Teachers' Lounge

Joey Brewer has spent the past two decades teaching history and social studies at rural schools in western Illinois -- the region of the state often known as Forgottonia.

This week on Teachers' Lounge, we're revisiting our 2022 conversation with the founder of the LIGHT education initiative. It's a project to empower students to become human rights leaders in their community.

John Gelasi knows school band can be really meaningful…“Kids tell me, 'the only reason I was able to get up and go to school this morning is because I knew I had band today,'" he said. The award-winning northern Illinois music educator on everything from the magic of learning an instrument to his previous career in actual magic. It's on a new Teachers' Lounge podcast.

We talk with a DeKalb teacher from Brazil about helping other international teachers come to the US. We’ll learn about his own journey and much more on new Teachers’ Lounge podcast.

On a new Teachers' Lounge, a Rockford teacher taking STEM education to new heights…literally. We’ve got airplanes, solar backpacks, medical detectives and more…it’s on a high-flying new Teachers’ Lounge podcast, now!

On a new Teachers' Lounge, two local teachers wrote a new book called “Your Words Are Fire” on how culturally-responsive teaching helps kids learn. What it means to be culturally-responsive and what it’s like releasing their book in the Trump era. Learn about all of that and much more...

On a new Teachers' Lounge, we interviewed a group of Rockford elementary school students every month of the school year this year. And, this spring, we featured students from the Somonauk, Sandwich, & Leland FFA organization!

Ever curious what the school year is like for a teacher? We interviewed DeKalb 5th grader teacher Dominique Yackley every month to track a school year in her life. Follow her journey on a new Teachers' Lounge podcast!

On a classic Teachers’ Lounge episode, it’s a unique burden and responsibility to be the only Black teacher at your school.“I take it so seriously, because a lot of times this is a child's first interaction with an African American person, or at least a positive role model, unlike a stereotype which they may have seen in a movie or something," she said. "It's nerve-racking."Hear that conversation and much more...

On a new Teachers’ Lounge podcast, a Marengo music teacher breaks down the barrier between students who love music and students who typically join a school band.

On a new Teachers’ Lounge podcast, a music teacher with the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra tells us how students have fun while playing really high-level music.

How can students be expected to make hard decisions about their future when the world feels like it’s changing faster than ever? A book -- written as a fable -- designed to help students plan their life. It’s on a new Teachers' Lounge podcast.

On a new episode, it's our chat with Chris Mrofcza. He's a counselor at Hiawatha High School. We had a great conversation about the unique role school counselors play. He helps students consider their future, what career they want to pursue or classes they should take, and also provides meaningful mental health support to students in need.

Andrea Gustafson! She’s an English teacher, speech team coach, and head of the drama department at Morris Community High School.Morris is her hometown, so it’s been really meaningful to build a career at the same school she went to and continue the legacy of the teachers who inspired her.

On a brand-new Teachers' Lounge, Julie is a physics teacher who encourages her students to learn through play. Sometimes that looks like rolling food cans down the hallway and sometimes that looks like her students growing synthetic rubies in a microwave!

On a brand-new Teachers' Lounge Podcast, we’re talking about America’s first school culture war: JAZZ!"Jazz was seen as more of a lifestyle, and so if you are interested in jazz, you were, as critics believed, also interested in drinking, in smoking, some degree of sexual activity. The belief was that if you could dissuade young people from not being interested in jazz, that all these other vices would would also go away."How the Jazz Problem set the stage for modern moral panics.

What’s the point of social studies?"Some students will go on and be doctors and some will be lawyers and some will be blue collar workers, but all of them are members of society," said Teresa Kruger. "The whole point of social studies, to me, is to prepare you to be that really active, participatory person in our in our democracy."Helping students find their voice and use their power in a democracy. That’s on a new Teachers' Lounge.

NIU's Jason Klein joins the show to dive into some of the most important education issues of 2025

A group of northern Illinois students put on their school’s first ever theatre production this fall. Hear the full journey from auditions through opening night. It’s on a new Teachers' Lounge, out now on WNIJ.org or wherever you get podcasts.

On a new Teachers’ Lounge podcast, before we kick off 2025…we’re looking back one more time on some of the best education stories we told on Teachers’ Lounge in 2024.