His 1st school job was custodian. Now he’s a dual-language teacher in Crystal Lake

Manuel Gonzalez started off as a custodian in Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47. Now, he’s a dual language teacher at the district’s Canterbury Elementary School.

Gonzalez attended District 47’s Hannah Beardsley Middle School for seventh and eighth grades and then Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake-based Community High School District 155. Because Gonzalez’s initial custodial job was as a floater, rotating between buildings, he got to know different staff members and administrators.

He was cleaning a district building when someone from human resources asked Gonzalez if he knew anyone interested in finishing their teaching certificate. He didn’t. When that person came back later and asked if he would be interested in teaching, he balked at first. But then he thought about how much he loved the school environment, especially during his high school years. Looking back on it, he said it was “meant to be.”

Gonzalez began taking classes at Aurora University, and switched over to the tech department at school when he started taking night classes.

He did his student teaching at Canterbury Elementary in Crystal Lake about a year ago and will finish his first full year of teaching this spring.

“I’ve enjoyed it a lot,” Gonzalez said of his first year teaching. One of his favorite memories of the school year was making a class book, something he did as a fifth grader. He picked a topic for his students, and they had a publishing party when the book was finished.

The topic was careers aspirations, and each student got a page to illustrate what they want to do later in life. Some kids weren’t sure, but Gonzalez said he reminded them he didn’t know what he wanted to do when he grew up. Another was shy about sharing his goals but Gonzalez encouraged him.

After he got the job at Canterbury, he found out the school’s assistant principal, Amy Fournier, was an assistant principal at Hannah Beardsley Middle School while he was in eighth grade. Fournier said she was “surprised” when she learned that, and it followed with a sense of pride.

“Although I didn’t have anything to do with his educational journey, it’s so heartwarming to have ‘homegrown’ educators come back to work here in D-47,” Fournier said. When Gonzalez worked as a night custodian, the two would have long chats, including about teaching and how Gonzalez enjoyed helping his younger brother learn.

“I saw how much he lit up talking about education, so I was thrilled when I learned that he decided to become a dual-language teacher. We have a strong ‘CAN Fam,’ as we call our staff of fantastic educators. Manuel has been such a wonderful, inspiring addition to our team,” Fournier said.

Gonzalez said he’s found that mixing fun with the academics “makes a difference” in motivating students, “from what I’ve been seeing with my own class.” He also likes the cultural side of dual-language teaching and having some students who speak Spanish at home and others English.

“We connect really well because we learn so much from our different cultures,” Gonzalez said, adding that’s a lesson his students can take into adulthood.

In April, Gonzalez was one of 10 recipients of the Elevate award, which “recognizes employees who uphold and exemplify the district’s mission, vision and core values and who go above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of students, schools and the community.”

The person who nominated Gonzalez wrote that seeing him become a teacher ”brings me so much joy because I know how hard he worked to get to where he is today," according to a district news release. “He has served in different roles within our school community, always demonstrating dedication, resilience and a passion for education. Mr. Gonzalez embodies everything I imagine when I think of what the word ‘teacher’ means.”