School Days | ADHD Information

All through grade school I was labeled "daydreamer"  I had alot of unfinished assignments. First grade was probably the absolute worst for me, I too had the teacher from hell.

I was very unorganized (and actually still am) and had the messy desk to prove it.  About 5 minutes before the buses came to take us home the teacher, we'll call her Miss Satana, thought it would be wonderful fun to dump my desk on the floor in front of the whole class and inform me that I would not be going home until the mess was cleaned up. Needless to say I was quite upset over this. I was finally able to leave the room and made the bus just as it was about to pull away. I never said anything about it to my parents because I felt I would be punished by them as well.

Fast foreward to 5th grade, still having trouble completing assignments (imagine that) and as stated previously in the thread I too had a very hard time memorizing the times table. This teacher had me sit alone doing absloutly nothing for an entire week, I suppose her logic was if I wasn't going to do anything why give me anything to do. I was sent to an empty room to sit alone during movies and other class activities and was sent to spend a day in a 4th grade class while all the 5th grade classes went on a field trip. When she realized i hadn't memorized the times table I was isolated once more and forced to use headphones and a record player listening to recordings of someone repeating the times table over and over. As most of you can imagine this didn't work all too well.

I did have some teachers that were very good and didn't go out of their way to humiliate their students, but I'll never be able to forget the ones that did.

The bad teachers just didn't seem to want to deal with difficult students.

MISSUNDERSTOOD????? that's an understatement

Graduation? Was I really supossed to go to that? I went to Maine to visit my aunt and cousins for 2 wks and "broke my moms heart". b/c she told me "you can never go back and live those yrs. again". I looked at her in disbelief and b/c I would be 18 in a few days, I though I had earned the right to tell her in MY own words what I though of my life in HELL! Use your imagination here y'all. Just one hint, f**k was used alot. Had a blast in Maine. Coulden't do that at grad night.

My yearbook I still have. Gypsy, I can still remember some of the stuff that pple wrote. Cute little poems, how much I'll be missed( I guess so, b/c now they will have to find someone else to make their life a living hell) I have to agree with you. Lies, Lies, f**kin' lies!

Class reunion? Now thats something I would never attend! And you have to pay to go to the stupid things! Now I would love to be a fly on the wall, just observing and probably finding out that some of those mean pple that thought they were hot sh*t, are now just "cold turds".  Before I start saying some really NASTY stuff, I'll stop here b/c we all know WE'RE SPECIAL, INTELLIGENT, but MISSUNDERSTOOD

I was so glad I was the oldest of us kids, u see I hated school and they hated me too!  said i was stupid,  But then my mother would get pregnant and she always had complications, so I would stay home and watch the other kids,  then i would be back in school and my mother would get pregnant again,  YES! I would say tomyself, thank god!

So to this day I tell people I didnt finish school cuz mum was always pregnant and I had to look after the kids,  good cop out, but it worked.

So that is why today I am so special!!!!!   mother's fault!

This one's my most vivid memory (those who've visited my website may have seen it):

“The trouble with you, Goode, is that you're just bone bloody idle” screamed the teacher in an apoplectic rage, “and you don't give a damn about anything!”  I could see a vein pulsing in his temple, his face mere inches from my own. “Well?” he shrieked, spittle flying,”What have you got to say for yourself?”  The class was in complete silence - nobody had seen a teacher that furious before, and all eyes were on me.  I was in trouble, and I knew it.  I also had a fart brewing, and thought it would be a giggle if I could squeeze it out at that moment… I couldn’t resist… parrrppp - and then the class erupted in laughter.  The teacher, however, did not laugh, and in my peripheral vision I saw the blow coming.  This one was going to hurt… 

(I've just cut and pasted it - I'm far too idle to type it again)

Mark -

Is that why the font is so tiny, teeny, Mark? I had to go get my glasses again. Boy, what teachers used to get away with.

[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn] Boy, what teachers used to get away with. [/QUOTE]

That teacher was a priest too.  I promised myself that one day I would be the strong one, and he would be old and feeble - and I would return the blow to see how he liked it.

But I'm not that sort of chap.

Mark -

Mark Goode38411.669212963Mark, maybe you should have cut your hair. Just kidding.    Although I do like it better how you keep it these days.

[QUOTE=bcgirl1978]....I started a nasty habit of not always doing my homework. I guess I thought it was the same stuff I did in class, why did I have to do it at home too? I also noticed that my parents never seemed to bring homework home from their jobs -- it wasn't fair. Sometimes I just accidentally left it at school. I had to stay after school often to make up....

I remember about the 9th grade or so -  I didn't do my English homework a few times, and one day the teacher told me off in front of the whole class. I cried again. Fourteen years old and crying in front of the whole class!

I know there was more, but I've probably blocked it out. School was a living nightmare for me, even though my grades were good. I was painfully shy, took everything to heart, and had very few, or no, friends. I thought the world was out to get me back in those days.
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GOSH, ALL OF THAT SOUNDS JUST LIKE ME!! I was a total crybaby all the way up to high school.  i just don't know how many times I remember my dad telling my I have to learn to "toughen up!" when i came home and told him about the latest disaster at school.  I let everthing just get under my skin and my feelings were just so easily hurt!!

by the time I got to high school i had come to accept the fact that I would not make good grades an my "uninteresting" classes no matter how hard I tried, and I just didn't give a crap anymore, and I was just a big huge clown; i amused all my classmates and made more friends cuz i used to be so quiet, and all of a sudden, to people i could trust, i was just a big clown in school; my classmates liked the unexpected..  So I made it through high school with less stress, but DEFINITELY NOT better grades

And I think there is a lot of stuff I blocked out also! As I mentioned earlier, my mom always told me that my symptoms started when I was in the 5th grade, but that's why I wanted to know you guy's experiences, because reading them reminded me of stuff that I have long since blocked out for years, and is making me more aware of the fact that I had symptoms and ADD issues long before the 5th grade.  my grades were all honor roll, but after 5th grade, they just went to the toilet....

You guys, tell me about some of your ordeals that you had to go through when you were in school.

I was talking about something that happen to me in the "misinterpreted" thread, and it made me realize something.

I always thought that my first sypmtoms of ADD showed up when I was in the 5th grade when I got my first "F" on my report card, but after talking to you guys, and reminiscing about stuff, i realize that my first symptoms really probably started showing up when I was actually in the 1st grade.

Even though I made all A's and B's all the way up to the 4th grade, I had a bad teacher in the 1st grade, that was not willing to work with me, and was not very nice to me, was sort of intolerant and teasing of my little add tendencies, and it got to the point that I remember crying each and every day all the way to school, at day at school, and all the way home, ALL THROUGH THE 1ST GRADE, EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

What kind of experiences do you guys remember having at school??

[QUOTE=sonya_h]

people are mean.   I am reminded of my first grade teacher.  when I was really young in 1st grade, I would always miss the assignment and everytime the class would start taking out peices of paper and books and pencils, I would ask my friend sitting next to me what we were doing, and she would always tell me and I would just do it; no problem. made A's.

then one day, my teacher got tired of it, and she told my friend not to tell me what we were doing anymore.  She had this nervous look on her face when I asked her, and she started looking at the teacher, that's how i figured out the teacher told her not to tell me.  So i just sat there not knowing what to do, with my head buried into my arms on my desk out of embarassment; made a bad grade...WHAT WAS THE POINT??

And then one day, me and my cute little first grade ADD self, stuck my pencil in my hair for a minute, and then forgot where I put it.  I looked and looked and looked and LOOKED for my pencil, and I could not find it.  then the teacher gave an assignment, and I raised my hand and told her i lost my pencil.  I did not  know it then, but looking back on it I realized, she saw my pencil sticking in my hair, and then she snickered and told me, point blank, (a first grader, mind you) that she was not going to help me find my pencil, and that she was not going to tell me where it was and she walked away.  I was moved almost to tears.  but I continued my search while the rest of the class did the assignment.  and almost when it was time to go home is when I found my pencil.

[/QUOTE]I had the same teacher for kindergarten, grade 1, and then again for grade 3 (small town, small school). I remember being sent to the corner countless times because I just would NOT sit still at my desk. But I don't ever really remember getting yelled at, or scolded, because she liked me so much. I did very well grade-wise, and I in no other way disrupted the class.

One day though, in the 3rd grade, she caught me cheating on a test - it was the multiplication table and I remember I was having a very hard time trying to memorize it. It was the only time I ever cheated. She made me stand up in front of the whole class and apologize. I was mortified. I cried my little eyes out. I was so angry at myself that I didn't spend more time trying to memorize that stupid table.

As I got a bit older, I started a nasty habit of not always doing my homework. I guess I thought it was the same stuff I did in class, why did I have to do it at home too? I also noticed that my parents never seemed to bring homework home from their jobs -- it wasn't fair. Sometimes I just accidentally left it at school. I had to stay after school often to make up. One particular teacher (I think it was the 5th or 6th grade) told me that when she was a little girl, she would have gotten the strap for not doing her homework. She said if I kept it up, the principal wouldn't hesitate to do so to me. Imagine! This was the late 80s - obviously the hag was just trying to scare me, and I knew it - but she made me cry nonetheless.

I remember about the 9th grade or so -  I didn't do my English homework a few times, and one day the teacher told me off in front of the whole class. I cried again. Fourteen years old and crying in front of the whole class!

I know there was more, but I've probably blocked it out. School was a living nightmare for me, even though my grades were good. I was painfully shy, took everything to heart, and had very few, or no, friends. I thought the world was out to get me back in those days.
Sonya...I cried all the way through grammar school, high school, and right up until I was put on antidepressants, and now I can' cry at all!

I had same teacher in the 1st and 2nd grade (lucky her) and she put tape on my mouth once or twice. But I was also teacher's pet.   

My worst problems were with my peers. There's a past thread about stuff like this, but it's always good to fire it up again. I was a very unhappy little girl, who smiled a lot and laughed, and never understood why they didn't like me.

They used to tell me that my schooldays would be the best days of my life.

But school was Hell on Earth.

Mark -

Too bad you and I didn't live near each other growing up, we'd probably be the best of friends. Better late than never.

I didn't have any "real" friends either. At leat I had 14 cousins who lived near me. And we were all close. Family, yeah. And when I did make "friends" they were with those who nobody else liked, which I didn't mind, cuz I felt sorry for them. I mean that's not why I befriended them, but because I understood them. Even in the 50s, if you were even a little overweight and not so pretty....oh, kids can be soooo mean.

I don't think I want to think about that today. Trying to feel good today with a terrible headache.    [QUOTE=Mark Goode]

They used to tell me that my schooldays would be the best days of my life.

But school was Hell on Earth.

Mark -

[/QUOTE]



I was told the same thing, countless times. I thought DAMN, if this is as good as it gets, then I don't want to see what's coming.
[QUOTE]I think it is really amazing that you all can remember your 1st and 3rd grade teachers. I have virtually no memories of grade school, and I don't recall anything about lessons or about my teachers until my high school years.[/QUOTE]

Boggled, hence your name? Anyway, I only started remembering things like my teachers' names, etc., after I stopped drinking 12 years ago. I still find myself remembering things I had forgotten.

Sonya...yes, AMEN, to never seeing them again! I don't suppose you ever went to a class reunion ? I lost my senior yearbook (think I loaned it out and never got it back). The only reason I miss it, is to read all the lies written in it.

Somewhere, don't know if it was in this subject or not, I read that someone was very forgiving. I still forgive and forget very quickly...which doesn't help when the person(s) I've forgiven HASN'T -- and I can't figure out why they still ignore me. Life's too short.

i think a lot of us tend to just block the most embarassing, traumatic things of our lives out as children...

my best friend can remember all the little stupid, sensitive, extra-childish stuff I would do when we played when we were little, the stuff that I didn't like that she did that I was embarrassed over, things I would have rather forgotten anyway, and I cant' remember any of it at all.

I think that there are even more things that I blocked than I realize......

[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]I don't suppose you ever went to a class reunion ? I lost my senior yearbook (think I loaned it out and never got it back). The only reason I miss it, is to read all the lies written in it. .[/QUOTE]

well, i'm from the class of 99, so we have not been out long enough to have a class reunion, i don't think......

but i am reminded of one good message someone who had a crush on me signed in my yearbook....

it said: "i will always remember you as the sleeping beauty who slumbered in the back of mr. adam's geometry class......."

 

Mark,

Ya gotta write a book about all of this. It would be a best seller! No Joke!

[QUOTE=chocoholic]Thank God it is all over
[/QUOTE]

AMEN TO THAT!!  on graduation night, all of my class mates were crying and hugging cuz it was over, and they would not really see each other anymore...

I WAS DANCING AND CELEBRATING!!! 

I think it is really amazing that you all can remember your 1st and 3rd grade teachers.  I have virtually no memories of grade school, and I don't recall anything about lessons or about my teachers until my high school years.  I do remember non-school related stuff from those early years, like playing with my friends...hmmmmm, am I blocking something out? Maybe it is just as well Oh boy, I dont even think I want to mentally relive my grade school years, they were so awful. I used to come home crying every day telling my mom I hated her (I didnt hate her, I was just miserable and didnt know at that age how to express it).

I couldnt sit still or not talk, and when you go to a little school in the southeastern US back in the 70's that's a bad bad thing. You were supposed to sit silently, not move, and answer only when spoken to (and then with a 'yes ma'am' or "no ma'am, Mrs. So and So") I'm sure you can imagine the trouble I was always in.

Thank God it is all over