Yesterday marked my first day of observing in a grade school classroom. As someone who has wanted to be an elementary teacher for nearly all of my life, I was quite excited. While I was talking to the teacher I was assigned to, she informed me that her group of students this year were not the best behaved group of kids she has ever had. I appreciated her honesty, though I thought it was a bit unprofessional to say to a prospective future teacher on her first day and I became afraid that her teaching methods would reflect the frustration she had with her class this year.
However, I was very pleased to find that she taught very enthusiastically and with kind-not-cruel methods of punishment. Though there were clear frontrunners and late bloomers, she treated all of them with the kind of fondness that no all people would use with these kids.
I had a few comments on some of the kids who seemed somewhere in the middle. A skinny little girl sat in the corner of the room that seemed very smart but shy. The teacher informed me that she is very smart but she has ADD. A young boy in the middle of the room seemed very smart but a bit of a class clown or troublemaker type. The teacher informed me that he is a gifted child but also has ADD and, because he was born with a hole in his heart, he would never be able to take anything for it. Also, she said that it was a good thing that he is gifted because, otherwise, he may not have been allowed in a regular classroom for being disruptive.
Out of 39 children, 15 in total had ADD. I find that very sad and things like this make me wonder if ADD is just an excuse, a real epidemic, or misdiagnosed. What do you think?
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To be honest, I dont know the truth if it is misdiagnosed or just a real epidemic. Perhaps those five kids had parents who took them to doctors who loved diagnosing ADD. As for my expereince with kids, I think they all have ADD lol. They don't like to pay attention and are usually hyper. Sounds like a normal kid. Maybe it is people thinking to hardly about a kids' behavior!!!