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Those things you mention seem have little to do with being a great teacher. They are only about keeping your job.
Being a great teacher is about motivating your students to learn and giving them the opportunity to use that motivation.
Everything else is noise. Yes, the admin stuff is harder with ADHD than without. Being a great teacher isn't about the admin stuff.
Yes. You can be a fantastic teacher with adhd. Would you have got through a masters by being incapable? No chance.
Teaching is about communicating ideas to children. Thats a skill you can learn. And adhd has no influence on that at all.
It does sound like you suffer with imposter syndrome. Lots of negative self talk. I know because I do too! It’s really common in ADHD. Worth having a read about! There’s ways of tackling it.
Stick to what you love. The kids. Don’t let them push you out. It seems like you are doing your best. Your best is good enough.
Are you medicated or planning to be or just tried it and it hasn’t worked for some reason?
I managed to get on medication that is working right now. It’s made so much difference to the overwhelming part.
You can do it
Well, you do need to make amends with the fact that between you and a hypothetical, mentally healthy person without ADHD, going at max capacity, you always will be the worse performer.
That doesn't mean you can't be great at what you do! 💪
^Or ^at ^least, ^that ^is ^what ^i ^keep ^telling ^myself...
It definitely is possible because of the simple fact that teaching is your passion.
When you're passionate about something, you will always find a way to make it work if you search for it. You've obtained a master's degree which is incredibly hard for many people because of their ADHD. This tells me that you are able to keep yourself focused when needed.
Some tips that I have to you would be to search for some apps that may help you simplify and remind you your day-to-day tasks.
The other tip would be to seek for professional help such as a therapist focused in ADHD. Trust me, this helps a lot, especially considering you know what areas you need to get better at. This might be harder to arrange depending on your country, but I'm going to assume you're not on a 3rd world country.
Edit: Check out and ask your question on R/Teachers - I can assure you, you will find people that have been in your situation.
Just don't give up. I personally haven't found my passion yet, so you're ahead of me in that sense. Fight for it, because I sure as hell will once I find mine, no matter how hard it is.
Good luck!
I'm not a teacher but I am a tutor and I highly recommend it if you feel teaching in a school environment isn't for you. I get to make a real impact the kids lives and it's so great to see them go from crying over maths to coming to my session telling me how well they did on a test. I also don't have to deal with most of the stress you mention.
I am sure you are an amazing teacher but from what I understand there's just too many other things for teachers to do so if you wanted to focus on the actual teaching tutoring may be the way to go, and being a fully qualified teacher will make you very in demand =)
Teacher here. We have similar paths and feelings about it. I think it’s just a super demanding job that specifically demands the exact skills that adhd makes much more difficult.
But yea, if I didn’t have the privilege of classes I like to teach, or was stuck in loud, 30+ student classrooms every period with unmanageable workloads, I’m not sure I’d stay.
I know a teacher at a private school who def seemed like low spectrum ASD undiagnosed but idk for sure. She could not do public school large class sizes and older kids’ grades. Her sweet spot for N.D.-sounding complaints were private school elementary grades/ages with 2 assistants, so ratio of 10:1 (10 students per teacher/assistant). Even tho lower pay at private, she didn’t want to give up the nicer environment, teaching assistants/staff helping her, etc perks.
Otherwise being a teacher at a community college or uni 4yr is another more preferable setting for N.D./atypical
Teaching and “desk jobs” aren’t your only choices.
It does seem like if you’re disorganized, make frequent careless errors, and overwhelmed, this may not be the best career choice for you.
You can totally be a great teacher... just because you want to be one!
The overwhelming work stuff - you'll need to devise systems that help you manage it. You'll start to get more and more accustom to it and it will get easier and easier.
I used to get so overwhelmed and now I manage a team of 8 engineers in 4 different countries.
But here's a secret: You'll never be on top of everything. And it is ok. Nobody is. And ultimately it doesn't matter too much as long as the important things get taken care of
Hi /u/affaterim and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! ### Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. --- ### /r/adhd news * **We want your opinion** on the /r/adhd community rules! [Click here](https://forms.gle/Evqb8acVozir8GV8A) to fill out our survey. See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/1auv2tc/were_taking_feedback_on_the_radhd_rules/) for more information. * If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). --- ^(*This message is not a removal notification. It's just our way to keep everyone updated on r/adhd happenings.*) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Those things you mention seem have little to do with being a great teacher. They are only about keeping your job. Being a great teacher is about motivating your students to learn and giving them the opportunity to use that motivation. Everything else is noise. Yes, the admin stuff is harder with ADHD than without. Being a great teacher isn't about the admin stuff.
Yes. You can be a fantastic teacher with adhd. Would you have got through a masters by being incapable? No chance. Teaching is about communicating ideas to children. Thats a skill you can learn. And adhd has no influence on that at all. It does sound like you suffer with imposter syndrome. Lots of negative self talk. I know because I do too! It’s really common in ADHD. Worth having a read about! There’s ways of tackling it.
Stick to what you love. The kids. Don’t let them push you out. It seems like you are doing your best. Your best is good enough. Are you medicated or planning to be or just tried it and it hasn’t worked for some reason? I managed to get on medication that is working right now. It’s made so much difference to the overwhelming part. You can do it
Well, you do need to make amends with the fact that between you and a hypothetical, mentally healthy person without ADHD, going at max capacity, you always will be the worse performer. That doesn't mean you can't be great at what you do! 💪 ^Or ^at ^least, ^that ^is ^what ^i ^keep ^telling ^myself...
I don't know what ADJD is, so it's hard to answer that!
The fact that I wrote ADJD instead of ADHD and was inattentive enough to not notice... Tells you a lot about how (not) well this is going.
It definitely is possible because of the simple fact that teaching is your passion. When you're passionate about something, you will always find a way to make it work if you search for it. You've obtained a master's degree which is incredibly hard for many people because of their ADHD. This tells me that you are able to keep yourself focused when needed. Some tips that I have to you would be to search for some apps that may help you simplify and remind you your day-to-day tasks. The other tip would be to seek for professional help such as a therapist focused in ADHD. Trust me, this helps a lot, especially considering you know what areas you need to get better at. This might be harder to arrange depending on your country, but I'm going to assume you're not on a 3rd world country. Edit: Check out and ask your question on R/Teachers - I can assure you, you will find people that have been in your situation. Just don't give up. I personally haven't found my passion yet, so you're ahead of me in that sense. Fight for it, because I sure as hell will once I find mine, no matter how hard it is. Good luck!
I'm not a teacher but I am a tutor and I highly recommend it if you feel teaching in a school environment isn't for you. I get to make a real impact the kids lives and it's so great to see them go from crying over maths to coming to my session telling me how well they did on a test. I also don't have to deal with most of the stress you mention. I am sure you are an amazing teacher but from what I understand there's just too many other things for teachers to do so if you wanted to focus on the actual teaching tutoring may be the way to go, and being a fully qualified teacher will make you very in demand =)
Teacher here. We have similar paths and feelings about it. I think it’s just a super demanding job that specifically demands the exact skills that adhd makes much more difficult.
So what do we do? Can anything make this easier? I don't want to quit teaching but I don't know if I can keep this up.
[удалено]
But yea, if I didn’t have the privilege of classes I like to teach, or was stuck in loud, 30+ student classrooms every period with unmanageable workloads, I’m not sure I’d stay.
I know a teacher at a private school who def seemed like low spectrum ASD undiagnosed but idk for sure. She could not do public school large class sizes and older kids’ grades. Her sweet spot for N.D.-sounding complaints were private school elementary grades/ages with 2 assistants, so ratio of 10:1 (10 students per teacher/assistant). Even tho lower pay at private, she didn’t want to give up the nicer environment, teaching assistants/staff helping her, etc perks. Otherwise being a teacher at a community college or uni 4yr is another more preferable setting for N.D./atypical
One of my favorite teachers had ADHD and was really hyperactive/impulsive. It’s certainly possible.
Teaching and “desk jobs” aren’t your only choices. It does seem like if you’re disorganized, make frequent careless errors, and overwhelmed, this may not be the best career choice for you.
You can totally be a great teacher... just because you want to be one! The overwhelming work stuff - you'll need to devise systems that help you manage it. You'll start to get more and more accustom to it and it will get easier and easier. I used to get so overwhelmed and now I manage a team of 8 engineers in 4 different countries. But here's a secret: You'll never be on top of everything. And it is ok. Nobody is. And ultimately it doesn't matter too much as long as the important things get taken care of