The Forums › Forums › The Workplace › Strategies for Work › Being a teacher › Re: Being a teacher
My mom was a teacher before I was born. She taught me how to read before I even knew how to walk. She decorated my room in “neo-kindergarten”, with construction paper cutouts labelling the “window”, “door”, “wall”, “closet”, etc. She taught me the delights to be found in the world of theatre. And, as I’ve come to realize, she also has ADHD in spades, and I inherited it from her.
The other day, she was completely flipping out over something, and as I tried to talk her down (imagine, one person with ADHD trying to calm down another one!), she shared this little behavioural gem: When she was a teenager, when the teacher would give an assignment, Mom would write out the title, then draw flowers and things around it to make it look pretty…after which, she’d realize that she’d been so busy drawing little flowers, that she’d completely missed the explanation of what the assignment involved. This, coupled with the fact that she had a few years of being very sick, meant that she failed one grade and had to repeat it, and that she had to attend summer school to make up another grade.
When she became a teacher, she taught the youngest kids—Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 4—and she put together some really spectacular class plays. One was even reported (with photos) in the local newspapers. But she always over-prepared, with way too many visual aids, even when, years later, she taught adult classes. And she’s often said that she overdoes things, because she’s so scared that somebody will find out she isn’t really good at anything. (This is the “imposter syndrome”, which Dr. Jain mentions in “If Bill Had a Hammer”.)
Knowing that Mom has ADHD (though she refuses to even consider seeking diagnosis and treatment, as it’s one more damn thing for her to worry about), I can understand why every fibre of her being reacted with utter revulsion at the prospect of working in an office…as does mine, and probably, yours.
The fact that you have personal experience of the distractedness and fidgetiness that your students are feeling, can make you a much better teacher than someone who just assumes that they’re being bad students and just need to control themselves.
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