Back to Basics
Sometimes we have to go back to the basics. I was working with a student who was extremely young and being homeschooled during a transition, as her family moved from one part of the country to another as part of military life.
Now don’t get me wrong—I’m not a writing tutor or a grammar tutor. But I am someone who could see that this student was struggling to put ideas together. So what did I do?
I showed her a picture and gave her five guiding questions:
How many people are in the picture?
Give the people names.
Are there any animals? If so, give them names.
What things do you see in the picture?
What are the people doing? (Action verbs!)
Once she answered those questions, I asked her to take words from her responses and write two sentences, making sure she included at least one word from each question.
It’s no surprise that I emphasized question five—the action verbs. Like many of our students with executive function challenges, she struggled to expand her vocabulary when it came to verbs of action. And here’s where working memory comes into play.
Why Action Words Are So Hard: A Working Memory Lens
Baddeley’s model of working memory helps us understand this challenge. His framework describes working memory as a system with several components:
Phonological Loop – holds and rehearses sounds and words.
Visuospatial Sketchpad – processes images and spatial information.
Episodic Buffer – integrates information from different sources into a single episode.
Central Executive – directs attention, manages tasks, and coordinates the whole system.
When a student tries to come up with an action verb, the phonological loop is responsible for holding onto possible words, while the central executive searches long-term memory for vocabulary that matches the picture. If working memory is overloaded or inefficient, students may get “stuck” and recycle the same simple verbs (e.g., “is,” “goes,” “runs”) instead of generating richer options.
In other words, it’s not that they don’t know the words—it’s that their working memory system struggles to retrieve and juggle them in the moment.
I Needed to Take a Step Back
This student had a tendency to use the same action verb over and over. So, once again, I showed her a picture—only this time, the task was to name as many action words as possible.
I already knew from testing that working memory was a diagnosed area of weakness for her. That explained why generating new verbs was such a challenge. To support her, we built a notebook—a resource she could go back to when writing independently. Inside, she collected verbs, tips, and examples so she didn’t have to rely solely on her memory in the moment.
Writing is not easy for many of our students. Sometimes, we need to break the process into very small parts so that they can experience success step by step. For this student, action verbs became a central focus. Over time, through repeated activities and support, she was able to expand her vocabulary and gain confidence in her writing.
The Big Picture
Stories like this remind us that writing is not just about putting words on paper—it’s about the brain systems that make writing possible. For students with working memory weaknesses, the simple act of pulling the right word at the right time can feel like climbing a mountain. By breaking tasks into smaller pieces, scaffolding with tools like verb notebooks, and explicitly teaching strategies, we give students the chance to succeed.
This is also why our work at Connected Pathways Academy will always be evolving. As new research emerges about the brain—whether it’s about working memory, synaptic communication, or executive functions—we adapt and grow. Teaching, like the brain, is dynamic.
And here’s my teaching line: Sometimes the most powerful teaching happens when we go back to the basics.
It’s also important to remember that working memory challenges don’t look the same for every student. For example, another student I worked with had no shortage of ideas—she could brainstorm endlessly—but struggled to organize those ideas into something that made sense on paper. Her working memory system was overloaded with too many thoughts at once. By providing visual frameworks, outlines, and step-by-step guides, we created space for her to sequence and structure her writing without losing track of her ideas.
👉 If you’re reading this newsletter when it comes out, we’re also hosting a Writing and Working Memory Workshop for our community of Strategists at 11:00 AM EST. We’ll dig deeper into the science and strategies you can use right away with your students.
