Can an aspie be a good teacher?

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I am teaching Elementary school, but I don't want to go much higher than about Grade 6 because they'll start noticing little quirks about me and take advantage of it. I'm doing a 3/4 class right now and didn't have the best day today, but there IS always tomorrow. The kids like me, but they are testing me right now because I'm a new teacher. Sometimes I have trouble reacting quickly and correctly, and I need to work at that for sure if my classroom is going to be a success.

Some jobs will give you an artificially high social status, such as being a bouncer, or a security guard. I suspect teaching is similar. The nice thing about being the top monkey in an envorinment is that you get to do whatever you want. The higher your social standing, the less you have to obey social norms(because leaders write the norms).

On the flip side, Aspies can muck up social hierarchies, like aspies with younger overbearing siblings have learned, Or like happens to me with jobs, but i mustnt start to rant...

I have been teaching off and on for most of my adult life.
I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go into it, and has a passion for it.
I currently work as a Teaching Assistant at a school for children with disabilities including autism while finishing my special education credential. I also tutor one on one.

While working with the students can be very enjoyable.
I find that the staff is often far less accepting of my social quirks.
This makes my job often erksome.

Having passed through school up until the end of year 11 where I was asked not to return I believe I have enough experience to say...

more visual thinkers in the education systems would be a good thing!! ! !! !! ! I guess if you're that way inclined.. otherwise I have no opinion

I worked in education for four years and ... it depends.. I taught year 12s advanced college-level material... went absolutely fine.. teaching year nines elementary english grammar... no show.. I just don`t understand why people don`t understand what is so easy to understand.. not the best mindset for a teacher, esp. when teaching adolescents.

I would agree with this summary, and add a few supporting details from my own experience.

People expect foreign language teachers to be crazy, too. Not as geeky as math/sci/IT, but often much odder or in more colorful ways.

I ended up dropping out of my (middle-school) student teaching, because I was overwhelmed by what I now understand to be a combination of the social and burocratic requirements. I have gone on to be an [OK]-to-[pretty good] college teacher. It took me a long time and several years of not being as patient as I should have been with the students, before I was comfortable enough with my own self so that I could be comfortable with them. If that makes sense.
But I do think that the students appreciate that I treat them as people, as we are all just people. And I am more down-to-earth than some teachers, and I will say "there are other ways to look at this exercise than the answer they give you", or "we will skip that question because it's just silly", I mean everyone knows textbooks are not perfect, so why pretend?!

I think I am not the only one who is scared of little kids and thus would not want to be an elementary school teacher. But if you are not scared of children and you find you get along OK with them in large groups, then go for it!
My mother is unofficial AS and she has been a teacher of Deaf and Special Ed children... and she pretty much only ever had problems with the administration and occasionally with the parents. And the burocracy. Hardly ever with the kids.

Yeah. And, as I told my husband when he had to decide if he wanted to be in academia as a teacher or try for something in IT:
If you don't love teaching, it's not going to be worth it to you to learn all the stuff like eyecontact and public speaking and leading the group, and all that social interaction stuff. I mean, it's possible to learn it. If I could, anyone can. But you have to REALLY WANT to be a teacher, enough to go through the process, which is painful during the first few years. Unless you are a quicker learner than me (I hope!), then maybe it will go faster for you.

Hi Bombergal,

I have been teaching for 35 years. I have taught N, K grades 1 through 12 in Australia and in the USA in a variety of schools, plus I have worked in special schools and early intervention programs as well. I was once employed to teach demonstration lessons in the [now defunct] campus school of James Madison University in Virginia.

I will agree with a number of respondents that teaching primary was a lot easier than learning to stand in front of hostile secondary students. In fact I nearly quit during my second round of student teaching which was at a rough technical school in Melbourne [Australia]. To say I was mauled was an understatement! I decided how to learn to control student behaviour and watched good teachers, copying their style - and there is a common pattern in all very good teachers in how they present to obtain control. I spent hours standing in front of a mirror practising gestures and posture and also tape recorded myself so as to get the inflection correct in my instructions. It took a while, but eventually I developed better class-room control than the majority of other teachers, if only because my attention to detail meant my structuring of lessons was excellent [actually obsessive!] and my ability to read the very first signs of trouble was so acute that problems never escalated. [I also never wanted to experience the sheer terror of having children take over and control me again.] Now I work as a specialist consultant in behaviour management coaching teachers in about 20 special schools in how to read behaviour [First their own!! !!] and manage their students, especially autistic children.

The interesting thing is that NT teachers think they are so spontaneous [and in self control], but their behaviour is so predictable and "patterned". That is why autistic children cause them so much grief and take control of them and their classes!

Jim Crawford

i have taught taekwondo in the past... just taking the class for a few minittes at the start of a lesson.
i found it really hard when they were not intrested as i do not speak much. but when i was with a few freinds who were intrewsted and motavated i got along really well, because i didi not need to speak all that much.

jammie

I have a Ph.D. and got to teach undergrduate students while I was pursuing it. I found that as long as I could be uber-prepared for class, I enjoyed it. My lectures had to come right out of my head, but I had my notes as backup. It's the aspie thing, I guess to have everything in order.

I must admit that I was often petrified before starting class because I was going to be in full view of a group, but one I got to know them I got over it.

I am going to pursue teaching certification in Math for secondary students and get out of my software career because the latter has become so hectic and deadline-driven, with little space for creative thinking.

I think the answer is yes, I would think high school or college is a goog fit for a aspie.

You Bet!

Even in my early yers, I loved my teachers and wanted to be one. I always felt the need to explain things to people.
I started grading math paper for my HS teachers. I tried tutoring as a senior. In college I felt confident enough to ask for a position as a teaching assistant (the college algebra book was the same one I had in HS!) Lots of small group work gave me the nerve to apply for a gradschool TA spot. I must admit, my first class terrified me!

Then I took a break & had kids. I taught them at home. Then I did a job at a tutoring service. I really got brave and tried substituting . Doing junior high was tough, but it got me over major social problems!
Finally I got back to college teaching, which was my orignal goal. College really is a better atmosphere for aspies. Most of my students love my style. I'm always looking for new off the wall ways to explain math to people who hate math. And I've learned to understand people who can't do math -my 2nd son is one. So now I have an awesome job; 3 days a week four hours a day I get to share my passion for math.

I still get nervouse when I start a new class, but after the first hour, I'm back into the swing.

I think so, but I wouldn't advise trying to teach teenagers.

I have done some voluntary work as a teaching assistant, mostly basic PC use and have got very positive feedback in the past. While studying A-level chemistry, my fellow students often asked me to explain things to them rather than the rather surly teacher.

Aspies usually know that they have a problem with communication and tend to work harder at avoiding contradictions, lack of clarity etc. People have commented that I use many analogies and comparisions which helps them to understand.

I think aspies are better suited to be teaching assistants, than teachers, mainly because teaching assistants tend to deal with smaller groups, or one to one with the student.

I think aspies can make excellent teachers; it just depends on how the students act. I suggest that if a student has to pay for a class you're teaching and they want to learn, then aspies could be excellent teachers.

I don't think I would mind teaching certain subjects. I wouldn't mind teaching Geography or Pre-Calculus at a college level.

Along with my interest in medicine, I have an interest in education. I have been told before that I would make a great teacher because of my enthusiasm and love for learning, so if I do decide to enter the classroom as teacher and not a student, I hope I can encourage my students to do the best that they can. The teachers I love are charming, engaging, and, most importantly, passionate about their subjects. Sure, they're pretty quirky, but I love that. For instance, I used to hate mathematics. But then my pre-calculus teacher changed all that. Now I'm in an AP math course, and although it's hard, I still enjoy the subject immensely.

As far as the subject I would teach, it would definitely be French, especially higher levels so that I know I'm getting kids who care about the subject.


Also, can someone explain to me how kids can "take advantage" of one's quirks? I don't understand. (Naiveté, perhaps?)