Danell Lynn: Teaching and Living the Free and Eclectic Life
We recently spoke to Danell Lynn, who teaches the ADHD and Me serial and with other classes on Outschool. Danell is a true Renaissance Woman. She is the author of several published books , leader of the Threading Promise and Highwire humanitarian foundations, and was even the get-go solo-woman e'er to pause the globe record for longest journey by motorbike in a single country!
Through these eclectic skills and accomplishments, Danell offers rich learning experiences in her Outschool classes. She specializes in empowering learners with ADHD by helping them to develop the skills they need to plough their brains into a superpower.
Hi Danell! Can yous tell united states of america a footling virtually yourself and your education experience?
I am a global educator, adventurer, humanitarian, author, speaker and cultural explorer. I am a lifelong learner and have been an educator here in the US and globally for over fifteen years. I've taught in the classroom for over 11 years and online for almost 3 years and have worked internationally through art therapy and reading education initiatives. I'one thousand besides an author and am working on completing a book on educating unique minds.
You accept a fascinating array of education experiences. Can you tell us well-nigh those?
My work in us, internationally, cross-cultural, public education, individual, and charter gives me a unique perspective on our education system and has been my inspiration for continual learning.
I grew up as a military dependent and my father moved every 2 and a half to three years. We were constantly moving to new locations. When I was in inferior high, we moved to Europe. That expanded the international doors for us in terms of volunteering and giving back. Those experiences ignited my interest in international travel.
Some of my experiences include: rebuilding special teaching programs in Arizona, working with the King'south Council in Morocco to promote women's education, supporting efforts to teach women to ride motorcycles in Islamic republic of pakistan to access better jobs, and helping orphans in El salvador.
How did you become started teaching on Outschool?
When getting started with Outschool, I noticed courses parents were requesting that did non take many existing options. This helped to guide me to create courses based on student need and my skill fix.
In my first month at Outschool, I taught over 230 learners from across the world, including Canada, Luxemburg, Switzerland and multiple states in the Usa. The achieve of Outschool is impressive and makes for a wonderfully diverse classroom for all learners.
How does brick & mortar classroom teaching compare to Outschool for you?
Equally we expect at online teaching, we tin can integrate many skills from the classroom, particularly in how nosotros organize our classes. The what does not alter, but the how is where nosotros tin can larn and create differently online.
It is just as important online to build rapport with students and then they feel safety within the classroom. For example, I create a roll-call sail that gives me a identify to check on date and gives me a place to write out pronunciation of student names. Like in a concrete classroom, nosotros prepare classroom expectations and outcomes for the 24-hour interval in the beginning of class.
Since joining Outschool, I took the Zoom Teachers Academy, which greatly supported my ability to deliver the best class I can. That, mixed with all the training and support Outschool offers for their teachers, allows for continued learning about teaching online.
Yous're involved in several different projects - educational activity, writing, speaking. How do you stay organized?
Organization is fundamental to all of information technology. I'yard into calendaring and journaling. Of course, I teach students to use a lot of skill sets that have been researched but besides that have proven to work in my life.
I even so use an one-time school agenda. I open it upwards at my desk every morning time and lay out my twenty-four hours. I double check it at least iii times a day to make certain I'yard hit everything.
Organization of physical space is important, too. If an area is messy, information technology's hard to do work there. I bounciness between projects, only I endeavor to put 1 project abroad before I piece of work on another, so I take infinite to open up upwardly and exercise it.
That eclectic side has always been office of who I am. I always struggled in high schoolhouse when I met with my school counselors and they'd say, what are you going to do when you abound upwardly? and I would think, I won't do 1 matter.
I like the multifariousness of life. When I speak at schools, that's one of the things I talk about. You don't have to fit into a box. Particularly in my generation, most people don't accept the aforementioned chore or career path for 30 years. The world is irresolute for the upwardly-and-comers, which I recollect lends itself to a freer and more eclectic life.
Can you tell me about your feel in special education and teaching children with diverse needs?
I accept a brother who grew up with ADHD, and I watched schools force him to sit down nevertheless. He was so frustrated that he couldn't written report or learn, and he felt like he couldn't be successful.
Later, he chose to go into firefighting, and he went to school for burn down science, even though it was hard for him. Now, he's i of the top in his field, and he's constantly going dorsum to school and learning new things. He found a learning path that works for him. It's non the one that was assigned to him, it's 1 he found on his own.
For me, I hold a Masters in Cross-Categorical Special Didactics, Bachelors in Psychology with a minor in studio art, and am completing a 2nd Masters in International Education Leadership. I am very passionate about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for all students and have a deep passion for supporting and didactics learners with unique minds.
I accept over 11 years of experience in the standard classroom setting for students with special education needs and over two years ESL online didactics. I have been honored to be a special instruction managing director, dean of students and piece of work every bit a trainer of other teachers at the state department level.
After working with many children with ADHD, what advice practice you take for parents to help learners with ADHD thrive?
Understanding executive functioning is the biggest matter. Think of your brain as a filing cabinet. With executive operation delay, those files will sometimes all open at once, and yous have a mess inside your brain. Learning to come across the listen in a different way, and pedagogy skills to organize the executive operation in the mind is helpful.
For example, telling a learner with ADHD to go organize their room is not necessarily going to exist successful. It has to be broken downwardly into smaller steps they can bank check off and detect success with as they become.
In a sense, they're tricking their brain to detect success, and then they know they can do information technology. To follow an activity near for a total 60 minutes, they feel unsuccessful because their mind has gone to xv different places during that fourth dimension.
When talking with learners, I don't telephone call information technology executive functioning delays, I just call information technology executive functioning, because kids tin can learn to brand them a superpower.
Why did you start your ADHD and Me classes? What is it like being a learner in those classes?
After noticing parent requests and reflecting on my ain skill prepare, I created a curriculum for students with ADHD. My ADHD and ME series course grew quickly, and parents let me know how much they enjoyed and needed this course.
Parents requested that I cover these topics for other historic period groups, too, so I created Teen and Uncomplicated offerings for the ADHD courses. Then, Outschool allow me know of parent involvement for semester courses and and so back to the curriculum drawing lath I went.
It has been wonderful to take students share with me how much they are learning, enjoying and creating life skills that volition back up ADHD learners every bit they grow into adults. I await forward to also sharing my creative writing and art skills through courses like the Abarat semester course. Teaching is a journey and Outschool an adventure, I am fatigued to both.
To learn more about Danell and explore her classes, visit her Outschool instructor page.
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Source: https://blog.outschool.com/danell-lynn-teaching-and-living-the-free-and-eclectic-life/
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