Learning Center: What's it Like to be Jane?

Editor's Note: The Teaching and Learning Centers works with teachers, students and parents to support the academic endeavors of all students. Many people wonder what type of students are served and what types of services are offered. The following blog series represents an amalgamation of students served through the Teaching and Learning Center, the goal being to explain services through examples. Remember that these are fictional characters and do not represent any one individual. If you have any questions about the Teaching and Learning Center, please contact one of Darlington's learning specialists.  

Jane chose Darlington as a freshman because she loves to paint, draw, design costumes, write stories, play the guitar and sing. Needless to say, she is very talented at anything creative, but this creativity seems to cause her challenges in academics.

She describes her frustration, “If the class is boring, I drift off into drawing or thinking about my projects, or if the class is interesting my mind leaps from one idea to the next. Either way, I lose big chunks of time of what is going on in class.”

Jane is diagnosed with what is called ADHD non-hyperactive type.

In the Teaching and Learning Center, Mrs. McGehee and I are able to teach Jane classroom and study strategies that helped her stay focused. Her teachers also use classroom strategies that help her. Jane learns that schoolwork and artwork can be two separate mind-sets. It is okay to be her “focused self” for the job of academics, knowing that her “creative self” is not lost.  

Jane already knows she wants to go to an excellent art college, but to get into where she wants to go, she has to be at least a strong "B" student and have a strong portfolio of art. By learning to manage her ADHD with support from our Learning Center, Jane will be able to accomplish both of these goals.