Teachers' Lounge

A Seneca science teacher talks about a fateful school field trip, Oreo experiments, and why she doesn't want to teach anyone but middle schoolers.

On a new Teachers' Lounge, why a group of Rockford students are starting their own community news service:"Yes, they wanted to write. Yes, they wanted to use some skill sets they had. But then the next statement would be, 'I'm here because youth need a voice. Youth need a voice, and we don't have it now, so we need to be it.'"We talk with the teachers helping them out.

On Teachers' Louge, we’ve got an education power couple: Kelly Mandrell is the Superintendent of the Polo Community School District here in northern Illinois, and her husband, Jon Mandrell, is the new president of Sauk Valley Community College.

This school year, our teacher correspondent is Kelcey Dodd. She’s a kindergarten teacher at Spring Creek Elementary in Rockford. Kelcey's in her first-year as a teacher, so we’re going to be checking in on her every month as she figures things out.

Picture Chicago in the dead of winter. It's a cold morning, still dark as students walk the icy sidewalks to school. On the far south side of the city, Dawes Elementary School teacher Anne Shippy watches her middle school students walk in without hats and without gloves. They often don't have school supplies either like pencils, notebooks, or folders. And the classroom needs books.

At the end of this past school year, Tracy found herself strutting down the hallway, wearing a sash and a crown, as kids held up homemade signs and mobbed her with hugs. She was retiring after 30 years as an elementary school teacher in her hometown of DeKalb.

We’re revisiting our lovely 2024 conversation with Cacie Miller! She's a music instructor at College DuPage, director of music at United Lutheran Church in Oak Park, and creator of the musical project 'Composing the Climate.'

You might think you want to be a teacher until you come face to face with 30 kids."There's nothing worse than getting to your junior year of college, being placed in your first observation, and going, 'I hate second graders.'"We talk with the teachers who lead the Southern Illinois Future Teachers Coalition about giving students early opportunities to see if the career's for them … and recruiting...

Every year, we bring you our classroom correspondents. They’re a group of students in a club or activity whom we interview every month through their season or semester! Over the years, we've featured an upstart esports team, a speech club, a school play and, this past fall, a student newspaper. This spring, our correspondents were students in the Whiteside Area Career Center's CEO Program, where t...

Ever curious what the school year is like for a teacher? We interviewed DeKalb middle school English as a Second Language teacher Caio Gomes every month to track a school year in his life. Follow his journey on a new Teachers' Lounge podcast!

On a new podcast, we talk with one of the few special education teachers who were special education students themselves. Hear a young Illinois educator’s unique path into the classroom!

We're revisiting our 2024 conversation with Joseph Flynn. He's an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at Northern Illinois University. He's also the university’s executive director of equity and inclusion.

What’s it like teaching the next generation of journalists? WNIJ education reporter Peter Medlin sat down with Jason, a former-reporter and current director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Women in science often don't get the credit they deserve for their work. A Highland Community College club unites women across the sciences to talk about the opportunities and real challenges they face.

Tina Hardy is the coordinator for the Center of Accessibility and Neurodiversity at Illinois Valley Community College. Basically, it’s her job to make college accessible for students who need extra accommodations. What does that look like? And how different are special education laws between high school and college?

Two high schools, 25 minutes apart. One wealthy and in the suburbs. One in the city, lower-income. NIU professor Cynthia Taines' project brought together students from both schools to see educational inequality for themselves and fight for change. She's the author of The Metropolitan Community: Partnering for Equality Across the Educational Divide.

On a new Teachers' Lounge, Waubonsee professor Dr. Nour Al-Nabir brings her real experience as an immigrant business owner into the classroom. Her students just won a national entrepreneurship completion. That and more on a brand-new episode!

In a civics teacher's “Taking Action” class, students fight for change, whether it’s fixing potholes or school lunches. What does it mean to actively DO social studies? I’s on a new Teachers' Lounge.

The co-founder of Rockford’s Womanspace on her half-century quest to create a comfortable and creative place for women..

On a new Teachers' Lounge podcast, we talk with a Morris teacher who’s not afraid to hold his students to a standard of excellence.“I tell the kids, if you come in and you work for me, I will jump over the moon for you.”What it means to go above and beyond for kids.

There have been so many massive education stories over the past year from the dismantling of the Department of Education to childcare funding freezes. On a new Teachers’ Lounge podcast, we try to help you make sense of it and give you a roadmap to following education in 2026.

Every semester, we feature a new group of "student correspondents." They're students in a club, sport, or activity. We interview them every month and bring you their journey. This fall, we highlighted the reporters and editors at Kaneland High School's student-run magazine "The Kaneland Krier" as they raced against their deadlines.

Before we get too far into 2026, let's take one more look back at some of our best education stories we reported in 2025.

On a new Teachers' Lounge, we're revisiting a few of our favorite education conversations of 2025 as we finish up the year.

On a new Teachers’ Lounge Podcast, an Ottawa High School special education teacher helping her students transition to college…from knowing their rights to picking their classes.