Dear Parents:
I am very pleased to be your child's teacher this year, and I look forward
to working with both you and your child. Before beginning the year,
however, I want to give you some information that might help us both during
the coming months.
I am sure you are familiar with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Many
students today have to deal with this difficult disorder. I am very able
to empathize with them because I, too, suffer from ADD. I hope you will be
willing to make certain accommodations that will help me to be successful.
Please consider the following accommodations.
1) Use a variety of techniques to communicate with me about your child. I
may not remember to respond to a phone call, but repeated efforts by mail,
telegram, and fax are sure to elicit an eventual response. When you write
notes to me, consider using various colored markers to write your message.
These colors help me focus my attention.
2) Do not expect weekly progress reports on your child. Such reports
require organizational skills that are beyond the ability of ADD subjects.
3) Please excuse any errors I might make in grading your child's paper.
My attention wanders from time to time. I will be happy to re-grade papers
with more than five significant errors, although it may take me several
weeks to get to such papers. Understand that I only grade a small
percentage of my students' work so that I may be motivationally encouraged
and predisposed to comply with my task. I may occasionally mix up
students' grades. If you feel this has happened, please notify me (in the
manner suggest above). If I am able to discover where the error was made,
I will be happy to correct your child's grade.
4) Consider placing your child in one of my morning classes. I am much
better focused before 10 a.m. If your child is in an afternoon class, do
not be upset by the fact that one-half of our class time will be "free
time," due to the fact that I can only focus for short periods of time in
the afternoon. Instead, consider this time as an opportunity for
"independent study" for your child.
5) Be prepared to teach the novel "Lord of the Flies" and "David
Copperfield" to your student at home. Because I have problems with
temporal organization, I am frequently unable to reach these units by the
end of the year, and you may need to cover this required material yourself.
I will be happy to provide books and handouts.
6) Forgive me if I am late arriving for parent conferences. I sometimes
lose track of time. If I forget to come at all, do not hesitate to
reschedule by contacting me (in the manner suggested above).
7) When we meet for parent conferences, please remember to:
a) maintain proximity to me
b) establish eye contact
c) be concise
d) use an appropriate rate of speech
e) use visual aids (e.g., charts, pictures, etc.)
f) spell-out in writing all unfamiliar terms
g) provide notes of the conference for me
h) check frequently for understanding
Your effort to comply with these accommodations is greatly appreciated. I
know that together we will be able to create a rich and rewarding learning
experience for your child. If you have any questions or comments, please
feel free to contact me (in the manner suggested above).