Embedded Files
“Conscious control is the first step toward engaging with others and the outside world. . . .”
— Dr. Nancy Sulla, 2018
Conscious Control: Foundations for Learning to Read
Conscious Control: Foundations for Learning to Read
Students learning to decode must:
Focus and attend to specific sounds and letters
Shift attention from one symbol to the next
Store verbal and visual information long enough to blend it
Manage conflicting thoughts (e.g., decoding vs. meaning-making)
Therefore, students will have a difficult time benefitting from great literacy instruction without these foundational skills.
Managing Conflicting Thoughts:
ELA/Literacy- Students juggle multiple possible interpretations, sounds, vocabulary meanings, or textual clues, and choose the correct one.
Managing Conflicting Thoughts Literacy Activity Examples
Managing Conflicting Thoughts Literacy Activity Examples
#1: Phonics Decision Points
Students could consider two decoding options: long vowel vs. short vowel. Teachers could ask them to try both ways. Prompting them to decide which makes sense in the story.
This would strengthen student decoding accuracy.
#2: Character Motivation Debate
Students could evaluate conflicting motives for a character. "Are they heroic or selfish?" Teachers could prompt with, "There can be multiple truths. What truth does the text show?”
This builds inferencing and perspective-taking.
#3: Multiple-Meaning Word Check
Students would pause when encountering words like bat, bow, bark. Have them consider two meanings and choose using the context. Teacher could prompt them with, “Hold both meanings in your head. Now, which one fits this sentence?”
This would improve vocabulary, comprehension, and context use
Visualization - In your classroom or at home, have students visualize completing a challenging task. What are the movements? What will they say? What will they need to do to be successful? This is especially great to do before testing, which tend to cause anxiety.
Check out the EF PLE samples:
Elementary- Writing Your Name (Pg 3)
Secondary- Writing (Pg 7)
Engagement Is...
Engagement Is...
“Learning requires engaging with concepts, skills, and information in a way that mesmerizes and transforms students, such that they do not want to stop until they succeed” - Dr. Nancy Sulla
Engagement: Making Sense of Text
Engagement: Making Sense of Text
As students begin to read with more independence, they must:
Persist through challenging or lengthy texts
Follow multiple-step tasks or reading processes
Identify cause-and-effect relationships
Categorize and compare information
Think about multiple concepts at once
In fact, these are the building blocks of comprehension — and they rely on active engagement, not passive decoding.
Since directions are everywhere, it’s important to help students build the executive function skill of following multi-step instructions. Read more on using direction sheets (EF PLE) then check out sample how-to sheets below from MyQPortal:
How could you use how-to sheet to build connections within literacy?
Fostering Categorization (EF PLE) - In reading, categorize characters or traits within a story.
Check out the Cause and Effect and the Categorization resources from the EF: Engagement page!
EF Skill: Persisting through a task
Primary Task Persistence Cards - Use these cards to promote concentration, reflection, progress monitoring, grit, and many other sub skills that can be categorized as "Inhibitory Control" or "Self-Awareness" in terms of executive function.
Student Persistence Cards (elementary and up)
EF Collaboration: Multiple Perspectives
EF Collaboration: Multiple Perspectives
Being able to see multiple sides of complex ideas is a critical skill for successful collaboration and, therefore, for achieving success with rigor. This ability to see multiple sides builds on the cognitive flexibility skill of changing perspectives and moves the student toward a capacity for empathy. Looking at an event or a situation from different viewpoints builds an awareness in students that all situations can be seen in multiple ways.
Seeing multiple sides to a situation
Being open to others' point of view
Collaboration: Dialogic Literacy and Social Understanding
In discussion-based classrooms, students advance literacy skills through:
Seeing multiple sides of a situation
Being open to others’ perspectives
Navigating conversations with social appropriateness
Considering how audience affects communication
Thus, collaborative skills are key to interpretive reading, debate, and authentic writing.
View any of the resources for multiple perspectives:
Understanding Multiple Perspectives (from the EF PLE)
Multiple Perspectives Graphic Org. #2 (ideal for elementary students)
For ELA/Literacy, students can work with multiple perspectives in the curriculum through picture books, stories or novels. Ask students to consider a conflict situation in the text and determine how two or more different characters view the same situation. (See additional examples in the EF: Engagement page)
Engaging students in meaningful discussions: View the page from the EF PLE: Module #6 Collaboration.
Elementary Collaboration examples:
Debate story-time- Have students read a story with multiple characters and perspectives. Afterward, engage them in a group discussion where they take on the roles of different characters, explaining their viewpoints and feelings. This promotes understanding different perspectives and maintaining social appropriateness in discussions.
Cause and Effect Storytelling Circle- Begin with a simple cause, such as "It started raining," and then have each student add an effect to the story. For example, the next student might say, "The children ran inside," and the next, "They found a cozy spot to read books," and so on. This activity encourages critical thinking, cooperative storytelling, and engagement while exploring cause-and-effect relationships.
Secondary example: Have students use content vocabulary terms within the story. Create expectations that it has to be used correctly and within context.
EF Collaboration skill:
EF Collaboration skill:
Overcoming temptation
Overcoming temptation
Accountable to the Learning Community - Students need opportunities and instruction to speak clearly for all their peers within the group to hear, attend to the person speaking, and work to understand what is being said so they can respond accordingly. Utilize tools and techniques such as the Pomodoro technique, time-blocking, or priority matrix to organize and manage your time more effectively.
Check out this resource for accountable thinking from the EF PLE.
This also builds the EF skill of attending to a person or activity:
ELA/Literacy examples:
Focusing fully on the reading task, the speaker, or the text.
Whisper Reading with Stops for Check-Ins: Students reread sections aloud quietly & pause at stop signal
Students can use their finger or eyes to follow text during shared reading
Read and sketch: students listen or read a passage or text. They draw visual notes with prompting such as, "Focus on the most important idea or detail to sketch."
Impulse Reflection Graphic Organizer - Impulse control is all about thinking before acting. This graphic organizer will help you think through what you did, how it affected you, how it affected others, and what you can try next time to better manage your impulses. (MyQPortal login needed)
Reminders for students:
Readers think twice before deciding
Your first idea is quick. Your best idea uses thinking
Readers choose the idea with proof from the text.
ELA/Literacy:
Overcoming the impulse to keep reading
Resist the urge to guess a word or answer; check text first
Hold idea for a few seconds so peers can think
Wait for partner before turning page
See unfamiliar words silently and resisting the urge to blurt out
EF Empowerment
EF Empowerment
“Teachers empower students to make decisions about how, when, and with whom they work. . . . Presenting students with expectations and options, but allowing them to make decisions empowers them to take responsibility for their own learning.”
“Teachers empower students to make decisions about how, when, and with whom they work. . . . Presenting students with expectations and options, but allowing them to make decisions empowers them to take responsibility for their own learning.”
Dr. Nancy Sulla, 2011
Dr. Nancy Sulla, 2011
Empowerment: Becoming an Independent Reader and Writer
Strong literacy requires metacognition. Students must:
Catch and correct their own errors
Set reading and writing goals
Manage their time during longer tasks
Reflect on their growth and performance
However, these are not innate traits — they are executive function skills that can be taught and reinforced.
Empowerment through time management - Time management is a critical skill that can either make or break you. If mastered during school, the executive function skill of managing time can improve students’ academic productivity and also significantly improve students’ college, career, and life pursuits. (EF PLE)
Scheduling Time in a Primary Classroom (MyQPortal login)
Setting a Goal - not as a separate checklist, but also as part of how they read, write, and talk about text.
Literacy Examples:
I will tap out 5 tricky words before asking for help. (Decoding)
I will try both sounds before choosing the word. (Decoding)
I will read smoothly for the first 3 sentences when I reread.”
“I will add expression for dialogue.”
“I will add one detail to make the picture clearer.”
“I can read my green Power Words.”
Teacher Moves:
“Which strategy will help you get unstuck?”
“What’s one change you want a reader to notice?”
“What will you focus on that will help you grow as a reader today?”
“What can you track that will help you understand more deeply?”
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