Tips for teachers with ADHD
In this video, Deiera Bennett reminds us that students aren't the only ones who have to learn to cope with ADHD - there are plenty of teachers, too. It's good for teachers to be honest with their students when they struggle and model techniques for them, such as breaking large projects into smaller tasks.
Transcript
Teachers with ADHD need support too. Sometimes it seems like teachers and parents with ADHD are expected to just have it all together, um, but they're dealing with executive functioning challenges as well. So if you fit into this category, here are some things that can help.
One, use timers to stay on track. If timers stress you out, you can also create a playlist of songs, you know, maybe like 10 minutes of songs, and use that as your timer instead. Two, use templates for things like parent communication so you aren't starting from scratch every single time. Three, this is a big one, build movement into the day whenever possible. This is also good for the students, so try to build it into the daily routine.
Four, keep a brain dump document or paper taped to your desk so that you can get your thoughts and ideas out when you have them and revisit them later versus trying to just remember everything. Um, something else you can do is break large projects into smaller tasks. And, you know, that's something that a lot of students have accommodations for. But as the adult, sometimes you need to make those accommodations for yourself as well. And so for example, if you need to grade all of these essays, break that down into smaller tasks and maybe just grade the essays for, you know, five kids at a time.
Um, also, don't underestimate your students. Teaching can be exhausting, and trying to mask on top of that sounds extremely draining. Many students appreciate seeing an adult who understands what it's like to think differently. It can make you more relatable, and it also shows them the importance of working with how your brain works rather than fighting against it.So, you know, it's fine to explain that you, you know, do these movement breaks and the reason why. It, you know, maybe it's to get energy out or to... for emotional regulation purposes. It's fine to share with them, you know, the brain dump document idea because they have a lot of thoughts to get out as well.
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