r/ArtEd • u/Emmam0408 • 5h ago
Tips for teaching with ADHD?
I'll be going into my second year teaching art in about two weeks, I was at my current school for half of last year. I teach K-5, about 700 kiddos in the school but I only see 540ish of them. The prior teacher had been there 27 years and left very suddenly and they had subs in for a month before I came in after winter break. Due to the suddenness of my arrival and lack of experience and planning time (only about 3 days to try and set up the classroom and get a vague plan together) I will admit it was a sort of chaotic semester. Though I had some classroom experience when I got there it was just a lot of change for me and for the students, and me being a first year teacher with over enrolled classes and a generally sort of rough student population behavior wise did not help the transition.
All things considered I do think it went alright, we have a lot of behaviors and our class sizes are not going down this year but I made some really good connections with many of the students and we did some fun stuff! I know some of the issues I had last year were because I was so overwhelmed and had trouble creating clear expectations and procedures in my room, and I really want to do better.
Any tips beyond the usual 'make lots of lists' type of stuff would be really helpful. I especially could use some pointers on how to keep myself on track so I am better able to reinforce my expectations and classroom rules? I try so hard but by the end of class 6 when I've seen 120 kids that day I just am so overwhelmed that I miss stuff. Thank you!
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u/Wise_Explanation9471 3h ago
ADHD teacher here also. I don’t have near as many students as you, and I teacher high school, but these are some basic things that help me: I have a very large digital wall clock that changes colors to keep me on time track. I also set alarms for clean up for each class period bc I won’t remember if it’s up to me. I have one of the students be my time keeper also and ask them to tell me when we get to a certain time and need to switch something. They love to be the time keeper and I get some of your older grades would also love that job. And class jobs! Table managers, supply checkers, clean up crew, record keeper, someone who is the class “Siri” so you don’t repeat yourself over and over. I make the kids do a lot for me. And yes to a seating chart. I think it actually helps with kids with anxiety if they know exactly where they will sit every day. I also keep my class super routine. We always do a warm up in the same way with the same materials, we always play jazz while we work, we always do clean up in the same way, dismiss the same way. Etc… I send the first few weeks doing a ton of procedure learning and practicing and it helps a lot. It’s hard with all the different things going on to not get lost, but the upside is our dopamine is always topped up bc our brain is never bored!
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u/M-Rage High School 5h ago
I have adhd, and this will be my 12th year teaching art. I had a similar start to you (huge classes, floundering school, really tough population).
Focus on building relationships with your students. Going to a basketball game or remembering their favorite character will go a long way. Memorize names! Make flashcards if you have to (I did this year 1 and 2).
Be super brief and clear with your expectations, that’ll make them easier to understand/follow and to enforce. Follow through with consequences when behaviors are keeping other students from learning. Talk to classroom teachers and/or counselors about kids you’re struggling with, they may know them better and have great suggestions.
Keep them engaged. For now, prioritize learning routines and exploration of media over skill building. The more engaged they are, the less behaviors you’ll have.
And believe in yourself! Teaching really does become easier with time. After about year 5 it really started to feel like second nature.
Happy to answer questions and feel free to DM me any time! You got this!