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Courtney Johnson
Teacher Interview: Allison Greenwell
Horace Mann Elementary School
10-27-17
“My
‘normal’ is not their
‘normal’”: An Interview with
a Mother and Teacher in Special Education
I interviewed a mother of someone with special needs that is also a teacher working
alongside students in special education. She has two sons and one daughter, and one of those
sons she has labeled with turrets syndrome. Her children are grown and lead healthy lives in their
careers and in college.
Mrs. Allison Greenwell grew up in Chicago. Taught conversational English overseas by
phone, going over pages in a book that helped to teach students English. She gave them better
tools to learn, going over their work every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. During the summer
she works in a daycare and at Brain Balance as a tutor/mentor. Brain Balance in Centerville
helps autistic children, and others, “balance the weaker side of the brain” she says, it’s all
non-medical. She worked five years for Standard Publishing and subbed in schools before she
started teaching. She’s taught in Special Education for roughly twenty-five years, and always
wanted to teach. It was in third grade that she wanted to work with deaf students. She was
inspired by stories of people who overcame their disability and became someone in history,
possibly changing how we perceived and handled people with the same or similar disabilities in
the future. She also admits that sign language was also a fun way to be able to talk to her best
friend at the time while across the room during class. She’d practice with her friend every day.
Working with students in this program, within the school system, or working with kids in
any system, you understand some things. It’s difficult to leave school at school. Yes, you get
vacation time during the school year and in summer to do as you please and to spend with your
own kids if you have any, but for most, you’re never really “on break”. You’re working on
lesson plans, working in conferences, learning new rules for the coming semester or school year
and you always carry with you the stories and problems of the students that have come into your
