MENTORING WITH WORDS A TEACHER WHOSE TOOLS ARE FLEXIBILITY, PERSISTENCE.

Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer

ACTON -- A learning disorder had kept the junior high school student reading at a fourth-grade level.

When she later landed in Cindy Fernandes' English class at Vasquez High School, the dyslexic student was still struggling with her words.

For the next two years, the teen practiced reading and writing with Fernandes every day in school. And over time, her grades in English turned into A's.

By her junior year, the teen was in honors English class. When she was a senior, Fernandes put her in advanced placement English where the student earned another A.

``That was the greatest success,'' Fernandes said of the student who has become a registered nurse. ``There are so many students who have really touched me, and that's one of the reasons I went into teaching.''

Fernandes has taught school for 23 years, from the breezy South Bay to the impacted inner city, leading classes in all-girls Catholic schools and in rural public school districts.

The majority of her experience has taken place in classrooms of the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District, where she has taught for the last 16 years.

When the Canyon Country mother first came to the Acton area in 1990, there was no Vasquez High School. But it was in the works, and the district began hiring teachers to staff it.

So Fernandes in the meantime taught seventh-grade language arts classes at High Desert School. Meadowlark Elementary School Principal Margaret Gonder, who used to work at High Desert, recalled seeing Fernandes in the halls with her students, usually engaged in lively conversations.

``She had an enthusiasm and was bubbly with the students and was excited about teaching,'' Gonder said.

During Fernandes' fourth year at the school, she began teaching one class at Vasquez High and eventually was transferred there. Today she's head of Vasquez's English department and teaches advanced placement and senior English.

That's where she met Doug Miller, who taught advanced placement history and government. The two teamed up teaching some classes, since their subjects intertwined with themes and period of time -- especially with their 11th-grade students learning history and American literature at the same time. So when Miller taught about the Roaring '20s, for example, Fernandes' English class read ``The Great Gatsby.''

``I'm not sure I could have done it with just any teacher,'' said Miller who is now a teacher at Vasquez's Success Academy, a program for alternative education. ``She's a very gifted teacher.''

With a master's degree in secondary administration, Fernandes also teaches secondary teaching methods as a adjunct professor at Chapman University. The degree qualifies her to preside over a school one day as a principal. But she hasn't sought the role yet. She finds a larger need for people like herself in the classroom to help students and new teachers.

``Up until this point, I haven't pursued it because I like teaching,'' she said. ``Schools are depending on people like me to mentor other younger teachers.''

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Acton-Aqua Dulce Unified School District's Teacher of the Year Cindy Fernandes has been teaching in the High Desert for 16 years.

(2 -- color) ``Schools are depending on people like me to mentor other younger teachers,'' Cindy Fernandes said.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer