Re: First year teacher (new career after military retirement)

First year teacher (new career after military retirement)

by Kathy Johnson

Jun 9, 2015

Hello, my field of expertise is electronics and computer maintenance. In these fields of study there are a lot of obstacles for special education students as well as many opportunities for them as well. Being that this is my first year teaching high schools students and some with special needs, I’m hoping to find some advice from more experienced educators. How do I keep my ADD/ADHD and other special needs students on task during labs and not completely disturb my general education students? My labs include building circuits, sometimes using solder, soldering irons, small components and other soldering tools. During my computer maintenance class we completely dissemble desk top and lap top computers, many small parts to keep track of and to get preoccupied with. As you can imagine we are up and moving a lot; my classroom has maintenance workbenches and computer tables in lieu of desks. In my first year we all did pretty well but my ADHD/ADD students were quite a challenge. I would re...See More

Comment

(5)

report post

Bob Rose (rovarose@aol.com) On 6/09/15, Kathy Johnson wrote: > Hello, my field of expertise is electronics and computer > maintenance. In these fields of study there are a lot of > obstacles for special education students as well as many > opportunities for them as well. Being that this is my first > year teaching high schools students and some with special >...See MoreOn 6/09/15, Kathy Johnson wrote: > Hello, my field of expertise is electronics and computer > maintenance. In these fields of study there are a lot of > obstacles for special education students as well as many > opportunities for them as well. Being that this is my first > year teaching high schools students and some with special > needs, I’m hoping to find some advice from more experienced > educators. How do I keep my ADD/ADHD and other special > needs students on task during labs and not completely > disturb my general education students? My labs include > building circuits, sometimes using solder, soldering irons, > small components and other soldering tools. During my > computer maintenance class we completely dissemble desk top > and lap top computers, many small parts to keep track of and > to get preoccupied with. As you can imagine we are up and > moving a lot; my classroom has maintenance workbenches and > computer tables in lieu of desks. In my first year we all > did pretty well but my ADHD/ADD students were quite a > challenge. I would really welcome some fresh ideas for next > semester.

Kathy,

If you teach kids of high school age, I'm not sure this information will help you, but what I am going to say is important.

Most kids diagnosed with learning disabilities (like ADHD) are actually afflicted with a recently discovered congenital condition called Reverse Position Sensation (google it; discovered and published by Rowe Young-Kaple, its description is on-line).

This also affects about 10&37; of the general population and they were often thought to be "clumsy" or "dysgraphic" in the past.

Such children feel that a clockwise or up to down movement of the hand is in the opposite direction. It is often outgrown, and handwriting problems can be avoided by having them hold the pencil between index and middle fingers for a while, forcing the palm to turn downward.

Some feel that ADHD is an early marker for a later sociopathic personality type, but this hasn't really been fully worked out yet.

If this information helps you to teach older students to use tools more effectively, I'll be very glad.

Jun 9, 2015

report post

Kathy...Ignore any post by Bob Rose He's going to try and sell you on his reading program by calling it research. It's great that you have the students up and moving. My son is in IT. He has "tickets" that he has to follow to complete a job. He turns that ticket in at the end of a job. Can you do that with your ADD/ADHD students? You may have to break the jobs down to smal...See More

Jun 9, 2015

report post

coyoteboy There's an awesome book called "Picture This: Visuals and Rubrics to Teach Procedures, Save Your Voice, and Love Your Students" by Rick Smith, Grace Dearborn and Mary Lambert. They show how to make photo checklists and "how-to's" to visually show the kids the steps of a procedure, how to clean up, how their workspace should look...See More

Jun 9, 2015

report post

Kathy Johnson Thanks for the tips. I really like where you are going with the ticket idea. We have discussed something similar to that in our new teachers orientation but it sounds more plausible when put into a working context.

On 6/09/15, Kathy...Ignore any post by Bob Rose wrote: > > He's going to try and sell you on his reading program by >...See More

Jun 9, 2015

report post

Kathy Johnson Great information Coyoteboy, I really appreciate this information. I'll check it out. The more I learn about ADHD/ADD the more I can relate to my kids in class. Thanks so much for your input.

On 6/09/15, coyoteboy wrote: > There's an awesome book called "Picture This: Visuals and > Rubrics to Teach Procedures, Save Your Voice, a...See More