As a student teacher at the University of Victoria I have gained the privilege of observing an elementary school classroom every Wednesday. The abundance of knowledge, resources, and inspiration I have gained through this placement has helped me build this inquiry. One aspect of my in-school placement in particular, my teacher educator, introduced me to 360 Degree Thinking methods she has incorporated into her classroom. She has developed an incredible comprehension towards 360 Degree Thinking methods, through the Cognitive Connection creator herself, Sarah Ward.
While attending a Sarah Ward workshop conference, she realized that Ward’s work ran parallel to the grant work she works on currently. My teacher educator leads a team of teachers in a collaborative action research project, directly connected to a POPFASD grant written in 2018. Both herself and her team, as well as their district partner, were introduced to Sarah’s work at a district sponsored PRO-D certification program known as “FIRST” training.
The easy to apply executive training strategies such as the working clock, and the done, do, get ready model were among the first activities integrated into her classroom. Through these strategies, minimized language and increased visuals have scaffolded her students into a gradual release of responsibility, while strengthening their executive functioning skills. As my teacher educator continues to integrate Sarah Ward’s many methods into her classroom, she has found a massive shift in her student’s time management, ability to start and sustain tasks, transitions between classroom zones, and exhibit differentiation on a psychological level.
The appeal of executive functioning strategies aren’t frequently advocated or practiced in post secondary education. Therefore, many educators aren’t aware, nor trained to focused on executive functioning skills. Complications regarding a lack of congruence towards these methods within the teaching community have occured in the form of push-back from staff, and communication with TOCs. The 360 Degree Thinking methods are a Universal Design for Learning in which any student at any age would benefit from pre-k to adult education.