In many ways, autism makes me a good teacher. I explain things clearly and systematically. I keep detailed notes on each student because I have to do so to remember. I have formulas for everything and provide data-based feedback on student progress after every lesson.
It also makes me a good English as a Second Language teacher. I pinpoint specific, recurring issues in students' speaking (accent, pronunciation, and oral fluency) and take a structured approach to addressing these issues. I do the same with academic writing (structure, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, coherence and cohesion).
However, it makes me a lousy literature teacher. I'm good at poetry, but stories are not my thing. I take them at face value. It's hard for me to see symbolism behind the words. A story about talking rabbits (Watership Down) is, to me, just about the talking rabbits, and I'm totally into the narrative of those rabbits. I also cannot empathize with character emotions unless I've encountered the same situations as the characters, and I have trouble reading into dialogue between characters. I get the literal meaning well- I have excellent reading comprehension- but I miss implied messages. On the other hand, sometimes, the implied messages seem to obvious to me, it's hard for me to recognize that they are symbolism or implied, as they seem explicit.
I usually try to steer away from teaching literature for this reason, although I'm an avid reader. To be honest, even when I read literature, although I like being aware of the time period and culture, I also prefer taking the story at face value over looking for symbolism unless the symbolism is very clearly intended. However, sometimes, when I'm tutoring a student who is taking a general English course, teaching literature is unavoidable, and I'm still working out how to overcome the hurdles I experience there.
It also makes me a good English as a Second Language teacher. I pinpoint specific, recurring issues in students' speaking (accent, pronunciation, and oral fluency) and take a structured approach to addressing these issues. I do the same with academic writing (structure, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, coherence and cohesion).
However, it makes me a lousy literature teacher. I'm good at poetry, but stories are not my thing. I take them at face value. It's hard for me to see symbolism behind the words. A story about talking rabbits (Watership Down) is, to me, just about the talking rabbits, and I'm totally into the narrative of those rabbits. I also cannot empathize with character emotions unless I've encountered the same situations as the characters, and I have trouble reading into dialogue between characters. I get the literal meaning well- I have excellent reading comprehension- but I miss implied messages. On the other hand, sometimes, the implied messages seem to obvious to me, it's hard for me to recognize that they are symbolism or implied, as they seem explicit.
I usually try to steer away from teaching literature for this reason, although I'm an avid reader. To be honest, even when I read literature, although I like being aware of the time period and culture, I also prefer taking the story at face value over looking for symbolism unless the symbolism is very clearly intended. However, sometimes, when I'm tutoring a student who is taking a general English course, teaching literature is unavoidable, and I'm still working out how to overcome the hurdles I experience there.
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