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Please check out my business website here to get the latest information about tutoring services.
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This site is no longer being updated.
Please check out my business website here to get the latest information about tutoring services.
I look forward to hearing from you!
In my post The Force is Strong in This One, I explained there are two sides to my AD/HD superpowers. Both sides were on full display in the past 24 hours: I lost my keys, then I used The Force to retrieve them. Let’s set the scene:
Beautifully sunny day. Busy sidewalk in Downtown Brooklyn. Ventilation shaft in sidewalk covered by 5’x5’ metal grate. Beth’s keys at the bottom of shaft, about 20-30 feet underground. The key to my safe is down there, and I have no spare.
Having no interest in spending the time and money involved in getting professionals to help me solve this problem, I took matters into my own hands:
How to Retrieve Keys from a Deep Hole
Part One
Problem-Solving Time: 30 minutes
Part Two
Total Problem-Solving Time: 15 minutes
I kid you not. Fifteen minutes, folks. Who says people with AD/HD are bad at planning?
This school year I am a private tutor here in fair Brooklyn, traveling on my bike between clients’ homes when the weather is nice. (Yes, it’s dreamy.) It usually goes quite smoothly…until early last evening, when I dropped my keys through a grate and into an Alice-in-Wonderland hole about two stories deep. I’m standing there in the dark, bike still locked to a railing, 15 minutes from my next session, listening to my life tink-tink-tink its way into a distinctly different Monday night.
Apparently my efforts to build an ADHD-proof single woman’s existence came in handy as I attempted to remedy this problem. Simply follow these steps should you or a friend ever encounter such a situation:
How to Lose Your Keys
Total problem-solving time: 40 minutes
Because when you are wired for disaster, you anticipate disaster, baby!
Well, folks, it looks like Secretary DeVos is having a hard time getting her head around the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Hey, we’re all been there, right? That’s why I created these handy dandy postcards for us to send along in support. Feel free to share, print and send away! Don’t forget:
This month, I packed 16 years of traditional teaching in four boxes and brought them into my home. They are still there. Like a threat. I can’t unpack them.
Student: Beth, what did you say you have again? OCD?
Beth: Nope! Though I understand your confusion. I have AD/HD.
Student: Huh? But you’re not all, “Blaaaah!!!”
[flaps arms, runs in a small circle with tongue wagging]
Beth: That’s not what hyperactivity looks like in everyone.
[student accurately senses a lecture, flees to his next class]
This past month, I took the state exam that would officially allow me to teach students with disabilities. This is huge news for several reasons: Continue reading
On my commute home tonight, “How was school today?” was taken to another level. Through a series of question and answers, a son explained to his father that he joined the “Identity Exploration” group during his affinity group class. He said, “That’s where kids who aren’t sure about how they self-identify yet and can learn more about it. I mean, on one hand, it’s easy because I’m Jewish. I know I’m not going to join the Christian group, but what about sexuality and other identities? I’d like to know more about those so I’m going to explore.”
Yup. Tears of joy all the way home. We’re getting there, folks.
My previous post pointed out the dearth of time dedicated to educational planning for students with learning disabilities, prompted by Tracy Thompson’s piece in the Atlantic, The Special Education Charade. The article spoke many unfortunate truths, however the words that rattled me most were those in the commentary below it: