Daily Magazine

An appropriate metaphor that often helps students and educators alike understand the role of executive functioning in thinking and behavior is to imagine an orchestra conductor. The conductor chooses what work the orchestra will perform, decides how to interpret that work, sets the tempo for the performance, and directs each section of musicians to contribute at the appropriate time. In the same way, executive functioning allows us to:

Activate awareness
Self-regulate by cueing, directing, and coordinating the various cognitive skills necessary for moment-to-moment functioning
Establish goals and make long-term plans
Maintain a self-image of being in charge of our learning and actions.
Students can and should be taught to develop their executive functioning as a path to self-directed learning and self-determined living.

Via Gust MEES, Jane Shamcey