Aspie and Teaching

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Hi.

I work in a school, and have had a lot of experience. I am really good with kids and teenagers (I work in a secondary school). I seem to have a gift relating to the more 'troublesome' kids. I am considering being a teacher. I was accepted on a teacher training course but had to cancel it because of fudging cuts. Any way, I can't seem to find any information at all on being an aspergers sufferer and being a teacher, like tips and such. Whenever I search for it I keep getting advice for teachers about teaching kids with Aspergers.

I'll start with one thing I have Aspergers but I don't sufferer from it. I hear a lot of doctors use that phrase "suffer". It's more suffering from other people who don't understand.

As for becoming a teacher and having Aspergers; if that's what makes you happy do it. I've talked to a guy before who was going to school to be a teacher; the work was long, boring and hard but he did it for the end result. To be a teacher; and that's what makes him the happiest.

So no matter if you have Aspergers or not; do what makes you happy! If that's teaching kids with Aspergers as being an Aspie yourself do it!

The only aspie teacher I know, personally, is abismal at the job because he doesn't respond appropriately to questions. He's appearantly always so engrossed in what he's thinking and saying that when anyone asks him a who/what/where/why/how question, he invariably answers; "yes" and then repeats what he already said. He chose the profession two decades ago because his special interest/education is history and teaching is a profession wherein one can use an education in history. He can expound on history (lecture) but his interaction with the students/faculty/administrators founders because of his inability to receive communication. He hates his job because he is (in turn) not well received.

Also read this post:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt176635.html

I think it's important for any teacher to have these talents/abilities:
- Able to switch focus rapidly and fluidly between talking and receiving input (both verbal & non-verbal input of many kids simultaneously) for (2) three hour periods per day.
- Has good executive function; Is able to organize lessons in the short and long term. Is able to organize the classroom environment and teaching materials. Can track the passage of time (get all the lessons in).
- Has the ability to track the progress of the class and the flexibility to adjust plans, fluidly, as needed.
- Can rationally explain her plans, teaching goals, class progress, etc to administrators and parents without fear or defensiveness.

That's a big boat of abilities and the 1st couple of years teaching will hone these skills, but any individual who lacks most of these traits in any natural capacity is setting herself up for mayhem. Teachers are responsible (answerable) to a reamrkable number of folks; the students, the administration and the parents. Answerable to more people than any other profession/job I can identify.

As a teaching assistant you are in a great position to observe the teacher/s you assist and track the demands of their work & specificly how they meet them. Spend a couple valuable years projecting yourself into their role as they teach.

I am an aspie and working on becoming a Title one para(and by working I mean I am a title one para, I just cant find a job...)

I say go for it. I am a great middle ground person and always come up with fun odd ways to make learning easy and fun. I am not a teacher because A: dealing with parents are no fun. B: follow school set ways to teach/act are not ways I want to teach.

Excellent response and I definitely second it. I was a teacher before, went through all grades, and was never close to being as effective as I thought I could be.

If you are hell bent on education, teach elementary age kids. I did and except for those of hormones age, I never had a problem. They loved me. I just wasn't flexible enough or "social" enough for the older ones.

Or you can become a librarian or technologist that sometimes helps kids.

Think long and hard about the "switching focus" factor and the example +MountainLaurel gave. you might can overcome planning and speaking to parents, but the kids will challenge every particle of emotion and response readiness within you.

I am in the final steps now of trying to do the same thing. I failed my first student teaching, but it seems like they are giving me a lot more help for the second one starting this spring which will be nice. The biggest problem I have is classroom management, sometimes, especially anymore, it seems like kids just expect to be entertained more than taught. I don't remember it ever being that way when I was in school (like 7 years ago) but it seems that way now, and my last cooperating teacher (who was really bad at it), even criticized me once for not entertaining the kids enough. A lot of that stuff I am good at, and I am great at answering kids questions (have a tendency to elaborate a bit too much though, especially in social studies class, but I have know a ton of great teachers who did that!) I am a bit worried that I will get too used to these supports and might be lost without them, but if that happens I will probably go into being a teachers assistant or even a house parent at a special needs boarding school or RTC.

Yes and no. I have thought about it, but to do it generally requires a PhD and I really don't know if I could ever do it. Beyond that to teach special education classes if you don't have a PhD colleges want their professors to have experience teaching actual special education classes. I am sure I would work better with a more mature audience, but I don't know if I could do that.

I have thought about going to law school (I was orginally was going to go to Law School) and think I would be good at that. The problem is that is 3 more years of school, and I really don't want to go into a high paid law field (despite the fact that I would probably be great at business law or the like). My passions and my talents just don't mix lol.

i work at a NGO as a Spoken English Teacher.
I receive lot of flake from my colleagues who say that i lack energy.
Its been 5 months now...im able to do the job but definitely something is lacking in me.

i agree teaching special education is good for Aspie's there is no pressure and the class strength is also lesser

I am in my fourth year as a high school Spanish teacher. I have an unusual talent for learning the language, including complex grammar, and I can speak without an American accent. But none of that seems to matter. Classroom management is a big issue, and I too have trouble "entertaining" kids, or when I try to it's total chaos. I'm no good at planning fun activities.
My first three years I taught at an inner city school. For financial reasons, I had to fight to hold on to the job long enough to find something better. When the state took over my school, I got hired at a much better school. It is a better situation, but my same classroom management problems persist. I'm looking for a different career path, maybe as a translator.
I think to manage a classroom effectively, you need to be a good muli-tasker and have the proverbial "eyes in the back of your head". I don't. When the kids get noisy, the noise overloads my senses, and it takes forever to figure out who is talking and deal with it, and the whole process totally disrupts the flow of the lesson. Plus I have a hard time telling if students are lying or not. (More of a problem at my old school)
Kids these days don't have the patience to sit still, be quiet, and listen to the teacher. And most of them don't care about learning Spanish; they just want credit for the course. Learning a language requires dedication, and it's frustrating dealing with unmotivated students. I feel like teaching them is a waste of my abilities. Very few really take it seriously.
I definitely don't recommend teaching as a career for aspies, except maybe for special education. My one strength as teacher is being understanding about students with special needs. But keep in mind that special education involves a lot of paperwork and endless regulations.