I recently got this email from a mom about how to get her 2e son to double-check his work before he turns it in.

A quick definition, for those who don’t know: “2e” is a shortened form for the phrase “twice exceptional.” This is a descriptor often used for intellectually advanced students, otherwise known as “gifted,” who also have a learning disability such as, but not limited to, dyslexia, ADHD, or autism.

When we hear the phrase 2e, we don’t know exactly what this student’s combination of strengths and challenges is, but we do know that he is both extremely gifted in some cognitive domains and extremely challenged in others.

So what’s the exact question? Let’s hear it in the mom’s own words:

“Hi Gretchen, I am a mother of two neurodivergent children, age 11 & 12, and have truly appreciated your Study Cycle to share with my kids. My daughter has inattentive ADHD and these tools will really help her. 

However, my son is twice exceptional.  He definitely doesn’t need repetition most of the time to retain material and until this year almost received 100% on all of his assignments and tests and scores 99% on standardized tests. 

This year though he is starting to make mistakes.  He will get back his work and be so mad at himself b/c there are “silly mistakes.” We have told him many times to double-check his work, and he says he is.  I’m sure this story doesn’t surprise you in describing a neurodivergent kid. 

Do you have “tools” for teaching students how to best double-check their work so they don’t make mistakes on material they actually know well?”

Oooh. Such a great question that I bet a lot of parents, coaches, tutors, and educators of neurospicy students have. In this article we dig into several action steps to take including: digging deeper into the student’s experience, making a checklist, conducting a mistake analysis, creating a homework and test-taking routine, and, maybe most important, unpacking internalized ableism.

Recently I received this email from a school-based teacher who is helping her students prepare for final exams:

“I recently switched jobs, and I teach high school (I used to teach early childhood). I am teaching in small groups and supporting students who have learning disabilities and/or ADD/ADHD etc. 

In your videos, you’ve mentioned the importance of their working memory, and I understand the value of it. However, when I Google to find some activities to practice working memory with high school students, the ideas are too elementary and wouldn’t work in my small group setting. 

Do you have any good ideas/games/activities to help me practice working memory with high school students?”

What a great question!! At first glance, it seems pretty straightforward. There must be fun games to help students practice working memory, right?!

Well… sort of. The answer is more complicated than you think, though. And the best way to reveal this complexity is to narrate blow-by-blow what happened next…

It’s graduation season here in the United States… and in the Anti-Boring Learning Lab, as well.

We opened the new-and-improved Learning Lab in March 2024, and the first cohort of coaches is wrapping up their learning of the Anti-Boring Toolkit and submitting their applications to become Certified Anti-Boring Coaches.

Congratulations! Today I thought it’d be fun to celebrate some of our newly minted Anti-Boring Coaches, in their own words.

As a part of their application for certification, we ask coaches to submit:

• Hone It Notes. A set of “Hone It Notes” where they consolidate all their learning onto one graphic organizer (this is a process we teach them to teach students how to do, so, of course, we ask the educators to do it for themselves!)

• Reflection Paper. A paper where they reflect on their main takeaways from this training, and how it has impacted their work with students.

• Testimonial. If they found their training to be transformative, they are invited to share a testimonial that we can share with the public.

Let’s take a look at some of excerpts from these incredible educators’ final reflections about how their coaching and teaching has improved with the Anti-Boring Toolkit.

When I originally designed the Anti-Boring mini-lectures, I created the video series intentionally for 6th grade and up. I had been a middle school teacher back in the day, and so it seemed right to talk directly to that age group.

However, I’ve gotten word through the years that many of the Anti-Boring Certified Coaches who have gone through my training use the mini-lectures with students who are much younger than 6th grade, with only slight adaptations. So let’s explore this topic in more detail!

As I researched education podcasts, I was fascinated to note the kinds of topics that are being discussed in education today: neurodiversity, executive functions, technology and artificial intelligence, social-emotional learning, equity and educational justice, mental health, homeschooling, innovations, and student-centered learning.

These are important topics and I’m glad so many public-facing educators are talking about them. But there is one that feels crucial for educators to be thinking about that was entirely missing from the discussions -- What is that topic?!

Study skills and learning-how-to-learn strategies!

This is the topic students on social media talk about the most. Search for “study hacks” on YouTube shorts, and you’ll see so many videos made by students for students about how to learn efficiently and effectively.

Doesn’t it seem suspect that a topic that students crave is rarely discussed in fancy schmancy educator circles?

As an academic coach, I love it when a student tells me they are “bullshitting” an assignment…because…Wow! It’s unusual to get some metacognitive framing from students about their own processes, and the use of this word shows that they have an assessment about the work they are producing. That is an exciting first step!!

Does studying suck for your students?

You can make it suck less (and just maybe actually be more fun!) with these six, easy to get objects….

In March 2023, I stumbled upon the exciting potential of integrating ChatGPT into study practices during my consulting work at a medical school. The revelation came to light in a coaching session with a radiologic technician student juggling a hectic schedule. Despite the challenges, the student ingeniously employed ChatGPT for exam preparation. Later, I delved into exploring how students could harness ChatGPT for effective retrieval practice, aligning with test formats. Here, I offer practical steps, emphasizing the importance of verifying ChatGPT's accuracy and tailoring questions to specific difficulty levels. I encourage educators to ask students a thoughtful question about the responsible use of ChatGPT, underlining the transformative impact of AI in education with an emphasis on responsible integration. You are free to walk your students through the steps I outline or copy and paste them into a document you share with your students.