- Book - Wounded By Schools - great read.
- Executive function skills - stories are related to other adults in their lives - a lot of invalidation around their experience of not being able to access what’s going on in schools.
- Story of what a student’s experience is.
- Kids who feel disconnected or not learning.
- Kids who feel like school is not for them.
- School wounds go back to different stages and levels of our lives.
- Schools should feel safe for kids.
- School is not designed for kids.
- Purpose of school design: How do we help kids do the things that society wants them to do?
- We can’t aim for the middle
- Executive Function - behaviors related to the cognitive skills related to help us get things done, especially efficiently.
- Executive function: Inhibition (pause and assess before reacting); working memory (take information, and do something with it); cognitive flexibility (shift sets, being flexible and adaptable) - not just about learning, but about living.
- Then there are behaviors related to those things
- Prioritize time (because we can’t manage time).
- Invalidation - Often get mislabeled as behavioral skills or as “dumb” because they can’t do certain things in schools at the right time.
- What Schools think Learning Looks like vs. what is actually looks like
- Montessori Education
- Setting up parameters to allow for flexibility - firm goals, we can allow flexibility for how to get there.
- Learners have greater insight than I could ever imagine
- Structure with flexibility
- More time to give pause
- Is school really about task completion or about learning?
- Two things: set up a structure with flexibility and allow for student's voice.
- A sidenote about AI - highlight this episode with Viktor Karkar
- Practicing through games. Here’s a fun game- Pedunkle.
- Students have a hard time admitting when they can’t do something and they don’t know how to ask for help.
- Relationships
- Todd Rose - Square Peg Book
- What are the systems we set up in schools devaluing?
- When we don’t set up for flexibility, we see kids shrink away.
- Never met a student who doesn’t want to do well.
- Connect with Alexis on Instagram or X or listen to her podcast here.
About Alexis Reid
Alexis Reid is an educational therapist and learning consultant who specializes in executive function (EF) coaching, social-emotional learning (SEL), teaching and development, as well as designing flexible and accessible learning and environments through Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Episode 38
