Cheryl Palen
Many memoirs have been written about the teaching profession, but they usually are about teachers who are successful in either high-achieving or poverty-ridden inner-city schools. Brant Vickers’ memoir, Chucky’s in Tucson, offers readers a poignant and heartfelt view of what it is like to teach in the sometimes strange, unfamiliar, and almost alien world of special education. It’s an up close and personal look at the selfless individuals who dedicate their lives to working with special needs children.
Vickers’ eighteen years spent working in special needs classrooms allows him to share his incredible experiences that range from endearing and joyous to violent and frustrating. Never before has a memoir shed such a bright light on this hidden fragment of the public school system that many, if not most, have no idea exists, much less the money spent and resources needed to run a classroom of special needs students. What type of individual would choose this line of work—to help give these students’ lives meaning?
Vickers’ journey covers his start in the field and includes his struggle to adjust to the demands of a new and often frustrating career that caused him at one point to simply give up and quit. Yet he returned, as he found he was good with helping those who could not stand up for themselves, and over time he became an outstanding teacher, cherished by his schools, students, and staff because of his unique ways of connecting with them.
Chucky’s in Tucson is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.