35: Helping Kids Build Executive Function Skills with Mitch Weathers

Ever feel like your kid’s school day is a total black box—until the 9pm “I have a project due tomorrow” panic hits?

In this episode, I’m joined by Mitch Weathers (former teacher and founder of Organized Binder) to talk about how executive dysfunction shows up in classrooms, why parents often feel stuck guessing what’s expected, and how to build simple supports at home that actually align with school. We dig into the unspoken expectations kids face as they get older, why clarity needs to come before accountability, and how parents can build simple routines at home that work WITH what's happening at school, instead of adding another layer of frustration.

Key Takeaways:

• Why executive function skills often aren't explicitly taught at school (even though kids are expected to use them).

• Why the 3rd–4th grade “independence shift” can be so hard for many kids.

• How misalignment between home systems and school systems can turn into nightly power struggles.

• Why “clarity before accountability” matters (for parents, teachers, and students).

• How consistent routines free up brainpower for actual learning.

• Mitch’s three essentials for building executive function skills: clarity, modeling, and routine.

• Practical ways to start at home—especially when there aren’t clear structures at school.

Connect with Mitch:

Learn more about Organized Binder

Connect with Mitch on LinkedIn (for speaking and updates)

Resources:

• Executive Functions for Every Classroom: Creating Safe and Predictable Learning Environments (grades 3–12) (affiliate link)

• Executive Functions for Every K–3 Classroom: Promoting Self-Regulation for a Strong Start (affiliate link)

• Free resource: “Getting Started with Executive Functions” (co-created with Cambridge University)

Connect with Scotti:

Website
Instagram
Threads
LinkedIn

Ask a Question:

Got a school question on your mind?
Submit it as a listener question for a future episode

Transcript

35: Helping Kids Build Executive Function Skills with Mitch Weathers

Mitch Weathers: [00:00:00] we know, the research, the jury's not out on this, when students get practice with and exposure to executive functions, they're more successful at school. And if we can figure out a way to reinforce those at home, but that is really supporting and amplifying what's happening at school, it's a win-win.

Scotti Weintraub: Welcome to Unlocking School Success, a podcast with the smart strategies and support parents need to help their kids thrive. I'm your host, Scotti Weintraub, parent coach, school navigator, and your go-to guide for turning School Stress and Chaos into clear strategies that work. Let's get started.

Welcome to another episode of Unlocking School Success. I am so pleased to have with me today Mitch Weathers. He is not only a former teacher, but also the founder of Organized Binder. Welcome, Mitch.

Mitch Weathers: Thank you. Happy to be here.

Scotti Weintraub: It is so fun to have you because we [00:01:00] were just talking before we hit record that you and I could probably have recorded f- five podcasts even in just chatting about what we were gonna talk about today.

Just our prep. Yeah. I know Prep for this. Seriously, this is such a, an exciting topic. Just gonna reference for folks listening that- ... number six, episode number six of Unlocking School Success with our mutual friend Carrie Bonnett is all about- ... basics of executive function. What is this fancy word anyhow?

And so if you are looking for a primer, a beginning place to start thinking about executive function, go check out episode six.

And today, Mitch, you and I are going to chat a little bit about how executive dysfunction shows up at school, and how we as parents can work on executive function supports at home that have impact at school.

Mitch Weathers: Yeah. That's a good question. It's a big question actually, because when you look at the research around executive function, they're not taught in a traditional sense. It's about how [00:02:00] we intentionally shape the learning environment in ways that lead to better executive functioning. Now, the learning environment could be a traditional classroom setup, but it, of course, could be any environment and the home environment is a big part of that, and I'm sure your listeners are passionate about okay, what do I do and how does it...

The interesting part of your question is how does it influence what's happening in the classroom or at school? Yeah. And my, my work is all almost primarily with the other side, the teacher, the school. How are we starting to shape those learning environments in ways that lead to better executive functioning?

And part of that work is the invitation to families. So that when the family and the school are working in concert together around this topic which is important because we're we're widening the aperture of the support conversation beyond content and curriculum and grades and [00:03:00] testing and saying, "Okay, how are we considering the whole learner?"

And every classroom on the planet, every learning environment on the planet, you can spot signs of executive dysfunction. And so figuring out ways to support the development and invite, and again, this is my teacher hat, invite families into the process it's really critical, 'cause then it makes the work that you're talking about at home, more aligned.

And where we get, where it can be tough, and I would love, it'd be great if this were a live conversation with your audience because I'm assuming you've had the experience, and I certainly have as a parent, like I'm trying to put some structures in place at home to help with maybe I'm seeing signs of executive dysfunction.

But are they aligned to what's going on at school? And if they're not, are they in conflict? Do I have any idea what's going on at school? Is there, like so bridging that gap, which is why your work is so important that really that communication gap because the truth is, and this is just my personal experience, oftentimes we're, [00:04:00] there's no charge to, to teach executive functioning skills at school.

We're teaching other things typically. But we know, the research, the jury's not out on this, when students get practice with and exposure to executive functions, they're more successful at school. And if we can figure out a way to reinforce those at home, but that is really supporting and amplifying what's happening at school, it's a win-win.

Scotti Weintraub: Yeah. That, I think you just touched on such a critical piece that, I talk about all the time, which is that collaboration and bridging that gap between what is happening at school, which parents largely don't know. Even you can be the most engaged parent and, volunteering at school and doing things, but you don't really have a sense.

You're not sitting in that classroom all day, right? And especially as your kid gets older- and that distance of parents from the classroom gets bigger, w- we wave them off in the morning and they come back in the afternoon, and what happens in the middle is unknown.

Yep, and there's- And so that's the hard part for parents.

Mitch Weathers: [00:05:00] It is, and there's an expectation for the kid. It's right around third grade, fourth grade, right? That there's an inflection point there where you're saying like the parent involvement, even if you're one of those parents that's at school all the time, there's kind of this expectation, often unspoken, that you're becoming a more independent learner.

You're taking charge of your learning. What's that mean? That's... I- if you're going to become a more independent learner and have some agency and like dexterity in your schooling, Someone's got to help me understand that. And that's where we get to every classroom has a curriculum, and every classroom has a hidden curriculum.

These often unspoken, implicit expectations that you're supposed to just become more independent. That's what you're doing. You're getting into those middle and upper elementary and then off to middle school, high school, and beyond. But when you look at that through the executive functioning lens [00:06:00] Having the support at home so let me back up a little bit.

When I'm-- have the opportunity to work with schools or districts or give a talk, almo- every time I end with cons- consider and have an internal conversation about how you invite families into the process. Because I'll tell you, find me a f- find me a parent on the planet that doesn't want their young person, at any age, practicing goal setting and organization and time management and self-regulation skill.

That's what... Of course we want that. But we're so content. And I'm-- I taught ninth grade science for 20 years. I had a set of standards I was tasked with teaching aligned to this test, X, Y, Z, right? So we get-- we miss that piece often, and we go right to the content. So my charge is always consider families.

And if it were, you mentioned organized binder in the intro real quick, it's a physical, it's a binder. It's an analog, tactile binder, and the poi- one of the [00:07:00] reasons for that is the clarity it brings home. So it- ... the program establishes a predictable daily routine. We have a, a bilingual guide for families that goes home, so you have no question what's happening at school.

There's total clarity there. And as a byproduct of the routine, students are practicing these executive functioning skills like organization, time management. They get to pull out this calendar that's part of the binder every day. They set goals with a specific daily task for a set amount of time, four to six weeks.

But because it's housed in this portfolio, I can now, as a parent, very confidently, if I can ask about your daily reflections, 'cause we begin and end with reflection and working memory and retrieval practice. It's all mixed up in the content or the curriculum of the grade level or the subject, but I know explicitly if I wanted to see what my student, their reflections.

If I wanted to see what they did, I could look at the calendar. It's tab C. If I wanna find their [00:08:00] work in the current unit, it's tab G. It's a table of contents, updated, indexed daily. So the clarity that the school brings or the teacher brings to the family, one, is really appreciated. But here's, again, I may always speak from my teacher hat, is you can't talk about accountability Until you have clarity.

And if kids- ... are swimming in the seas of ambiguity, it's like, what are, what is the expectation here? What am I... But when you have that kind of clarity, and you can invite families into, "Here, support this," it takes the conversation beyond "How was school today? Do you have any homework?" To like you, to your point.

What happened the last, the, since six hours or seven hours since I saw you? And if you're like my 16-year-old, she's I'm like, do you h- how was school?" "Good."

Scotti Weintraub: Fine. "

Mitch Weathers: Did you learn anything?" "No." "But you, so you were at school for seven hours, you didn't learn anything?" "Nope." "Okay, then there's only one more conversation."

[00:09:00] Do you have any homework? Do, do I need-" "... you that I can support you?" "No, I don't have any homework, Dad." "You're sure you don't have any homework?" "Nope." And then inevitably, 9:00 at night, there's a full panic, "Dad, I need help with this project, I..." All executive functioning or executive dysfunction.

And I'm like, "I asked you when I got home from work, did you have any homework?" And she's like, "Yeah, but this isn't homework." I'm like y- you're at home doing work from school." That literally is the definition in her mind, right? The and I had no idea, my wife, that it's that lack of clarity that can be tough.

And then, sorry if I feel like I'm talking too much here, but then you find yourself as the parent, to your initial question of what structures can I put in place at home? What routines? How can I support- ... executive functioning that will make an impact at school? It often, I'm just gonna be honest, it turns into like a battle of wills because I've been at school all day, I come home, and now I'm gonna work on [00:10:00] stuff at home that I hope aligns to the school, and the kid's like, "I don't wanna set goals.

I don't wanna look at my ta- " So that's part of it, too, is if this work can be embedded within the grade level or the subject area that I'm currently living in, and families know those structures and routines, now all of a sudden it's, "Hey, let's look at your table of contents. Are you updating it? It's the third step of the routine every day."

There's no question. "Show me your table of contents, Viv." That's my 16-year-old. "Okay. Yeah." See what I'm saying, how that, the clarity- Yes ... between the two. That's a

Scotti Weintraub: totally different conversation.

Mitch Weathers: It is.

Scotti Weintraub: Right? It, because I, this idea of clarity is so important because we as parents have a lack of clarity often.

We are bound to these electronic systems largely of- ... checking, you have to check one place to find one information, and if your schools are anything like ours, there are five different online portals for five different things. And so- Whose great [00:11:00] idea was that? Yep ... I don't know, but it is not user-friendly.

And, you can find some pieces of information here, other pieces of information there, and it's hard enough for our kids to track that And then you throw us, who are not immersed in it all the time, and it- ... is very not clear.

Mitch Weathers: Yeah, it's confusing, and, if you have... I s- recently visited a school s- doing a, a training.

So my work's either like organized binder, we're gonna roll this program out at the school, or I'm giving talks and, on executive functioning generally. This happened to be an organized binder talk, and the school has two LMSs, which means an LMS would be like there's one called Canvas.

Most higher ed use that, right? So that's where the grade book is and the online communication. It's the learning management system. They also have Google Classroom.

Scotti Weintraub: Yes, we have both of those as well.

Mitch Weathers: Why [00:12:00] would you have two? It, that, l- are you trying to confuse everybody? And kids are, like, literally, and teachers, they're like and then you have the, well, academic freedom. I choose to do this here, and I ch- and students are supposed to just figure that out when-

Scotti Weintraub: Yes ...

Mitch Weathers: what's helpful is when we get internally as a staff, we get collective. "Okay, we're all gonna commit to doing this." My daughters, they use Google Classroom, but they use something called Infinite Canvas, Ca- Campus, which tracks, like, attendance, and that's where the grade book is.

There's a grade book in Google Classroom, too. But the expectation is I only have a, I have my Infinite Campus portal as a parent. That grade book has to be updated every six weeks. Six weeks.

Why would I even bother looking at that if I want a daily or weekly snapshot of where my kid is?

And it's not, that's not on the teacher, 'cause it, that's just the expectation. I'm maintaining my Google Classroom for the kids, but the grade that shows up on their progress report comes from Infinite Campus. It [00:13:00] just, the whole thing when we incorporate technology into this conversation it's that much more important to say, "No, here's exactly where, what we're doing.

Here's how you can support," because- Kids are confused, parents are confused, and it ends up being frustrating. The conversation just breaks down. And then you have the whole world of executive function coaching, which is fantastic, which you would kinda consider my premise for executive functions being school-based or just learning environment based is tier one.

Every kid, every class practicing these within the context of what they're doing. Executive function coaching is tier two, tier three, a more targeted intervention and support, which is fantastic. But in the same way that the parent's like, "How do I start to structure and shape my in-home environment that leads to better executive function in a way that's congruent with what's happening at school?"

Same thing with an EF coach. If it's not [00:14:00] supporting what's happening at school, that can be problematic as well,

Scotti Weintraub: 'cause we can implement a system at home. If that doesn't mesh well with whatever system is in the classroom, that's not necessarily doing anybody any favors. Yeah. And what I love about your organized binder is that you bring it to whole schools.

Everyone buys in. Yep. And when, I think there's real power in having c- that consistent process. Everybody knows what's happening. Yeah. Everyone's on the same page. It's huge, especially for those kids who really need consistency.

Mitch Weathers: They n- yeah, they need that predictability, the consistency, the clarity, even though, to take a middle, so I was visiting a middle school this past school year.

They have 10 classes. It was a six, seven, eight. And I'm like, wow. U- up until f- sixth grade, they were in a self-contained single, one teacher [00:15:00] most likely. They got to know them and nothing. 10 classes every day- Every day ... or on blo- in a block schedule. Five days a week. Nope. Wow. Five days a week, 10 classes plus lunch, so it's 11 transitions.

Scotti Weintraub: That's a lot.

Mitch Weathers: And that's a lot, right? So I'm going to, just think about it, 10 different teachers, 10 different places on campus, and I've never done that before, right? I'm now in middle school, which the data's very clear it's the middle school and ninth grade transition are problematic for a lot of our learners to begin with.

But now it's 10 different teachers, 10 different places, 10 different curriculums, of course, 10 different te- groups of students, 10 different expectations 10 different routines, if any. It's just the last, so we refer to that as cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load, and it eats up a learner's working memory capacity, and working memory is the engine for learning.

We have to protect it, right? It's the mental spotlight. It's the, some refer to it as the mental sketch pad. It's if you're listening right now and thinking about stuff, [00:16:00] that's your working memory. But if I'm utilizing some of that just to get through the day there's just less available for me to focus on learning, which is where classroom management and off-task behaviors and self-regulation, there's an, there's a crossroads between executive functioning and classroom management when we look at it through a working memory lens, which is one of the core executive functions.

Which is really interesting. But here's what you just said "Oh, when everyone's together," it's actually in the research. It's called collective teacher efficacy, and it conti- consistently in meta-analyses ranks as the most effective strategy to impact student learning, to impact student success. But I always probe, it's like, okay, so let's just go back to that middle school.

Wha- what could we possibly be collective about if we're siloed by definition? It's literally the structure of our schools, and I'm not necessarily here to argue that. We have to get [00:17:00] collective about something that's both grade level and subject area. It's content agnostic. When you look at executive functioning, it, we can all be collective about that, right?

And so it's gonna help students. We're gonna have a common language. We're gonna have a common routine. And even though I'm at that middle school and I go to 10 different classes, what if they seems pretty simple, but what if they all started the same? This is what it looks like to be ready to learn in this learning environment, whatever it is.

And if it's rep- there's repetition there. Here's our second step of the routine. We look at our calendar, and we record what we're doing. Do I have any homework? Third step, we go to the table of contents. When that starts to become automatic, all of a sudden that clarity is offloading that extraneous load, and I have a- more capacity to focus on what I'm learning, and my f- my parents know exactly what's happening at school because it's this routine, and it's we're collective, and it's a win-win. It really is.

Scotti Weintraub: [00:18:00] I'm jealous a little of those school environments where they have that kind of consistency because I know it would've made a huge difference-

Mitch Weathers: Right

Scotti Weintraub: For my own kids. And, but, as you said, we're not here To necessarily rethink everyone's classroom because we're all in the schools we're in, right? We can't. Yeah. What could a parent do if they're hearing this and say "Oh my God, that sounds amazing and what would be really useful for my kid," but we're not in a school who's using organized binder or doing that sort of collective efficacy- with teachers. What are- It gets back to our point earlier about parents feeling very much on the outside.

Mitch Weathers: Yeah, I I, first of all, I want everybody to hear that I'm empathetic to that experience because that's been mine as a parent. It's been really interesting. My, both my, I have two daughters, and they both went to a pre-K-8 public Waldorf, so very different than your traditional environment.

[00:19:00] They both have had the same teacher. Two years of half, part-time, half-day kinder, same teacher, and then first through eighth, one teacher all the way through.

Scotti Weintraub: Oh, wow.

Mitch Weathers: So when you- That is very different. Yeah ... you talk about leaning into relationships and not, you just, it's not realistic to be a, quote-unquote, "content expert" in seventh, in middle school, right?

And I'm okay with that. I the leaning into relationships and the, the, the clarity, the conversation, of course, it's just part of the whole program. My oldest chose to go to the large comprehensive Title I public high school in our city center, 2,700 kids, and I've, I know that parent experience now.

"Oh, I have no idea what's going on. I'm trying to support you." So I, that's where I'd like to start, and I would, when possible, and I know this isn't always possible, is w- can you get any insight into the structures that are happening at school, [00:20:00] if any? And I think it's a much easier, The, the work becomes easier when you can identify if there isn't any structures.

And what I mean by that is typically, and this is more of an, I think, a upper elementary, middle, and high school thing, where it's we just become more content-focused, right? Students are supposed to be more independent. And I'm-- There's an old saying you've probably heard that when you ask, let's say, a high school teacher what they teach, they're gonna tell you the subject.

"Oh, I teach math." When you ask a first grade teacher what they teach, they say, "I teach students." It's a different concept. It's just a different way of thinking about it, and we're not gonna change all of that right now, right? But if I can identify something that I can support and amplify at home, that's the win-win.

So are there some things happening? And if there's not, then I would encourage, in a very streamlined way, it could be an executive functioning coach. But the, I, first of all, back [00:21:00] up even a little bit more. If there's nothing going on, start with organization. Let's just get you organized first. My approach to that is simple, like a table of contents and what we call the academic toolkit.

And that, that can happen at home every day, and it has to be like small time footprint. Like kid's already been at school all day. Not overly complicated. I don't want to spend an hour looking at... Yeah, right? And my also belief is no, go, you should be outside. You should be riding your bike, playing, doing, but if you are gonna have those in place, I think the first is that kind of almost diagnostic approach to okay, what, what structures, if any, are in place? And that might be a simple email to a par- or from a parent to a teacher. Just, "Hey, I just wanna, anything I could be supporting at home." And they might get back to you.

I don't know. I'm just trying to put my parent hat on and my experience the last couple years. And if, again, if you can identify that I don't think there's much there, then starting with organization [00:22:00] is key. Let's get organized. Then the idea of a, okay, you're gonna have a planner, and when you go to school, is there anything you hear that you need to remember?

Is it homework? Is there stuff... And you just, here's the day. You gotta show young people how to do these things, right? They're, they don't just... there's a g- great quote from a study that that says that, to set students up, something I'm paraphrasing right now, it's in my slide deck, but we now need to teach some skills formerly learned by students on their own, right?

And that's a tall order for a teacher, 'cause I don't have enough time in the first place, right? I'm trying to get through all this that I'm s- tasked with teaching. Which is why I say and like foundation for my work that's good news because they're not actually taught. They're best learned when I get practice doing them.

But someone's gotta show me, right? I always do this if I'm giving a talk, and I was just in New Mexico last week, and it was pretty sizable audience. And we were [00:23:00] going through what are executive functions, and I said, "Okay, We were talking about planning and time management. And I said, "Would we all agree that-" Planning and time management is like a foundational executive functioning skill, and of course everybody, "Yeah."

And I said, "Okay, so raise your hand if when you were a young person that a caring adult gave you a planner or a calendar of some sort," whatever that looks like, "Showed you how to use it, and then walked that journey with you over the course of a year or two." AKA held you accountable for using your planner.

And this time, I ask this, questions like these a lot, of the whole audience, two people raised their hands. And I said, "Okay, now everybody look around. We just agreed," and I'm showing them all the research as well, "that this has a significant impact, not just academic success, lifelong." Executive functioning is profound the impact it has, and two people raised their hand.

W- what are we doing? We gotta start incorporating this. So f- [00:24:00] for the parent that can identify that there's absolutely nothing maybe happening at school or very, or a lack of, putting some structures in place at home, starting with organization then time management, and working up. There's some more that we could talk about.

Can be helpful, but please be sensitive to the... If you want it to work, it can't feel like a lot of work. It might- Yes. Do you agree with me on that? I'm curious what you

Scotti Weintraub: think. I do, and I think my other point to add would be like don't die on the hill of one particular strategy. Because I have heard this from parents too about I tried to get my kid to use a planner, and they hated it and they wouldn't use it."

And I'm like, "Okay, maybe that wasn't the right planner."

That's okay. Yeah. But we can't just say, "It's my, the planner I use is the planner that you need to use, and the way that I manage my time needs to be the way you manage your time."

End of discussion. I think there's some flexibility that needs to happen in terms of [00:25:00] trying, especially with neurodivergent kids, trying different strategies.

And when you were talking about this example, it really one, it made me reflect a little bit on, oh, maybe I need to be doing a better job with my own teen right now, right?

But it also made me think about how we have become, and we were just talking about all these online things.

Everything is online now, right?

Mitch Weathers: Yeah.

Scotti Weintraub: So my calendar is all online, which has some benefits I will say, right? Sure. I can see m- my husband's calendar. We, we can share calendars. Like that, those have benefits. But it struck me too that so much of the work that we used to do on paper or in a more public facing way or family facing way, we do now all on the computer.

So our kids aren't seeing a, we don't have a family calendar- Where-

...

Scotti Weintraub: W- and because my son has a doctor's appointment today, and I remi- I reminded him yesterday, and he said, "You didn't tell [00:26:00] me." And I thought I did tell you, but it was probably a while ago." Yeah. And so it is just a reminder to me too that the way that we have, digitized so many things-

Is actually maybe making it harder for kids to see that sort of did an adult walk you through it? Did you know what... Did you see modeling of people, you know- Yep ... tracking their appointments, tracking their work schedules, tracking all these things, 'cause we do it all now on like a pyramid. It's closed off.

Mitch Weathers: Yeah, and it's, I, the th- I refer to these you're alluding to it, I refer to the three keys to supporting the development of executive functions. It's clarity, modeling, and routine. So being very clear about... So your point about, we'll just keep it with the calendar or the planner. The the important conversation is [00:27:00] the importance of time management, planning and time management.

How I do that and figuring out how that works for me, that's where we get, you get curious. We gotta get clarity around that. And it might be the planner, but if I'm gonna come in like authoritative, like a parent "You need to do it this way," and the kid's like, "No, it's not working," and it devolves down into a battle, right?

Where if we could shift the narrative, shift the conversation to, to curiosity, "Okay that one seems to not be working that we've already identified that it's important that you know how to plan and manage your time." So when I mentioned about this doctor's appointment, is there clarity around, "Oh yeah, that gets written in your planner.

That you know exactly what to do with what I said," as opposed to "Oh, Mom told me." Of course, this is totally typical teenage brain anyway. Poof, right? But-

Scotti Weintraub: No, it's gone.

Mitch Weathers: When every day it's like, I'm, put on my teacher hat, like every day the second step of the routine is let's look at your planner, and I'm going to [00:28:00] ask once this becomes routine, "Is there anything from today's agenda that you need to record?

Because you might need to remember that. Is there something for next week you need to write?" Like the basics of it, but it's not an option. We're doing it together. And when we have that kind of clarity, then and only then can you hold the student or the young person, the son, the d- whoever, accountable for doing it.

But so often, like this, like you were saying, like he's never seen, he doesn't see it. So when I say that- ... I know what it mean. I have a lot of clarity in my mind, but they're kinda like, right? That's the ambiguity that, that is a, the death of executive functioning. So you have clarity, and then the modeling piece is so key.

And it, that's not to say it can't be digital, but does it, th- this, there's a notion too that the ed tech community will- Say that they're moving into a digital world, we need to digitize it now, and that is fundamentally false. We know that the uptick and the [00:29:00] transfer of these skills and habits into a digital life is not-- It's basically the research is they look at all of us Gen Xers that got email in the middle of our lives, like things- Right

changed, right? You can count me in that category. Yep, and we all, th- there's data on it, are just a, a percentage point or two behind digital natives, right? So there's no evidence that I need to saturate kids with digital, and there's a ton of evidence about the harm that it's causing young people, right?

But even if you do use the Google Calendar, I would advocate for something physical and they're writing it down. It's just you gotta have a model. What's the model? So I can see it, clarity, modeling, and then the routine. This is something we do every day or we do every week. It's not, it's non-negotiable.

It's just part of, not because I have to teach you or, it's just what we do. And for me, again, my work, it's, this is just how we do school. There's a very small time footprint. It's just a few steps at the beginning, [00:30:00] few steps at the end, and as a byproduct of that, you're practicing time management, organization, goal setting, all the, all these things that influence both success in school and life.

Yeah, unpacking it for your kid, even just your point about the planner, clarity, modeling, and routine is key.

Scotti Weintraub: I love that you broke it down so clearly for us because I think that's, it's easy to get lost in it feeling like a big mountain we have to climb- yeah ... about, we have many things we want to teach our kids.

And if we get too scared off by the enormity of, especially if you have a kid with executive function lags, like I do- yep ... it can feel like a giant, thing. "Oh, geez, we have to do this and that." And so I love that you broke it down to those three little bits. And I think we're gonna have to wrap up our conversation there, which- Okay

of course, we could have kept going for a very long time. Yeah, for sure. I- if folks listening want to know more about Organized Binder or some of your speaking that you [00:31:00] do, where can they find you?

Mitch Weathers: Easiest place to find me just organizedbinder.com is just the home of all things. And you could just hit the contact form.

That's where you're gonna learn most about my work. If, I'm on, not incredibly active on social for a lot of reasons, but if I am, it's usually on LinkedIn. So if you're interested in yeah, like speaking engagements and things, it would be there. And then the easiest way to dive in, I've written two books on the topic which are, they're both...

so the first book came out in 2024, called Executive Functions for Every Classroom: Creating Safe and Predictable Learning Environments, but it's focused on grades 3 through 12. My second book came out this year and it's by the same title, but it's promoting self-regu- so Executive Functions for Every K3 Classroom, which realistically incorporates pre-K Promoting Self-Regulation for a Strong [00:32:00] Start.

What's been surprising, and I only bring that up because the intent in the second book, by the way, was co-authored, The f- parent feedback has been overwhelming in a good way. People, they're getting a ton of value from both books, and I wrote them with my teacher hat on from my own- That's all right

teaching experience. But so I throw that out there, too. That might be a value add for some folks. You can see both of those on the Organized Binder website, but of course Amazon, and I publish with Corwin. That might be something that- And- ... people find value in.

Scotti Weintraub: Yes, and I'm glad you mentioned them because they are excellent resources, and I will for sure have links to them in the show notes.

And I love that you said parents are finding such value. I think that is one, a testament to the value of what you've written, but two, that parents are eager- Yes ... for information and re- you know- Yeah ... and resources. That we wanna support our kids. Yeah. We wanna find ways to do that, and maybe there's not enough out there aimed at parents either, so that- Right

is [00:33:00] a whole other conversation

Mitch Weathers: we can have . Yeah, and that's a good point. Like I said, they're not written, people have said you need to write one just for parents," and I, there's something to be said there, but that congruence with what's happening at school. And just so you know, parents who are listening in, the good news is there's a lot of schools doing book studies with these two books, and it's changing the conversation.

It's incorporating in a way that is encouraging, bring families in, bring, have some clarity modeling and routine. And once that's in place, then families invite them into the process, so

Scotti Weintraub: yeah. I, you know I love that, so let's keep- ... talking all about how to make that happen, to bring more parents into these conversations in collaboration with our schools.

Yeah. It's been such a pleasure. I wanna finish off like I do all of my guests by asking you for another resource. Could be a website, a book, something that you think would bring value to a parent who is eagerly looking for more information. Wanna learn

Mitch Weathers: [00:34:00] more.

Scotti Weintraub: Yeah.

Mitch Weathers: Yeah. Of, yeah, there's so many, but I've, I think the one that stands out, just because it, the, literally it's called Getting Started with Executive Functions, and it's it's a r- online resource that's entirely free, and I co-created it with Cambridge University.

So it's at, I'll give you the link and you can put it in the show notes, but it's nice because it just, what are these? Back to your episode number six.

Scotti Weintraub: Yes ...

Mitch Weathers: it, and it just there's five different kind of segments. There's video resource of both myself and a, a woman, Dr.

Sarah Baker, who studies executive functions at Cambridge. But it's just a really user-friendly resource. So that's where I would steer people if you wanna- Learn about executive functioning

Scotti Weintraub: Awesome. Thanks so much for sharing that- Yeah ... and all of your amazing wisdom. And I encourage folks who are interested in learning more to go to your [00:35:00] website.

Sure ... I also love this idea of whole buildings, whole schools u- using a system like Organized Binder or another one where we can all get- Yeah ... on the same page. So thank you for the work that you do. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate

Mitch Weathers: it. This was fun. Thanks for having me.

Scotti Weintraub: And that's another episode of Unlocking School Success.

If you loved my conversation with Mitch, please give us a, a like, a follow, or even a review. It really helps us get these conversations in front of even more parents. Thanks. We'll catch you in the next episode.

Speaker 3: Thanks for tuning in to Unlocking School Success. If you're finding these episodes helpful, please hit follow, leave a review, or send it to another parent who's also navigating the school maze because no one should have to figure this out alone. [00:36:00] You'll find full show notes@reframeparenting.com slash podcast and you can come say hi on Instagram at Reframe Parenting.

Thanks again for listening. See you next time.

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