I plan to become a teacher.

Post Reply New Topic

I've always studied teachers even though i didn't always plan on becoming a teacher. I remember them all, i remember their habits, methods, personality, everything. I remember what they did which worked and what they did that didnt work. So now my current career idea is to become a teacher and do right what has been done wrong so many times.
But now i wonder how much of what i want to change in being a teacher is just stuff that I as an AS or HFA or whatever i am had particular trouble with, and most people learn just fine with how it is done normally.

Despite all i have learned i still have not satisfactorily studied how people REALLY learn, and how often people learn in specific ways. So that is one thing i can do that no teacher i have ever seen has done before. Figure out how each student in my class learns and tailor the lesson as much as i can to each of their particular styles of learning.

Still I wonder about it.

I plan on going to Uni to study Psychology and Education. I don't know if I would end up going onto teaching... But there's a big precedent for it given family history.

Alot of my father's family are teachers...

GA

I think it would be very interesting to be a teacher, but not a normal teacher in a class of twenty or thirty students. I was a teacher's assistant to the algebra teacher at my school this year, and I taught the class once when she wasn't there. Even though I knew the material extremely well, it was an extreme challenge to captivate the interests of nineteen eighth, ninth and tenth graders for half an hour while I explained the lesson. They're never a very well behaved class, anyways. After I taught them the lesson and gave them the notes, I went around to each of the individually to help them if they had any questions. This seemed to work out better.

I don't exactly understand how other people think or learn. But I've been observing my teachers, making mental notes of the teaching styles that work for both myself and my friends and those that don't. I've also talked to some of my friends (mostly my closer friends) about who their favourite teachers are and why. I also asked my best friend why she didn't like the class we were in together, which happened to be my favourite class. I think getting advice from an NT can help sometimes, especially if you trust them.

I would love to be a science or history teacher, to show people how history is really supposed to be taught. My most exciting classes this year were a science/history combination and the advanced placement history courses I took. The teachers were both interesting and I learned a lot without even realizing it. We screwed around more in our science/history class than all of our other classes combined, but I think we learned as much as we did in our advanced history course.

Most Aspies would make good professors...

But mediocre grade-school teacher...

Still; if you teach science or math it could work...

I'd probaby be good at teaching science, computers, or on campus detention.

I have always been told by many people that this the
the area that would best play my strength. I say
GO FOR IT! It is underpaying(but that shouldn't be
the reason to say no!) and the helping of future
generations is admirable. This is why I say Go For It!

Hmmmmmm?

What type of subjects would interest you to teach?
I assume you are 20-21, and by the time you get
credentialed you would be 26-27, and God-Bless
you helping future generations!

My sister is a teachers aide to autisic children, but
she took it because it was convient. She doesn't
even know of my autism, and I don't plan to tell her.

I would like to help autistic children, and learning
disabled because this area would require a understanding
that a AS/HFA person could only grasp!

What are your thought on teaching special ed?

Hmmmmm?
Ghosthunter

I have the perfect teaching job for an Aspie (IMO).

I have my degree in English Language and Literature, summa cum laude. I get to use my degree every day. I get the enjoyment of teaching and the thrill of watching young minds grow and mature on a daily basis. I don't have to deal with 30 obnoxious kids whose obnoxious parents think their kids are saints. I don't have to deal with petty faculty and mindless administration. I just listen to my public/private school teacher friends complain about these things.

Of course, I don't make any money on the deal though I am saving money over the alternative (working FT, paying for childcare/school expenses, and job-related expenses).

I've been homeschooling my own 5 kids for the past 11 years.

Hmmmmm? You owe Axelkat a appology!
and how many times have you been in
School detention! I assume that is why
you might find it easy to fit in.

But on a friendlier note, Teaching requires patience,
understanding and being able to fit in!

Alot of us would have a problem in the last part
(fitting in) but the patience, and understanding
part can be better worked on!

Hmmmmm?
Ghosthunter

How many family members became teachers?
University level? K1 to K12 level?

What subjects besides Psychology would
interest you?

Sincerely,
Ghosthunter

P.S....What is a teachers salary in Austrialia?
In the US it ranges from $15000-$45,000
depending on the area.

For example: Palo Alto $50,000 in a million $ home
cost area. It is grossly out of perportion to the
standard of living of area's!

If you become one, remember to always carry spare board erasers so that once you have chucked one at a pupil, you can do it again quickly.

LOL, I'll keep that well in mind.

What i plan to teach is really up for grabs. I don't know what i'll teach, it just seems that teachers in general are so much NOT interactive with the students that it couldnt be very hard to teach ANYTHING a whole lot better than they do now. Whichever i decide will help people the most.

I have also considered trying to teach autistic children. Basically i have learned that deeply autistic people are brilliant, but they are just so bored by the world that they dont care. And frankly, i think i can make s**t interesting enough to bring em out.

I've done a lot of small-group or 1:1 teaching, tutoring etc, and I've enjoyed it, but I think there is much more to teaching in a classroom than just knowing your stuff and being able to find a way to make people understand it. Being a teacher at a regular school, at least from my experience as a student, means that you constantly have to spend most of your time keeping students quiet, making sure everyone does their homework, does not fight with each other etc. You also have to be a social role-model, or if you can't be that, at least you have to preserve some kind of respect and not act "funny", so that students don't start to make fun of you. Unfortunately, I think, in a classroom that is very difficult, because students rarely respect you for what you know, or how well you teach them. All in all, teaching can be extremely stressful for an NT (in Germany, the majority of teachers retire early due to this), and I think it would be hell for an aspie. Teaching at University, I think, would be a different matter. Or maybe teaching seriously interested students at a special school.

The main reason, however, why I don't want to be a science teacher, is that you can only apply so little of the actual "stuff" you learn at uni, let alone keep up with new developments. I think science teachers do a great job, and I am really thankful for what they've done for me, but when you're more interested in science itself than in its communication, I think teaching in school can be quite frustrating.

4, three of my Dad's sisters, and his mother, are or were teachers. Primary Teachers (that would be what you call P-K6)

I'd be interested in thought subjects; philosophy, anthropology, psychology, things like that.

I'm not sure, but I think teachers' salaries here are around the 20000-45000 mark...

GA

My current carreer choice for after high school is to become an art teacher. I've always liked art. Plus, a good thing about becoming a teacher is that it gives you way more free-time than the average job; you get three months off in the summer. Plus, I'm not focusing on becoming rich, and if I ever wanted to become anything more or go to school more, I could use the summer time to try to do other things. Also, if I wanted to become another type of teacher, I could just get the classes in (besides the ones that teach you how to be a teacher) and then I could teach that subject.

I once thought about teaching high school band and orchestra, since I can play pretty much any instrument I can get my hands on.

I'm glad I did not pursue this.

However, I think it would be interesting and enjoyable to teach as a college professor, either at a law school or in a regular college/university (I'd teach political science and maybe history).

You don't have to fit in beeing a teacher. I've been a teacher foir several years (and intend to get back at it soon). Students don't expect you to fit in with them. In fact, if you try this, you'll end up getting troubles, a lot of troubles (don't ask why, i just know it by experience). Student expect you keep a certain distance with them. They unconciously expect you to stay on your pedestial, even during break. That's the only way to keep control over teasing.

Because of your status student won't try to tease you. But if you "get down to thier level", you are vulnarable. And this is never good. I almost lost my job with one group with whom i tried to become friends. They let me go, and go, and go.... and then, suddenly turn thier back on me and starts using everything i did against me. A teacher is not supposed to become friend with thier students, that's another unwritten rule for which, they make you big troubles if you don't follow.


On the other side, IMHO teaching is the best career solutions for Aspies. They are very focussed on particular subject, very knowledgable about it, and likes to talk to other about it endlessly....