The teacher: ‘They didn’t sleep a wink at the school camp’

Tuesday morning eight o’clock. We are at school camp. There are ten tents in a row. Our twenty students lie in it, two per tent. My colleague Janneke and I sing a song in front of each tent. Only then can the children get out. Now we are standing in front of the tent where Abel (10) and Achmed (10) have slept. Or actually: have not slept, because they only have a chain. They both have ADHD, so we should never have put them in one tent, but lately they’ve been so good that we took the chance.

Two pale heads stick out of the tent cloth.
“Guys, we have a problem,” I say. “Everyone has been bothered by you. You can come up with a solution yourself. Tonight I want to hear him. Otherwise I’ll have to come up with something myself and I’m not very good at that, so it will be a stupid solution.”
They nod meekly.

Responsibility

I give my students as much responsibility as possible for their own behavior. In this way they learn to deal with their behavioral problems, the reason why they attend this school. We teachers are specially trained to try to make them ‘manageable’. After the teacher training, we followed the HBO training ‘Special educational needs’. There we learned how to get the most out of this special group of students.

Practice

The first six weeks of a new school year, you set out the lines. You first teach the children how to walk to class: two by two, without running. Then you teach them to hang up their coats and wipe their feet before they walk in. Where do you put your things? How do you organize your closet? How do you move your table aside? How do you sharpen your pencil? You teach them that. You don’t raise your voice, you don’t bark at them, you don’t yell. Anyone who does not do what you say will receive three warnings; then you send him or her to a separate room.

If the children know the tricks of the trade, you give them more space. In my case it means they can bake pancakes during the lunch hour. If they don’t do that quietly, I put the pans back away. So that they understand cause and effect. Today we also eat pancakes. At lunch. That’s what Janneke and I had promised them if they wouldn’t run away from playing hide-and-seek. Cause and effect.

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‘My three daughters and I have ADHD’ >

Best friends

Before dinner, Abel and Achmed come to me, followed by Maarten and Erik, the two quietest boys in the class. The latter two struggle with depression and an inferiority complex. Abel and Achmed say that they have come up with a solution to their problem. Abel says: “Miss, Achmed is my best friend. But you better not sleep with your best friend in a tent. Because then you’ll be laughing all night.” Achmed adds: “We’d better sleep with someone who is calm. Now I’m going to sleep with Erik.” “And me with Maarten”, says Abel. “They’re both okay with it.”

Erik and Maarten are clearly proud that they have been chosen. They are all so sweet that I can’t resist hugging them. Cause and effect.

This article was previously published in Kek Mama.

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