Friday was my first full day at Bethware, and I loved every minute of it! School started at 8, and the kids came in like angels and grabbed their morning work. They then listened to announcements and then as a class went over the morning work. I finally got to see the class pet chinchilla. They have specials first thing in the morning, and I went to the P.E. and art classes with them. I got to watch them take their first summative assessment at the end of the week, and they really struggled with the test, and did not really understand why Mrs. Scoggins could not give them the answers. I noticed that there are 13 girls in my class and 8 boys. Before they start any assignment, they have to repeat the phrase "put your stinkin' name on it!" that way Mrs. Scoggins knows that they put their names on the papers. I found my schools PBIS, and it is an acronym for PRIDE. I noticed that half of the kids were almost half asleep during some lessons, but Mrs. Scoggins did not seem to mind that much. I got the chance to have a girl who struggles with reading, read her book to me, and then I helped her read her AR Test. At the end of the day, they did a little bit of grammar, from what they call "Petra". I believe that the 2nd grade teachers made up this system to help their students, because it is very personalized, I loved it! Mrs. Scoggins has a lot of positive reinforcement, and I really like that. There is one little girl in the class who gets extremely distracted by me being there, and is always getting called down. This little girl could not focus on anything, and even the things in her desk were distracting her from listening and passing her test. When the teacher came around to check on her work, the little girl covered her paper, because she was embarrassed. Talking to my CE, I found out that this student has ADHD. Today I am going to research some different ideas about how to help this little girl in my class stay on topic, and focus.
I found a wonderful website that is specifically for teachers with ADHD kids in their classroom! This website broke down how to help the student into different categories like, seating, information delivery, student work and organization.
Here are a few tips for seating to help the ADHD student:
- Seat the student with ADD/ADHD away from windows and away from the door.
- Put the student with ADD/ADHD right in front of your desk unless that would be a
- distraction for the student.
- Seats in rows, with focus on the teacher, usually work better than having students seated around tables or facing one another in other arrangements.
Information Delivery for the student with ADHD:
- Give instructions one at a time and repeat as necessary.
- If possible, work on the most difficult material early in the day.
- Use visuals: charts, pictures, color coding.
- Create outlines for note-taking that organize the information as you deliver it.
Student Work for a Student with ADHD:
- Create a quiet area free of distractions for test-taking and quiet study.
- Create worksheets and tests with fewer items; give frequent short quizzes rather than long tests.
- Reduce the number of timed tests.
- Test the student with ADD/ADHD in the way he or she does best, such as orally or filling in blanks.
- Show the student how to use a pointer or bookmark to track written words on a page.
- Divide long-term projects into segments and assign a completion goal for each segment.
- Let the student do as much work as possible on computer.
- Accept late work and give partial credit for partial work.
Organization for a student with ADHD:
- Have the student keep a master notebook, a three-ring binder with a separate section for each subject, and make sure everything that goes into the notebook has holes punched and is put on the rings in the correct section.
- Provide a three-pocket notebook insert for homework assignments, completed
- homework, and “mail” to parents (permission slips, PTA flyers).
- Color-code materials for each subject.
- Allow time for student to organize materials and assignments for home. Post steps for
- getting ready to go home.
- Make sure the student with ADD/ADHD has a system for writing down assignments and important dates and uses it.
I will mention a few of these tips to Mrs. Scoggins, and hopefully help this student to be able to pay attention in her class, and achieve her fullest potential.
This would be a great correlation with standard 1 of teacher leadership, because as a teacher we are to take control of the classroom, and do whatever it takes to help our students to learn. I want the best for this little girl, but paying attention in class is so hard for her. Hopefully this blog helps others out there with ADHD students in their class. This website also has a ton of other tips! http://www.helpguide.org/articles/add-adhd/teaching-students-with-adhd-attention-deficit-disorder.htm
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