BEFORE YOU BEGIN: If you haven’t read the initial post about the importance of building executive function skills in learners, how such a key concept is overlooked in education, and some strategies for connecting skill development with any class, please click here (link) for the background post before proceeding.

In most seminars I lead, we just dive into talking about Google tools, but it’s important to note that not all students have access to these products.

First, consider which platform your school uses for communication. Do all students have an email account? Is it GMail- or Outlook-based? It could even connect with other providers. This is a key step before we begin. If it’s GMail, you’re already there, so jump down below the picture. If your school uses a different platform, you may want to consider or converse with the IT department or administration before leading a new foray into GMail.

The truth is that you can get a Google account with any email, but it can be tricky because it is done with secondary routing. This means that the emails go into one site and get forwarded to the other.

New accounts can be established through GMail.com or mail.google.com. Here is an instruction link from Google Help (click here). I have encouraged my own children and even my students to create a personal account with GMail. It helps to compartmentalize the idea that the school email is for school business and the personal email is for personal business. This is the first step to executive function: order. It helps to sort the chaos.

For an overview of the functions of GMail (and other apps), consider exploring GCFLearnFree.org. The letters stand for GoodWill Community Foundation — yes, that GoodWill. You may not realize it, but all of those donated clothes and other items are sold for money to develop resources for job education and skill development, like this website (click here). This link is specifically to the materials on GMail, but a quick click on the “Topics” tab at the top of the page will take you to a world of other resources. What I like most about the modules is that they are provided with written instructions and most segments have accompanying videos, which demonstrate the tasks step-by-step. Some people learn by reading and some by seeing. They can be encountered at one’s own pace.

Once the GMail account exists, it opens the door to the use of a whole suite of products, which we will cover in subsequence posts. For now, let’s take a look at some features and some ways to use GMail to help task management.

1. To Delete or Not to Delete – Yes, that is the question. As a teacher, I delete almost nothing. Students may not have the same commitment to the lookback process as teachers though. For starters, I suggest that students quickly delete junk mail. This actually teaches GMail what is important to you and what is not. Yes, I have had students who deleted unread messages from me often enough that my incoming messages were routed to their Spam folder. That can be fixed by going to Spam and clicking the “Not junk” note at the top of the message. Basically, junk mail and minor exchanges with friends are the only areas I would suggest deleting when finished — nothing for school.
2. Create meaningful labels – By clicking the “+” to the right of the word “Labels” in the left margin, the equivalent of file folders are created for storing types of emails. My default suggestion with students is to create folders which are based on teachers, subject areas, or classes. Of course, they also need some for general school messages, such as schedule updates or information about testing day. If they are active in clubs or sports, they should have folders for each one.
3. Keeping It Tidy – When GMail has more than 50 messages in the inbox, they begin rolling to a second page. No one, least of all students, reads the second page of an inbox. That doesn’t mean that 50 “active” messages are fine. That’s like carrying on 50 conversations at the same time and trying to remember them all. That’s the opposite of good executive function skills. Empty is great. Ten or fewer is good. The most students should have would be 20-25 emails. Read it. Handle it. Send it to the folder. Done.
4. Time Management – If you’re not careful, email management can be a “rabbit hole” into which you can fall and have trouble escaping. They never seem to stop! Addressing everything can monopolize valuable time and feel unrewarding. My suggestion to students is to check their email in the morning (before school) for items that might impact their day and around lunch time to see if there are late-breaking changes. They should open their email to address messages and responses as part of homework time. Of course, the time should be limited, because it can overshadow homework demands.
5. Signatures – Creating a “signature” line can be a fun step for students because it involves personalizing their messages. It can be done by accessing the Settings through the gear-shaped icon in the upper right corner on GMail. The initial dropdown menu is only a subset of the settings. Click “See all settings” then scroll about two-thirds of the way down the page to “Signature.” Anything typed in the block will appear at the bottom of each outgoing message. I have a little fun by having students time themselves when they type: “Sincerely, [My Name]” in an email they are composing. It’s seconds. Then, we start multiplying the number of seconds by the number of emails in a day, then in a week, then a year. Saving seconds makes a difference over time. Next, I remind them how professional it looks and what a good impression it leaves with the recipient. This is also a good opportunity to walk through the other features which can be added through the Settings menu.
6. Carbon Copy – Even though the label is far out of date because “carbon copies” are a thing of the past, learners should know when using the “Cc” button can be helpful and when it can become a hassle. Sending one email to a project group is good, instead of sending it individually to multiple people. When someone clicks “Reply All,” there are helps and harms. The most important reminder here is to always ask if this is a message which should have parents or a teacher in the “Cc” line. Getting parental support about a situation is instrumental. Making sure the teacher knows that a group member hasn’t fulfilled an obligation is also a good idea. The “Bcc” option is available for times when reaching out to these support systems might benefit from not being quite so transparent.
7. Scheduled Send – A world of opportunities for self-management is available with this simple feature. When composing an email, notice that the Send button at the bottom of the message has a fragment of the button on the right side displaying a down arrow. After composing a message, clicking “Send” will deliver the message immediately. However, clicking the down arrow allows users to set an alternate delivery for the message. Here are a few strategies for using it well:
   • Respect – The first conversation about a Scheduled Send is one about respect. Sure, you may be working on your homework at 10:30 PM and you have a question, but sending a message to your teacher at that time of night is disrespectful, so set it to deliver at 8 AM instead. I often work late, on personal and other correspondence, so I try to catch myself every time and deliver messages during business hours.
   • Reminders – Once students are in the habit of daily inbox checks, the reminder option is a key to avoiding missed assignments with a longer time horizon. For example, students in my World History class serve as journalists presenting current events on our class feed once a semester. They sign up in the first week of the semester, but could have selected a day months away. Students don’t remember assignments that far away, so I encourage them to send themselves an email with a delayed send so that they receive it a week before the current events assignment is due. That gives them plenty of time to integrate it into their homework schedule without being late.
   • Later – Sometimes well-meaning faculty and staff send messages to students which don’t immediately concern them. “There will be a club meeting in two weeks” isn’t helpful for students. In fact, it challenges their executive function which can be like juggling many balls in the air. With the Scheduled Send feature, students could forward that same club reminder to themselves so that they get it the day before the meeting, when they really can use it to jog their memories.

If, as Dr. Sucheta Kamath of ExQ suggested, executive function is “getting the ‘boss’ brain and the ‘worker’ brain working together” (TEDxAtlanta, 2022), GMail is one place where they can communicate with each other. Managing that effective communication is one of the hallmarks of good executive function.

Stay tuned for Google Calendar tips next time.

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Teacher Takeaways

Managing and prioritizing communication effectively is can aid executive function and avoid the strain of overload and confused messages.

• executive function
• GMail