Using Journals and Charts to help older children self-evaluate

I just wanted to write one more post about the self-evaluation element of executive functioning because it plays such an important role in our children's self-esteem, learning progress and social development. In this post I want to focus on how we can use a KWL chart and/or learning journal to help children identify their successes, what they have learnt and what they have yet to learn.


A KWL Chart

Blaxendall (2003) discusses how important advanced or graphic organisers can be in helping students with special needs organise their thoughts and recall important information when approaching an academic task. A KWL chart is one example.


As seen above, this chart has three columns. The first and second columns are completed before a student begins a task or is introduced to a new topic. The first column is a way to help them "brain-storm" or activate their "search engine" for anything they might know on the topic. The second column is to help them think about what they don't know (recognising their limitations), and it also helps engage them with the topic as they think about what might interest them.

The final column is an explicit way of noting down their successes. This chart can then be pulled out the next time they complete a task on the same topic, helping them to recall information and self-evaluate before they start the new task.


A Learning Journal

A learning journal is an informal way of doing the same thing. It can be a place to record words learnt, formulae that need to be remembered, work samples (like work sheets, photos of a project completed) of which the child is proud. All these can help students, no matter what their age, recall important information.

A learning journal should be something that records the most important information, like a study guide, rather than the child having to search through pages and pages of writing or activities that have been done in class.


A final word on self-evaluation

On a final note, it is important to acknowledge once again that children with executive functioning issues can find it hard to find the completion of a task or success in a social situation intrinsically rewarding. That is, they may not get the same feeling of pleasure or satisfaction from a task well done, or from successfully resolving a conflict with a friend. For this reason our rewards systems, or extrinsic rewards, are very important in helping to build their self-efficacy and desire to use the skills they have been taught.


References

Baxendell, B.W. (2003). Consistent, coherent, creative: The 3 C's of graphic organizers. Teaching Exceptional Children, 35(3), pg. 46.

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Helping children/youth put things in perspective

A broken search engine can lead to unbalanced thinking.

To help us "understand and measure [our] strengths, weaknesses, resources, and opportunities [and] understanding of the difficulty level of specific tasks" (Queensland Health, 2007) we need to think back on our past experiences. If our "search engine" isn't working, or if we can't relate anything we have done before to the activity or task, then we can find it very hard to be balanced in our thinking.


Panic!

An example is when I went with a young relative of mine to the Sydney Aquarium. The closer we got to the Aquarium, the more unsettled the child was - until we got nearly to the entrance and the tears and panic began.

It turned out that the presence of sharks was the trigger for the distress. But once we had talked about the fact that the sharks were behind thick glass, and that many people were coming and going without being harmed, the panic subsided.


Think Good, Feel Good

One of my favourite books is Think Good, Feel Good by Stallard (2002). There are two versions of the book, one for younger children and one for youth. The book is written in simple language and has a lot of teacher/parent resources that could be used to help children/youth with problem-solving and managing their thoughts and emotions. I have a copy of the booklet for youth.

In Chapter 7 Stallard talks about challenging our negative thoughts. He provides a table that could be used when youth have got into a cycle of thinking that is preventing them from recognising their strengths, resources or opportunities. The table guides youth to answer the following questions:

• What were your thoughts and how strongly to you believe them? (Use the scale or a "thought thermometer" to rate it - see below)
  
• What evidence supports your thoughts? What evidence challenges these thoughts? (This encourages youth to look for facts - activating their "search engine")
• What would your best friend say about these thoughts? What would you say to them if they had these thoughts?
  

All this aims to help them work in a step-by-step way through the process of self-evaluation, and to self-evaluate in a balanced way by using the questions to prompt memories or bring up relevant information.


References:

Queensland Health. (2007). Executive Function and Capacity. Retrieved 8th May, 2010 from http://www.health.qld.gov.au/abios/documents/behaviour_mgt/exec_functn_capacity.pdf

Stallard, P. (2002). Think Good- Feel Good. John Wiley & Sons: Australia

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