The last few times I have been in the classroom have been very beneficial to helping me decide that this is truly a career I am interested in. I was extremely nervous about starting the field work thinking that I would change my mind and have to change my major but thankfully the opposite has happened and I am more sure than ever that this is what I want to do!
After reading about teaching kids with disabilities I paid extra attention in the classrooms to see if there were any special adjustments that the teachers made for students. In my son's 5th grade classroom I noticed that the teacher almost always wears a microphone. Although I didn't have a chance to ask her about it, I noticed that when she is talking without it, some of the children seemed to get more distracted. I would imagine that a microphone would be beneficial to kids with ADHD in helping them focus.
In Mrs.Carpenter's 4th grade class there are a couple of girls with Autism. They are integrated with the students so well that the only reason I even knew that they were Autistic is because they had to leave class for therapy. My nephew told me that sometimes the girls (and any other student that wants one) holds a bean bag pillow on their lap to help with fidgeting. Having the extra pressure on their legs reminds them to hold still and concentrate. I thought that was a great idea and will for sure use that in my future class room!
