Teachers' Lounge

On this week’s show: John Zuber. He talked with host Peter Medlin about teaching in the time of coronavirus. John is particularly fascinated by how it’s impacted his relationships with his students. He thinks so far doing classes online from his couch while traversing technical difficulties has made them more casual and maybe more personable. They also talked about how his rural district is handling e-learning, why high school seniors feel a bit like Hamlet and how having kids changed how he

On this week’s show: Jay Rehak. He’s an author and Chicago Public Schools language arts teacher. He and his classes at Whitney Young High School are the co-writers of over a dozen student-sourced novels. Host Peter Medlin talked to Jay about how his students are handling coronavirus concerns and the weirdest year of his teaching life. They also covered why empathy is his life’s mission, childhood trauma, the writing process and, since he’s the author of, “10 Short Plays To Read Before You Die,”

On this week’s show: James Cohen. He’s an associate professor of ESL & bilingual education at Northern Illinois University. He’s also a former Fulbright Scholar who has lived in several different countries across the world and most recently taught in Uruguay. I talked to James about his time in the Peace Corps in Sri Lanka & the reverse culture shock he felt coming back to the United States, teaching in Uruguay and bilingual education. He’s also taught and done research on undocumented

On a new Teachers' Lounge: Trudy DesLauriers. She's a reading specialist at Morris Elementary School who has taught for over 30 years. She also has two golden retriever therapy dogs, Martha and Thelma Lou, who come in to help struggling readers. Once a month, a group of other therapy dogs from greyhounds to goldendoodles join them for their "Sit! Stay! Read!" event. Trudy talked to host Peter Medlin about how her therapy dog program and how Martha and Thelma Lou sometimes get to offer emotional

On this week’s podcast: Maggie Kasicki talks to host Peter Medlin. She teaches English as a Second Language at Rockford University. She also volunteers at schools across Rockford teaching cross-cultural education. They also talked a lot about her traveling, but specifically about how she travels culturally. There's no Holiday Inn, no continental breakfast. Maggie gets straight-up embedded. She also hosts lots of international students at her house. Plus, Peter asked her about what foods she

Erik Czerwin, language arts & literature teacher at Rockford's Guilford High School, sits down with host Peter Medlin for a wide-ranging discussion of the top education issues of 2019 and what they'll be looking at in 2020. They talk about everything from local stories like: The Rockford Public Schools' ransomware attack and how it pulled teaching back 20 years Dealing with Guilford's lack of air conditioning & heat How Trauma-informed instruction transformed his teaching style And they

Rockford's West Middle School principal Maurice Davis sits down with host Peter Medlin on a new episode of Teachers’ Lounge! Maurice is from Rockford. In fact, his parents still live literally a few blocks from his school. He’s taught at pretty much every level of education except maybe preschool. Peter and Maurice talked about coming back to his hometown to teach, making history class relevant, how to improve teaching into 2020 and beyond and so much more. Also, on the show, in our first

This week, we’ve got a retired physical education teacher and girls’ basketball coach. His name is Paul Williams, he taught and coached at Prairie Hills Junior High in Markham, Illinois for decades. Paul talked to host Peter Medlin about the greatest lessons he’s learned about teaching, coaching and traveling across the country with his basketball teams and much more. Also on the show, recreational cannabis will be legal in Illinois in just a few weeks. Peter talked to folks from both a public

This week, a really special episode we've been excited about for a while. It’s a conversation with Dick Hart. He’s an 89-year-old retired choral teacher at Downers Grove North High School. He also played trombone in the Army band when he served during Korean War. Dick talked to Peter about all of that, his motto "music is life" and so much more. Also on the show, a trip to the STEAM Academy at Haskell Elementary in Rockford to see how they jumped from being a lowest-performing school to a

This week on Teachers’ Lounge, Illinois High School Baseball Hall of Fame Coach, Neal Bertram! He’s been a coach and P.E. teacher at Rockford Lutheran for over 30 years . He talked to Peter about the joy of watching his kids gain confidence, the huge impact his P.E. teacher and basketball coach had on him, and baseball as an allegory for life. We also sat down with Illinois State Representative Maurice West. He’s the co-sponsor of a bill up for a vote during the veto session that would go

This week on Teachers’ Lounge, we take a look at the science behind brewing with DeKalb High School biology teacher, Steve Byers. He’s also the owner and brewmaster behind the new Byers Brewing Company in downtown DeKalb. Byers talked with Peter about how he got started brewing in college trying to recreate his favorite discontinued beers. They also discuss how he manages running a small business, being a full-time teacher, oh, and he has a new baby! Also on the show, a northern Illinois FFA

This week, a conversation with Lissette Jacobson about growing up the daughter of Mexican immigrants, social justice, using football to bond with boys in her school and what it takes to be a successful administrator. She is the new principal of Pioneer Elementary School in West Chicago. Also on the show, a drive to Jefferson High School in Rockford for a tour of their college and career-prep classes. The tour included dozens of protesters outside, holding up signs and chanting. They were

Rich Egger , news director at Tri States Public Radio in Macomb, joins us for a special edition episode of Teachers’ Lounge. Public radio stations across the state collaborated on our “ Enrollment Exodus ” series chronicling enrollment challenges facing Illinois colleges and universities, especially since the 2015-2017 state budget impasse. I talked to Egger about how enrollment decline at Western Illinois University didn’t just hurt the school, it hurt the whole region. And after years and

Since returning to DeKalb a decade ago, Maurice McDavid has held many titles. Some call him their teacher, others call him their preacher. To some of his elementary school students, he even goes by his hip-hop moniker, Mr. McDizzle. But above all of that, he's trying to be an advocate in the town he was raised in. Also on the show, a topic with both international and personal ramifications: cybersecurity. Over four billion private records were exposed by data breaches just in the first half of

A mother and daughter, they both teach kindergarten at the same school. They come from a long line of teachers in their family. And this year, the next generation is putting on her backpack to share those same halls as she goes into kindergarten herself. Also on the show, it's the beginning of the school year for college kids too. And almost half of Illinois students leave the state for college. The competition from out-of-state schools to attract Illinois students is fierce. But despite recent