I will explain how a teacher giving vague details on an assignment could have gotten me into trouble at school. I have explained that with us, you need to be direct and the teacher was not direct on an assignment that she gave us. Which landed me in the dean's office. It's extremely important you are direct and explicit with your instructions when it comes to us.
I took a creative writing class. Our regular teacher was on maternity leave. So we had a sub. The sub was a teacher already at the school. She gave us a task to write a story about a protagonist and an antagonist. There were no rules on what we couldn't write about. If you don't give any rules, I will think I can write freely. The teacher did not specify what we could not write about.
I made my paper based on "The Purge." I kept the same plot but made my own story. I finished my paper before class ended, and turned it in and went to the bus and went home as always. Around 6 o'clock, my mom got a call, she called me into the living room, not telling me what she wanted. I was in the middle of chatting with a friend in another country. She had told me she got a call from the social worker about my paper. The teacher should have set some rules as to what we should not write about. If there are no rules, I will assume you will accept anything as long as it isn't about hate speech or something.
That impulsive action to report me to the dean sent me into a sensory problem. I had no understanding as to why the teacher reported my paper. The Purge didn't happen and it never will. I didn't understand why the teacher freaked out over a fictional movie. I felt like as a writing teacher, she should know fiction from non-fiction. I would have understood if I wrote about something scary that happened. Why freak out over a fictional story?
I would have had a better understanding if the teacher had of e-mailed me regarding her questions about the paper or addressing any confusions I may have had when she gave the assignment. Reporting my paper to the school social worker AND the dean and calling my mom just gave me anxiety as I didn't understand why it happened. As an aspie, I will fail to understand how my paper could have been seen by someone else.
I feel the who thing could have been avoided if the teacher was more clear on the rules when the assignment was given. The dean called me to the office when I got to school the next morning while I was in Chemistry. I explained to the dean it was meant to be fictional. It could have been worse if the dean didn't think there was a misunderstanding.
It's unclear if the teacher was aware that I am autistic and needed explicit instructions. My teachers were aware I had an IEP. I am not sure if the sub knew ( I don't think she did if she had to report my paper). This is why if your student changes teachers, it's important to inform that new teacher of the needs the student needs. Or keep some info handy if the teacher has a sub then the info is handy for the sub. Teachers don't know if they will be sick or if their kids get sick. Which is why if you're a teacher and have a special needs student keep some info handy in the invent that you will have to call a sub and you can leave on the lesson plan 'Joe has a learning disability I e-mailed you information about his needs.' If this is allowed. I think it doesn't break anything just telling the sub that Joe needs extra time on a test or he needs the test read allowed. It's important you get someone who knows about autism or other learning disorders. If the sub was made aware I had autism, the who mess could have been avoided. You may be asking why I didn't tell the teacher if she didn't know. The teacher may not have believed me, sometimes kids lie. It would have been up to the school to inform the sub of my needs.
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