teachers | ADHD Information

[QUOTE=ogram][QUOTE=annidagostini]

I am a teacher - I teach 4th grade at a charter school.

I have taught night classes also to adults.

I would love to teach at the university level.

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i don't mean to sound stupid (even though i am), but what is a charter school? I have seen this mentioned several times, but didn't have any thing to contribute to the threads i have seen it in, so i never asked.

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You're not stupid. Charter schools are fairly new. They are part of education reform as I see it. Parents and teachers alike can start a charter school.

Charter schools are schools of choice. They are still public schools and students attend free, but they are run more like a private school. You can have science charter schools, art charter schools, academic charter schools with advanced curriculum (mine is more like this). You choose to send your child there. They follow different guidelines than regular public school and write their own charters (kinda like a constitution) that dictates what they can and can't do in their school. They are their own district and so they have to act like a district and fullfill all the things districts do in addition to being a school. They receive less money than regular school per student and so they find money through grants, etc. A chater school usually has a principal and a couple of staff to help them. Some believe in smaller class sizes. Ours breaks up onto smaller groups for language arts and math. Parents volunteer a lot in a charter school.

They are free public schools but to get into them, you have to put your name into a lottery, unless there are not enough to sign up. This usually isn't the case - our school has a huge waiting list. Students from all over the area can attend as long as they have been drawn out of the lottery. The only exceptions to the lottery are the students of the founders of the schools and the teacher's children. They have priority. Oh, and siblings of students whose names have already been drawn have priority also.

The founders of each charter school control the curriculum, which is why I like charter schools. Our charter school uses Saxon math, which is a traditional math program - my daughter and son used this program in a private school I taught at for a couple of years and now they are in the highest math groups. My daughter was one of two 7th graders in the 9th grade program.

I like charter schools because the parents and teachers can be in charge of the curriculum of their school. Our particular charter school scored the highest in our area in the state testing that is required of all schools. And we have only been open for 1 year and a half. We must be doing something right. !!

Here is a link for charter schools if you are interested in starting one in your area. It is a lot of hard work, but it is worth it! You could even start one that caters to ADD and ADHD students!! If your charter gets accepted by a state charter board, you could do it!!!

http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/index.htm

I find it a wonderful alternative way to educate our childrn without having to pay the high price of a private education.

annidagostini38802.6077893519good info. thanks. I'm going to look it up. our town is so small i don't think it would work here. But, I'm going to look into it a talk to some of my friends. I really appreciate it, Lots of good info.I am wondering how many of you all are teachers. I know there are lot that are, but I'm wondering how many are.I put I am, even though I no longer am, because "used to be but not anymore" wasn't an option . I didn't know there were a lot of teachers on the board! How come you guys aren't posting in the education section?man, i should have put that as an option. hind sight is always 20/20hey Lilian, I didn't know you use to be a teacher! Cool! I was an aide until my son went to IS 6 years ago. I put I wasn't a teacher or aide. Though basically, I WAS an Aide, and I am now teaching my son! poodledoodles38800.3771412037

[QUOTE=poodledoodles]hey Lilian, I didn't know you use to be a teacher! [/QUOTE]

Yep. I was an English tutor for the university I attended, a teacher's aide, a substitute teacher, and a teacher. I just completed my Masters of Counseling, with an emphasis on SPED counseling, but I haven't tried very hard to get a job. I haven't worked outside the home since adopting my son four years ago, though I have studied for my Masters during that time. I plan to go back to work full time during the next school year.

That's great! You will be able to help sooo many more kids the way you help all of us!

I'm not a teacher but really wishing I had become one way back when. If I'd only known back then what I know now. I would be in a better position to help my sons today.

I was a teacher also...Special Ed Mental Retardation and Transition....I have worked in both the SPED classroom and the University classroom with teacher training

Now that I have a child with ADHD I wish I had more of a milder focus when I took classes and conducted research. Although ADHD does occur within the MR population, it is not the primary area of concern. AT the time I was more interested in inclusion and person centered planning. Too bad I could not see into the future .

I am not sure when I wll go back to work, I have a toddler at home so I would like to wait until she gets to Kindergarten...I do keep up the the latest in my field, I take classes and keep my certification current.

POHI here and was almost finished with my masters in LD when i had my firstborn. fortunately, i had enough credits to obtain my provisional so i don't necessarily need to go back but i would like to finish off the LD certification...

i was all ready to go to back to work (sub in my kid's school district) when i found out i was having baby #3

! so, it went on the back burner and now i'm homeschooling my adhd son! lovin' it but don't know if i'll ever get back to a "paying" job

i'm curious ogram, why do you ask?

No place to put "I used to teach". Sigh.

I actually loved teaching but was awful at it (at least more than one-on-one).

I taught adults accounting (ugh), spreadsheets, etc. I enjoyed it but it was frustrating and always felt like I let them down somehow. Taught kids' computer camp on a contract with local community college too. I slacked and they let me go. But the kids were special and so awesome.

If I had no ADHD I'd be a teacher. As I am it would be a disservice. But I can teach as a tutor still if I wish. There - I shine!! Very few can tutor math as I did. One kid went from failing to Bs. I never did get paid. Well it was 1986 so I strongly doubt I ever will - but oh well. LOL!

Definitely one of the best memories I have - never would I take that part of life away no matter how I goofed it up.

I work as A Preschool Assistant. I like Montessori and want to take the training because I feel that is my style working with young children. I love it, and cannot imagine doing anything else. It allows me to be creative and to enjoy children's sense of wonder and their love for the natural beauty. I wish I had taken the time earlier to have gotten my education. I raised my three children and found this niche much later in my life. I enjoy the challenge of working with children with ADD and other issues because I understand the boing- boing so well and there is so much they teach me in return.

Glen, maybe you would like to work in a tutoring center like Sylvan. That is a learning center in my area. It is a private business that tutors kids in different areas. Anyone can enroll their children in it. Maybe there is a similar one in your area. So....There are teachers out there who don't want to fess up to being teachers? Uh, huh. There's five "I am a teacher" but not that many people responding below. Now why is that

? Who are you? What do you teach? Come on, tell us, don't be afraid

.lillian38801.4519444444

[QUOTE=lillian]So....There are teachers out there who don't want to fess up to being teachers? Uh, huh. There's five "I am a teacher" but not that many people responding below. Now why is that ? Who are you? What do you teach? Come on, tell us, don't be afraid .[/QUOTE]

man, i didn't even notice that. lol that's funny. i know there are alot of people that don't like to give a lot of personal info, but teaching is a good thing, right? Heck, it takes a special, caring, loving, and concerned person to be able to teach longer than 2 years. I know I would never be able to do it.

I think you teachers are great, over worked, and underpaid by about ,000. Look at what you all do. You are teaching the future leaders of our countries!

.IMac38943.8614583333 unless they have pursued a teaching degree, no ots are teachers-at least in my area. many ots work in the schools but are considered xtra services same as sp/lang paths are.

fyi, pohi stands for physically or otherwise health impaired. i'm surprised you've never heard of it. it's what most other learning problems (including autism, head injury and adhd) USED to be placed. now, there's more differentiation between the categories. lillian would be a great one to better explain this to you. oh lillian...
kppy38801.4135532407

Am one, love it and wouldn't change it....would only change the way things are done!

LOL, ok I'm chiming in! I teach Spanish in the elementary school! Perfect job for an ADDer.. I see different students every day, and there is no time to zone out, cause I change classes every hour with no down time!

Sherry

just curious. i see alot of people on here, and i never can remember if they are teachers or stay at home moms. So i figured if there was a poll and some might feel comfortable enough to tell us a little bit about their profession, it might be good for "parent teacher interaction" advice in the future.

I am a teacher - I teach 4th grade at a charter school.

I have taught night classes also to adults.

I would love to teach at the university level.

[QUOTE=annidagostini]

I am a teacher - I teach 4th grade at a charter school.

I have taught night classes also to adults.

I would love to teach at the university level.

[/QUOTE]

Before I had my own three kids I worked as a teacher of Deaf and Hard of Hearing kids mostly upper elementary and Deaf MultiHandicapped aged 14-22 which was a lot of fun too. Along with deafness were a mixed bag of many other conditions (blind, adhd, LD, CP, MR, autistic behavior hmmm what else?)

Since I am a sign language interpreter now at the 9th grade level, I put teacher's aide. It is an interesting perspective being an experienced teacher in a class yet having no input about what occurs and everyone knows that what is said or occurs in the classroom stays there due to confidentiality.

Anyway, I didn't know what to put either, so I put teacher's aide.

[QUOTE=IMac] [QUOTE=kppy]POHI here
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This is the first time I've heard of POHI. I found this site: http://www.aquinas.edu/education/certification/pohi.html

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well i guess you don't know everything, imac

keep stalking, i mean searching imac.

.IMac38943.8592476852 [QUOTE=IMac] [QUOTE=kppy] [QUOTE=IMac] [QUOTE=kppy]POHI here
[/QUOTE]

This is the first time I've heard of POHI. I found this site: http://www.aquinas.edu/education/certification/pohi.html

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well i guess you don't know everything, imac

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I found this concept interesting because I've never met a teacher who was also an occupational therapist. In our district, OTs are contracted out because they are not teachers. It makes more sense to have both qualifications.
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??? not sure what you are getting at. occupational therapist/teacher? is that what you are?
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