On the Teachers' Lounge Radio Show, we’re looking back one last time at a few of our favorite conversations of 2025. That includes our sit-down with Joshua Stafford! He’s the superintendent at the Vienna High School District, down on the southern tip of Illinois.
We had a wide-ranging chat about standardized testing, his recent journey to Singapore through the Fulbright program, and a fateful trip to Haiti years ago that showed him why public education is a gift.
We also caught up with Julie Zaborac, a West Aurora physics teacher who will roll canned vegetables down the hallway and grow synthetic rubies in a microwave to get her students to learn by playing and, as a student recently told her, to learn just enough physics to keep you out of the hospital.
We had our monthly conversation with our classroom correspondent — the teacher we interview every month on Teachers' Lounge. This year, it's Caio Gomes. He’s an English-as-a-Second Language teacher at Clinton-Rosette Middle School in DeKalb.
When I caught up with him in December, it was just days before his holiday break. His students were finishing up a novel that’s very personal to him and, of course, end-of-the-semester exams. More than anything, they were all pretty exhausted.
To cap things off, this was our final check-in with our student correspondents from Kaneland High School's student-run magazine: the Kaneland Krier. We talked with a group of students about how journalism has helped them communicate better in their daily lives, the stories they're most proud of, and if they're thinking about pursuing a career in news.
If you’ve never listened before, our show is based on an idea -- we’ve all had teachers in our lives who shaped who we are. And we want to hear about the teachers who inspired you. Every educator we have on Teachers’ Lounge, whether teacher, coach, counselor, or professor, is nominated by our listeners.
So, tell us about the person who comes to your mind. Shoot us an email and nominate an educator at teacherslounge@niu.edu and they could be on the show!
Don’t worry – the podcast isn’t going anywhere. You can still catch episodes every other Friday on WNIJ.org or wherever you get podcasts.
