Currently I'm enrolled in a really challenging class. Juggling graduate courses with full-time teaching & mom duties, isn't that easy. But this "graduate course" isn't the typical type. It doesn't come with a set curriculum & the requirements keep changing without warning. I won't be given any certificate upon it's completion but I'm learning at least as much as I did in ANY of my college courses. It's called real life.
So often the biggest part of coping for me, includes perspective. One thing is certain, as a teacher, it has not hurt me to have a first-hand knowledge of what parents are going through with their ADHD kids! I like to think of Bobby as a capable tutor in the field of out-of-control behaviors. Have to say there are days when I'd like to drop the class but I'm in far-enough now that I'll go the distance. I'm not sure yet if it makes me better than I was in the classroom or just more compassionate and a bit less cynical.
I'm probably not the only teacher who has worked with ADHD kids and wondered at the back of my mind if the parents could be using more effective discipline or regulating schedules more appropriately. Were they doing everything they could to change this naughty behavior? If you haven't experienced this in your home, how can you really understand the battles from day-to-day? Walking a mile in someone's shoes helps with the understanding & though I don't understand what to do with many situations, I can look parents of my students straight in the eyes and say, "I understand what you are going through and I want all the best for your child as he/she is in my care." This is what "ADHD 501" is doing for me.
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