Can an aspie be a good teacher?

Post Reply New Topic

I definitely think an Aspie can make a good teacher. I taught both high school and middle school for about 5 years. The hard part for me was the behavior management. I didn't do so well with that, especially in classrooms of 35-40 students. I also work for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and I've worked in some TOUGH schools. I've taught some pretty hard to manage groups of kids. During my third year of teaching, I decided to get into school counseling. I think counseling is a better fit for me: I'm still able to work with students and have an impact on their daily life (which was my reason for getting into education in the first place), but I don't have to deal with large groups of behavior problems at once. I also get to do some one-on-one counseling, which is really what I love: having an opportunity to help a student make better behavior choices, maybe learn something about themselves (what kind of learning style they have, whether they're an introvert or extrovert, where they fall on the Meyers-Briggs scale, etc.). Now, my chances to do those things are rare - school counselors *aren't* therapists; they're more like Dr. Phil - very directive, and they find a solution to the problem in 15 minutes. But when I do get to spend more time with a student and help them learn something new about themselves or make better behavior choices, my work is very affirming. Counselors also have their share of paperwork to do, which I actually don't mind. I used to be a legal secretary before I got into education, so I have some skills with organizing and doing paperwork.

...Anyway, that's my two cents on how I've found success in education as an Aspie.

I know that I would take advantage of teachers back in highschool. Like I had this one teacher who was not smart- she was kind of dumb. And annoying. And I could get away with stuff. Like if I didn't do well on a quiz or something she might have me retake it until I got a better grade- so I wouldn't have to study for things like that because I knew I coudl just retake them. Or I could be late to class as long as I promised her not to do it again, that sort of thing. No one respected her either. Teachers that were respected, however, it was different. Even if they were quirky or whatever, you didn't make fun of them in class and you you didn't try to take advantage of them. If you did someone would probably call you on it- at least among the honor students. But teachers that won't respected, it didn't matter if other students tried to take advantage of them or make fun of them right behind their backs or whatever. One example of this was my biology teacher in highschool. He was a good teacher, but quirky. He had this way of talking for example where he would drop his pitch at the end of every sentence. It was hilarious. We made fun of it- but not in his class. And you didn't try to take advantage of him either- you would tell other students to lay off if they did. He was respected. The dumb teacher- not the case. Let the spitwads fly.

i've been teaching my own language in primary school for a few years now (and also had 'toddler-classes', i forgot the word)
and love it, the children do not notice anything weird in my behaviour, they just like me and my teaching-methods as well.

only parent's and teacher's reunions are more or less a nightmare (but i try not to show).

I was doing well as an ESL teacher and tutor before I stopped working to stay home with my kids... somehow the structured social interaction of teaching was easier for me to handle than the free-for-all of typical social interaction. If I ever do have to go back to work, it will be as a teacher.

that's right, schools have lots of rules which makes it pretty easy, even easier than being at home .
and since we had the opportunity to observe many teachers for many years, it doesn't have any secrets either (you really know what is aspected of you)
i'm lost in an irregular situation but if i know what i should do what and where there is no problem at all

I did a middle school placement last fall and it was brutal at times. The Grade 6 classes were okay but the Grade 8 classes were brutal. 13 year olds are no match for me. At first, grade 6 was tough but one day I put my foot down hard and they respected me for the rest of the placement.

I'd prefer teaching grades K-6 next year but no further. Maybe even pre-calculus or applied math in high school.

I have been teaching for 17 years in a secondary school (high school). Admittedly, I teach in the area of my special interest and really enjoy it. I have developed another special interest into student behaviour and how to motivate them. I believe this has been an advantage. I will admit to having challenging students, but I do not think that being AS has impaired my career or been a cause for harrassment in any way. I believe that a student will dislike and make fun of a teacher no matter who they are, the teacher does not need to be AS for this to happen. In fact, I use my little quirks to my advantage in the classroom....and like another reader posted...the students either love or hate their teachers, whether you are AS or NT. It is the nature of the job.

Probably.

I couldn't though. I would crack down too hard on bullying - it would get me fired.

I have to teach as part of my contract, and though I love it, I have found that my students often don't understand me. I'm pretty good one on one, but when I'm in front of the class, my tendency to use the correct English word for something leaves many of them at a loss. Sometimes these are words that they just haven't encountered before, but which seem to be standard usage to me. I am at a loss.

I was a teacher before to adults, Graphics Design Software (Photoshop) and Office.

There was another teacher, who always told jokes and was funny and everyone loved him because of that. I admired that, because I couldn't be like that, I always was too serious and too didactic that probably I bored some of the students.

Back then I thought a teaching job would improve social skills, it didn't.

Recently, I went to a highschool for a teaching job because a friend got me an interview, to teach about computers, I didn't have the requirements. I didn't get the job. Actually I was relief because I was so terrified with the idea of teaching highschool children.

I find it too difficult to teach a crowd, I had been teaching to a particular person before (private classes) and I do a lot better that way

for me that's very different, i have more difficulties with one person, even 3 or 4 is not enough, then i feel i'm dealing with 'people',
15 is great, it's a 'group' and i'm working on the 'subject', if someone complains or acts weird than there is a problem with my subject:it means i should adjust it.
i'm very different when i'm teaching , acting, joking, doing different voices, jumping, but also really knowing what i'm going to teach, very inspired actually. and children or pupils love it, they love the fact it's never boring and also that everything they say can be brought in.
i hate it so much to learn something i don't feel like learning that i'm very aware of that as a teacher.
but if they come to me at the playground telling me something i'm more like "hm, yes, yes, ok, go and play now" cause nothing needs to be done, which makes me lose my inspiration.

Positive:

Aspies can be great teachers if they have extreme knowledge in their area of interest like art, music, math, history, etc. and if there was an aspie student in the class, the teacher could releate to his or her problems.

Negative:

If the teacher is one of them Aspies who can't stand stuff like loud noises and social situations, it can be rather trolublesome.

But focus more on the positives instead of the negatives.

For a while I wondered if I wanted to be a university professor... but I decided against it, here's why: aside from the obvious that you need to interact with many different students and be comfortable speaking every day in front of huge classes, there is a lot of politics that determines who gets a permanent job and who doesn't. You constantly get evaluated by students, who may mean the difference between you being fired or not, and it is easy to get canned apparently--- even though there is such a shortage of prof's. If you really want to teach something, go for it, just be sure you are ready to handle all that the job may entail.

I have worked as an English language teacher (taught adults and children) and as a physics TA at a university (taught 1-st year labs and tutorials). I believe I was well-liked by my students in both cases, and I was reasonably good at explaining and so on. It is a very structured setting - you have a lesson to teach, a subject matter to cover, and will be asked for help on specific problems (believe me, there will always be problems in physics labs, and if you can help them with that most of the time, they will like you even if you're no comedian). It's the opposite of small talk in that sense, so i think aspies have no inherent difficulties teaching adults and children unless you have very severe difficutlies doing eye contact or reading basic body language and expressions (i.e. if you can't tell when they're panicking because they're not understanding - but they have no interest in hiding it so it tends to be obvious, though they might be embarassed to say it out loud in fron of everyone). I have no experience with teenagers, they might be more difficult. The children i taught were pretty well-behaved, and adults generally are there because they either want to learn or want the grade; if they don't want to show up on a particular day, they can simply not show up, so things in my experience tend to run smoothly because they have no interest in being disruptive and so on. If you're helpful, reasonably good at explaining and know the subject matter adults tend to be satisfied with that rather than demand socialising or jokes (they would prefer the occasional joke, but for them the key is that you help them get the grade or learn the subject).
What you do have to consider is how important departmental politics and so on will be for your career - in this sort of thing an aspie can have more problems than NTs. But in terms of the actual teaching, my experience is that you're not at an inherent disadvantage (possibly unless you're teaching moody teenagers or hyperactive kids) - if you're reasonably good at explaining things, are reasonably organised and know the subject matter, you should be fine even if they consider you too serious.