Anyone a teacher?

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Or planning on being a teacher? I'm an education major but sometimes question my ability to teach kids. I had student teaching this semester and boy was it hard. I was with a second grade class, so for the most part didn't have a lot of problems interacting with the kids but there are a few things that I lack which is going to make teaching hard. I can't tell if student's are lying for one. I also can tell really well if students are understanding something based on their expressions or are bored. Also, all that talking with parents and other teachers makes me so scared.

I'm working on becoming an art teacher. So hopfully I won't have the kids all day and that will make things easier. And I believe it just takes time and experience for anyone to build up good kid and young adult skills. There are a lot good books out there on the subject. It wouldn't hurt to read up on body language either.

I'm a floater teacher at a preschool, meaning that I fill in when teachers are absent, or when there is a teacher vacancy/ leave of absence in a given classroom. At times when all teachers are present, I rotate through the classrooms to provide breaks and prep time over the course of the day. The position is not without challenges for an introverted aspie such as myself. I do find myself falling somewhat below the radar of my colleagues. For instance, from what I understand about the culture of the school, floater teachers who have all their credentials such as myself are generally given their own classroom as soon as there is a vacancy, as they generally promote from within before looking for the outside. Even so, there have been three vacancies since I started there, and I have been passed over for all of them. They have hired three teachers from the outside while I remain a floater. Additionally, when I've been substituting for a period of time in a classroom where there is a vacancy, or a teacher is on leave, I've noticed that the students seem quite fond of me, yet they respond differently to me than they do to other members of the classroom teaching staff. This makes classroom/ behavior management challenging, especially since the children don't always seem to view me as an authority figure. Of course, the children could be taking cues from the dynamics between myself and the other adults in the classroom. I think that I generally relate quite well to children five and under, but adults are more of a challenge. I also find that I'm somewhat less effective as a teacher when there is an excessive level of noise and movement going on, or there is a change in the schedule. Still, I get by, and I have some good days mixed in with the neutral and difficult ones. The education and development of young children is a special interest of mine, and I think I'm very lucky to be able to work full time in a field directly related to my special interest. I very much hope to be able to continue at the school where I'm working for as long as I choose to do so, and that I'll be able to continue working in the field of Early Childhood Education in one capacity or another until I reach retirement age. As I said, there are challenges, but I consider them to be worth it. I also like to think that my teaching will improve with time, especially in my weaker areas, and that I'll also become increasingly adept at handling the challenges. My progress may be slower than that of most NT teachers, but I like to think that I'm still making progress, and I very much hope those I work with share that view. Even with the difficulties, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.
My point is this: if something matters enough to you, you can most likely find a way to make it work. It won't be easy, but that doesn't mean it will be impossible. I wish you the best of luck.

I got that from the kids in my class too. I was able to talk with them normally and get to know them really well, but they didn't seem to respect me or listen to my rules at all. That's one of my biggest fears of being a teacher, I've never been good at disciplining or even telling people what they did is wrong in the 'proper' way.

I think that any grade higher than 4th would be too much for me. I do better with the younger ones, I guess I can relate to them better. I think I did improve minimally during my student teaching. It's hard because I love learning about teaching methods and child development and teaching. I do so well with it in theory but I feel like once I get into the classroom I loose it all.

Your upper limit is higher than my upper limit. My certification qualifies me to teach children from birth to second grade, but I'd say kindergarten is my upper limit. Children in preschool and kindergarten, are generally have much less subtle facial expressions and body language than older children and adults, and that makes it considerably easier for me to "read" them. That's only one of many complicated reasons why I prefer to stick to the early years.
Classroom management is definitely a challenge for me, though I think that I've improved significantly from when I first started working with children. I definitely have come up with more effective techniques for getting the attention of the children, and calming them down to the point that they are in a better mindset to listen. Even so, there is a definite noticeable level of difference regarding the level of respect the children give to me, and how much they listen to my instructions compared to that of the other staff. I think that's in part because they don't see me asserting myself among the other staff members, and they don't see me getting as much respect from the other adults present. I also suspect that I might be inadvertantly communicating with my body language that the children don't *really* have to listen to me. I think that I do have good techniques for classroom management, but when I think of how important many consider body language to be to communication, I can see how I may be lacking in this area. My own understanding of body language is definitely sub-par, and this does render it more difficult for me to be in control of what I'm communicating, and failing to communicate with my own body language. In any case, I think that I have reached a point of having a pretty thorough understanding of where I fall short, which does render me better prepared to address my weaknesses.
It definitely does help to have a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher in order to be prepared to improve. You seem to be developing that pretty well already, and that's likely to help you. The fact of the matter is, every teacher has weaknesses. Every teacher's performance leaves room for improvement, regardless of neurological wiring. I've encountered NT teachers who can't identify what their weaknesses are. In my opinion, that's a serious problem, because if you ever want to develop to the point of being a truly good teacher, you need to be willing to constantly reflect on your performance, and to be aware that there's always more to learn, and areas that could stand to be improved upon.
You seem to be willing to reflect upon your performance, and to learn and improve, which already puts you at an advantage. As long as you're aware that the road ahead will have its obstacles, and you care enough to consider the challenges to be worth it, I think you have a decent shot as a teacher.
Again, I wish you the best of luck. Feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns you might have.

I'm an elementary ed major who is currently student teaching and looking forward to having my first classroom next fall! (No idea where it will be but I'm open to moving anywhere in the Lower 48 to find the highest paying job).

I think it's a good choice. I work well with the students, have no trouble teaching or writing lesson plans, and enjoy the job. No complaints at all unless you count the quirkiness of school copy machines

My upper limit of my degree will be sixth grade and I'll gladly work with any of the age groups (although my favorites are second and third grade). I'm also getting a SPED degree.

I am a Geometry teacher in the school district of Philadelphia. It is my 4th year and it is definitely too much for me. I am currently looking for a career in either my biology or math backgrounds.

I have been teaching for 16 years and it has been one roller coaster ride. I have been to the heights of joy and the pits of despair and frustration due to my chosen profession; but the one thing I can truly say is this, teaching school has forced me to understand NT behaviour patterns and interaction more so than anything else I can think of. I have taught 5th up to 12th grades, right now teaching 7th. When I went into education 20 years ago, I was 20 years old and had never heard of AS, so I certainly didn't know I had it. I was still very egocentic in my thinking and assumed everyone was just like me. I ended up in education by default and put basically no thought into what would be required of me in the future (just "in the moment" AS thinking). It has not been easy by any stretch of the imagination, and I can't honestly say that I would make the same choice again (maybe I would); but it has helped me become a much better person. The strengths that Aspies possess when it comes to managing a classroom are: that innate sense of fairness and justice, not holding a grudge, being able to separate the person from the behavior (a very logical, non-emotional approach), being good planners, high intelligence, preferring routine, being predicatable, and possessing large quantities of knowledge about many topics. Weaknessess would be: being easily distracted, anxiety if required to engage in a conversation that doesn't have a predictable "script" (ie. open-house, parent/teacher conferences, chit-chat over lunch), difficulty recognizing subtle body cues (ie. a student is upset and needs to go to the counselor, years ago I probably would not have noticed), anxiety while being evaluated, etc. The weaknesses that I mentioned have become much less challenging over the years as I've developed mechanisms to deal with them and I've become better at identifying NT body/expression cues: I know that I'm easily distracted by noise, so I require a very quiet classroom, but I make sure to provide periodic intervals devoted to student questions and comments (at least every five minutes). This seems to work very well, and the students actually seem to prefer it. As for open-house, I follow a script with a powerpoint presentation that lasts a pretty long time. This minimizes the "free talk" session dramatically (but I still get pretty flustered when I get bombared by adults thrusting their hands out to be shaken and wanting to "chat." I've just accepted that this is a part of who I am, and they can be wondering what's the matter with me If they want to...let 'em wonder. One really effective technique when dealing with parents is to let them talk. That's pretty much what they want to do anyway. I just open the meeting with "Thank you for coming, what are your concerns?" and they take charge. This way, I have an agenda based on the concerns they bring up and I can feel comfortable when my turn comes as I address specific things in a logical order. And as for chit-chat over lunch, I just eat my lunch in my room alone. I have accepted that the other teachers fall into one of three categories: 1-the ones who understand and respect that I need to be alone (even though they don't know why, I have not "come out of the closet" yet); 2- the ones who think that I'm a rude, stuck-up, anti-social person; 3- and the ones who really don't care (the majority of people, you'll find, fall into the later category). I won't lie to you and say that you've chosen the easiest path by any means. But that old adage, "No pain, no gain." is true. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have gone into education; but we only change if we're made uncomfortable, and teaching has caused me to understand people to a degree that I would never have come close to had I been a researcher, or computer programmer, or writer. When you get thrown into the sea, you sink or you swim. I believe that Aspies are some of the strongest people alive (we have to be) and our desire is self-preservation, so we swim. I wish you much happiness and success in whatever you choose to devote your talent and gifts to. And btw, I have a 21 year old daughter who is an Aspie and is making the decision right now whether to become a literature professor or a professional writer. I don't yet know which way she will go, but I hope she chooses well, too.

I have asperger's and am an elementary music teacher. I honestly don't know why I've chosen this profession because the same problems have reared their ugly head (getting distracted and frustrated easily, not relating well to staff on a regular basis, my classes sometimes are a gong show and I feel sorry for the "good" kids which are few and far between IMHO, and really not looking forward to going to school everyday).

I was a substitute/supply teacher last year and I liked that somewhat better (depended on the school I was at, of course) because you were only there for the day and could decide when/if to go back again. It doesn't pay as much or have benefits, though.

This is my 3rd year in the profession and I've had a really rough time in getting the students engaged, and it doesn't help that the teacher before me was so outstanding and kids want her back instead.