Teachers' Lounge

How an NIU music educator teaches music like a language | Teachers' Lounge Podcast

On Teachers’ Lounge, it's Ann Montzka Smelser.She's the Director of the Suzuki Strings Program at Northern Illinois University.Ann’s a practitioner of what’s called “the Suzuki method of music learning.” It’s based on the idea that music talent isn’t inherent, it’s something that’s nurtured through positive encouragement.

A Crystal Lake teacher's adventure across Illinois | Teachers' Lounge podcast

On a new Teachers' Lounge, Bob Chikos! He’s a special education teacher at Crystal Lake Central High School.He's involved in education policy at the state level, working on reports about the teacher pipeline and school psychologist shortages.Bob also recently took a fascinating trip around Illinois

The Four Freedoms and Beyond | Teachers' Lounge Classic

We're revisiting our 2022 chat with Princeton middle school social studies teacher David Gray.He and his students worked on a project called “The Four Freedoms & Beyond," based on President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union speech just before the U.S. entered World War II.

An Illinois superintendent says public education is a gift not to take for granted | Teachers' Lounge Podcast

A fateful trip to Haiti showed Vienna superintendent Joshua Stafford why public education is a gift. We also talked about the history of education in America, standardized testing, school safety, and his recent journey to Singapore through the Fulbright program.

An NIU STEM educator explains why so many students misunderstand what science is | Teachers' Lounge Podcast

An Northern Illinois University physics educator knows that all it takes for kids to get excited about science is their natural curiosity about the world around them.“I've compared it to to listening to a song in a language you don't understand. You can you can hear the melody. You can appreciate the beauty. But if you learn that language, then all of a sudden you know what the song is about. You understand the subtext. So, we can appreciate the world around us, just like that song, but it's written in the language of math and science."It’s here on a new Teachers' Lounge!