Latin II, Mr. Cameron’s class was my first challenge in my
high school academic path. There was about seven of us in the class. Latin was
required when I went to the catholic high school so when I switched over to
Public HS they just put me in Latin II. I remember David P. turning around one
day in class and saying... “How did you get in this class?” His inflection was
clear, I wasn’t as smart as the others. I never forgot that.
At that time in my life, I was in charge of our house,
cleaning, cooking and working sometimes on school nights in the kitchen at my
dad’s bar. Not to mention the on going drama in my social life with my cheating
boyfriend. LOL ... There was not enough time for studying so a “C” and even my
first “D” reflected my little effort.
Throughout high school, I maintained a B average and managed
to graduate in top quarter of class. Still, my self-image was always poor. I
dropped out of college in 1971 because I believed my goal was unachievable and
out of reach. It took years of my perceptive husband Fred’s constant affirmations
and you can do this and then at last a turn around.
When I returned to college in 1981 to finish my last two
years I gave 100%. Like the scarecrow in Oz, I had a brain. As an education
major, the courses I took made me realize for the first time there were reasons
for my rough road in some courses besides the overall lack of effort. It became
very clear I had ADHD. I recognized some of the
clues in my Ed psych class. It was easy to see I was a tactile &
visual learner not auditory. Some call it “Right Brained”. The hands-on college
courses had me charged up. Gardner’s Seven Areas of Intelligence was
an inspiration and I vowed I would include all seven areas in my lessons. I
have kept that promise.
My colleagues see me as an “out of the box” creative
thinker. My style of dress has me a candidate for “What Not to Wear” wearing my
collection of “94” converse shoes. Yes, I play in my classroom; I make up for
the years of working in my youth when I color or dance with my students and my
50 marionettes. I embrace my nerdiness.
