In her National Institute for Literacy Leader Fellowship Report, Janet Isserlis suggests her method of beginning a workshop about violence and learning:

I’ve asked them to think about whatever it was they had to do that day to get themselves to work – bring kids to school, take public transportation, maybe deal with a stalled engine, a missed connection, problems with childcare providers, inclement weather, whatever. I’ve asked them to think of times they sat in meetings worried about getting a parking ticket, about the health of a parent or child, a deadline, a lost phone number – any number of common stressors and distractions that affect people on a daily basis. Working from this point, I’ve then asked people in workshops to consider the effects of childhood sexual abuse, or political torture, or the stress of living within an abusive relationship, or worries about family members in other countries in trying to understand how great a challenge learners can face in trying to stay present to learning (2001).

I agree that it is important to help teachers reflect on their own personal experiences and acknowledge how distractions manifest in their emotions and actions. In fact, many instructors and trainers, who provide staff development for teachers about learning disabilities, create situations where the teachers will have to put themselves in their students’ “shoes” to experience learning with a disability. Then they are able to better relate to these students by acknowledging what promotes and inhibits their own thinking. Therefore, they will understand the factors that impact their students’ learning. I believe this can help teachers make connections with their students, which they never may have considered before.