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- [S106] The Mountain Press, 11 Apr 2010.
Special educator: Stinnett goes extra mile to help students
by GAIL CRUTCHFIELD
Donna Stinnett isn’t someone who likes the spotlight shined on her. She’d rather your focus be something else, preferably something to do with her students at Tennessee School for the Deaf (TSD), the Master Gardeners or the Sevier County Historical Society.
Currently, her focus has been on the April 17 Sevier County Area Master Gardeners Association’s annual Flower & Garden Show & Sale — specifically the children’s section which she is helping plan and oversee.
Stinnett has been educating children for almost 40 years. This May will mark her 39th year at TSD, the only place she’s ever taught since finishing her education.
Stinnett said an aunt influenced her decision to become a teacher of children with special needs.
“She taught the multiple handicapped deaf in New York,” Stinnett said of her aunt, Theo Atchley Smith. “And she would come to visit and at night she would talk to us. We would all sit around her feet. She would tell us about her students who were head bangers and had to wear helmets. And I thought why in the world would anybody want to bang their head? And it just fascinated me. So since i was about 6 years old, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”
She made every effort to be able to teach as soon as she could.
After graduating from Seymour High School she went to the University of Tennessee where she concentrated on earning her teaching degrees.
“I went through from summer all the way through,” she said. “It took me just three year. I put a four year program into three years, because I wanted to start teaching as soon as possible and I wanted to teach the multi-handicapped deaf.”
That’s what she’s been doing for the last 39 years, helping as she has helped students with multiple disabilities learn to be more independent. She’ll take them to restaurants where they learn to order meals and pay for lunch. That involves learning to budget their money so they know what they can order off of the menu.
It’s rewarding, she said, to see a child who has struggled finally learn something they been working on for so long.
“The light bulb comes on, and it’s so amazing, you just want to tell everybody,” she said. “You announce to the administration and say you’re never going to believe who took their first step today.”
One memorable light bulb moment, she recalls, came from teaching one of her students to use public transportation. For months she rode the bus with him to get him used to the system.
“I told him, ‘I’m going back to school and you’re going to ride the bus,’” she said.
After checking to make sure he had money for the bus, she drove back to the school and waited for the bus to drop him off.
“The bus came,” she said. “Nobody got off. I was heartbroken. I was, ‘Oh no, he could be anywhere in this town.’ So I drove back up town and there he was standing on the street corner.”
She asked him why he didn’t get on the bus.
“He said because the man didn’t have white hair,” Stinnett said. “I said the man with white hair’s probably sick today. They probably had a new driver. And the light bulb came on.”
From then on, the student was able to ride the bus back and forth from his job to the school.
Helping them become independent and get a job is one of Stinnett’s goals. The students she teaches are ages 14 to 22. Along with their core classes, they also work at sheltered workshops so they can learn how to work.
“Some I’ve placed in community jobs,” she said, “competitive employment jobs.”
Building their confidence in themselves is another goal. One way she does that is by volunteering part of her time each week with a therapeutic horse riding program in Lenoir City. Four students are chosen by school supervisors to participate in the program.
“It builds their confidence,” she said. “They have to groom and tack their horses and learn to ride. It just elates them.”
Another surge of confidence comes from their fellow students, who know which students are in the program.
“They’re top dog,” Stinnett said. “All the other kids look at them and say, ‘You’re going horseback riding today. Yeah, Thursday’s your day.’ They really feel good about it.”
That makes Stinnett feel good, knowing she’s made a difference in their lives.
“I’m going to teach as long as I can,” said the 59-year-old. “My motto is make every moment count. I have that plaque in my kitchen, make every moment count, and I’m trying to.”
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