A few years ago, Nancy Mendonca was considering quitting her job. But her
transfer into a special education class has Mendonca looking forward to many
more years in the classroom.
Mendonca is a special education teacher in Fennville, Michigan. She decided
to go into special education after working in a state home for the mentally
challenged. "I was a nurse's aide and felt real restricted in what I was able
to do for them, so I went back to college at 23."
After graduation, Mendonca spent many years teaching as a special skills
instructor, working with students who needed extra help with study skills.
She also managed to fit in a sabbatical to get her master's degree in learning
disabilities.
Then one day her principal came to her saying the school wanted to introduce
a special education program. "I said, 'Great, when do we start?'" laughs Mendonca.
Special education teacher Larry Cantlin says he's taking his special education
work one year a time. "By the end of the year, I say, 'I don't know if I'll
do this next year.' But I do," he says.
"I got into it in a backward kind of way," says Cantlin. He is a special
education teacher in Jackson, Michigan. Trained as a science teacher, he started
teaching in a juvenile detention center when he moved from Florida. The center
required Cantlin to complete special education training.
After three years, he went to work for the public school system as a special
education teacher for emotionally impaired seventh and eighth grade students.
"They are also called behavior disordered or emotionally disturbed," explains
Cantlin.
Cantlin says it was quite a jump coming from the controlled environment
of a youth detention center to the public school system. In the youth detention
center, certain behaviors carried certain consequences.
In the public school system, Cantlin says there is little follow up and
little consequence. "These kids know they're going home at 3 o'clock," he
says. "I had to adjust to that. I had to handle it on my own."
Mendonca says that working with emotionally impaired students is rewarding.
"These kids, they really give back to me. Probably more than I give to them,"
she says. "These kids love to be in school every day. They love coming. They
love doing what I've planned for them."
One of the most rewarding experiences of her job was watching a boy who
would hardly speak the first year blossom in the second year. "We almost can't
get him to be quiet, he talks so much," Mendonca says.
Mendonca's students take most of their courses with her. "Academically,
they can't do English and grammar," she explains. "But they get out for art,
home economics and physical education. When we can, we integrate them."
Cantlin says teaching his students involves controlling their interactions
with one another. "When they interact, that's when anger comes out," he explains.
Student outbursts rarely come to blows. "It's mainly verbal stuff. When
my students get into fights, it's usually at lunch or gym -- a less structured
environment than the classroom," he says.
Cantlin is still learning. "I can never predict what it's going to be like,"
he says. One day will be good and the next day borders mayhem.
"Today, we've had four or five kids out already. My aide had one out in
the hall talking to him. I had one. The teacher from the next class had to
come in and break up a couple more in the classroom."
Special education requires special patience. "You have to know they aren't
going to learn as quickly," says Mendonca. Case in point: Mendonca and her
aide spent several weeks teaching a student how to vacuum a room. "Last week
and this week we're finally seeing a little progress," she reports.
Mendonca trains her students in basic housekeeping as a way to integrate
them into the community. For practice, class members clean a local church.
"One of the girls had never vacuumed before. She's just getting the hang
of it now. She used to just stand and vacuum in one spot, so we had to take
that vacuum around with her week after week."
And the student is getting the hang of it, slowly but surely. Cases like
that made Mendonca put thoughts of retirement on the back burner.
"I can't imagine changing. I love it too much. As long as the students
are there and there's a need for that classroom, that's what I'll be doing."