I am looking for good teaching techniques for students with ADD/ADHD, but have found that most, if not all resources are for classroom teachers. For 2 1/2 years I have been a “naturalist.” I am the one who takes on the groups of 12-15 students for 3-5 days when they go to “environmental camp” with their school. The majority of suggestions for working with ADD/ADHD have to do with hands on learning, fast pace, allowing the student to be physically active within their environment…all things that are inherant to outdoor education. Quite often students with learning disabilities and attention issues perform much better in the outdoor setting. Many times though, students will continue to have behavioral or attention issues even when they are outdoors. The reasons for this of course are varied. The student may be testing the boundaries of their new “teacher.” The outdoors provides numerous stimuli to distract the student. The student may be so excited about the activities and being outside that they have trouble controlling their behavior. Because they get to be away from home for a couple of days with their friends they do not feel like they are supposed to be learning. The long days (7:30am-9:30pm) wears them out. If I could pinpoint the exact reasons, I would not have to write this letter.
My first plan of action is to go to the chaperone and ask them how they deal or for their help. More often than not though, the chaperone is either not a teacher, or does not have the student in their class. Sometimes, unfortunately, the teacher feels that environmental camp is a vacation for them and they don’t want to help with discipline. Next I may try to pull the student/s aside to ask the student what helps them most when trying to focus / discuss consequenses for their behavioral problems. Before I even have to get to the consequense phase though, I like to change up my teaching technique to try adn grasp the student/s in another fashion.
I like to be proactive when dealing with students and would really appreciate and advise people may have.
Thanks,
Melissa
What a great post. If you haven’t found him already, I’d recommend Joe Cornell’s book as a good source of outdoor education activities that could work well with any student including ADD/ADHD.
When things don’t work well, I also try to change my teaching plan. No plan is the right plan for every single student though. I don’t find ‘discipline’ is what’s needed for the ADD/ADHD kid who falls out. I take those kids, indoors or out, and ask them to sit out. The chaperone who doesn’t want to ‘discipline’ can be told, not asked, that the child who isn’t going with the flow will be sitting with him/her for a while and welcome to rejoin the group when they feel they’re ready to better go with the flow.
As much as I want to include all students in the community of the experience, safety can never be an issue and I find when I teach out of doors it can be.
I tell them that and other things before hand. All the good issues you raised in your post are ones fairly raised before they step their foot out of doors. You can speak to the fact that some students sadly don’t see in the learning unless they’re sitting in straight rows in a room listening to a teacher drone on and on. (said that way it can get some of them thinking) You can speak to the fact that out of doors offers greater safety issues and so they need to respect those issues.
Such a talk encourages them to be as proactive as you clearly want to be.