Matthew Eriksen became a professional educator in 2002, when he joined the faculty of Liberty School District 70 in IL as a middle school English teacher. He transferred to North Shore School District 112 in Highland Park in 2007 and assumed the post of associate principal at Edgewood Middle School. Promoted to principal in 2009, he also led the district’s Indian Trail Elementary School. IL resident Matthew Eriksen currently serves as CEO and president of 4XF, a company dedicated to manufacturing products and offering services to improve students’ mastery of their executive functions.
Executive functions are those cognitive skills that we all call upon to accomplish the countless tasks that make up our days. They’re learned early, and mastering them can have a tremendous impact on success in school and life. Executive function includes three main components:
- Working memory, which is the ability to store information and recall it when necessary.
- Cognitive flexibility, which is the ability to approach a problem or concept in different ways.
- Inhibitory control, including the ability to stay on task and avoid distractions.
Executive function skills include the ability to pay attention, start and stick with a task, organize materials, plan and prioritize, and monitor oneself. Emotional self-control is another important executive function skill, as is reflection, the ability to consider a situation and review available options in context before responding to it. As children grow and practice these skills, their ability to solve problems quickly improves.
Educators and parents work to instill good executive function skills in their students, sometimes by providing professionally designed organizers and school bags. More information on executive function and supporting products is available at the 4XF website at 4xfbags.com.
