structured play provides a set of intervention activities that challenge Executive Function skills in children. The EF activities within this program are leveled and increase in difficulty over time.
For more information on recommended activities, click here
Reflect (1 week):
Just as we expect our students to spend time reflecting on each activity, it is important that you reflect on how your EF instruction is going. Did it feel natural or forced? Why? How can you improve your EF instruction in the next Instructional Period? Were students engaged with the EF activities? If not, how might you modify the activity? Did you use EF activities daily? Why not? How might you plan to integrate them more directly into your future teaching lessons?
Remember, with each new Instructional Period, you re-assess your class using EFgo™ and your results are updated with new scores, new groups, and new recommended activities. This process continues to repeat itself throughout the remainder of your teaching plan. As mentioned before, you can add or remove instructional periods to best fit your academic schedule. However, we recommend a minimum of 4 Instructional Periods within a typical academic year.
Like all new instructional strategies, don’t expect perfection on the first try! As time goes on, you will get better at modifying activities to use directly with content instruction. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing your whole instructional style adjusting with a new EF lens!
For more information on the importance of reflection, explore our course 304: Personal Reflection for Executive Function Growth
Adding/Deleting an Instructional Period
Your classroom is automatically set up in EFgoPRO™ with four instructional periods (IP). You may add or remove IPs anytime by using the grey “Add Instructional Period” button in the lower portion of the screen. You may also delete an IP by using the trash can icon next to that Instructional Period.
