Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/45361
ABOVE: Despite having ADHD, Marshall Zaun was named Teacher of the Year at Endeavor Middle School in Lancaster, where he teaches computer skills to students Alyssa Mielke (left) and Daniel Zarasua. LIVING WITH ADD/ADHD Individuals can have the condition and be very successful in life. Just ask Marshall Zaun, former Teacher of the Year at Endeavor Middle School in Lancaster. The 42-year-old computer teacher was not diagnosed or treated as a child because the condition was not recognized in those days. Students were considered to be "fidgety" or behaving badly. "I didn't sit through class well, and I don't sit through meet- ings well now, because I'm tapping my fingers and fidgety," says Zaun, a member of the Teachers Association of Lancaster. "I can hold my own now, but as a kid I was on the hyperactive side. I had to keep busy or I became a royal pain. My teachers were always telling me to go run a lap and sending me on errands. Somewhere along the way I became the computer repair guy in school. It became a hobby of mine, and now I'm teaching it." He still has problems focusing, and his students realize that it may take more than one attempt to get their teach- er's attention. What does it feel like to have ADHD? "There's a point where I'm done," Zaun explains. "There's a point where there's all I can take. There's a point where I can't focus, and I have to get up and do something. Some- times you don't feel like your brain is functioning the way you want it to, and your brain and mouth are working faster than they should be working." Zaun had poor attendance in regular school and was sent to a continuation high school, where he not only graduated but became the valedictorian. He credits his high school English teacher with being the one who "reached" him and influenced him to become a teacher. "When I was really fidgety, she allowed me to get up and to move and do things. She did things with song lyrics to help me understand material, and that held my interest. And she allowed me to work at my own pace." Zaun worries about students today with ADD/ADHD. With the pressure of testing, teachers seldom tell students to go run a lap or move around if they have excess energy. Recess has been cut or eliminated at many schools, along with physical education classes. Struggling students are given "double periods" of math and English in lieu of elec- tives. Hands-on learning has been replaced with rote mem- orization and test prep. There may be no opportunity to let off steam, he says. "I don't know if I would have survived that," says Zaun. "You have to allow these kids to get up and move around." As a student, Zaun was constantly reprimanded for talk- ing and walking around the class. "Today, as a teacher, I'm also talking and walking around the class," he muses. "I guess you could say that this is the perfect job for me." October 2011 / www.cta.org 15