Teachers' Lounge Podcast

On a new Teachers' Lounge Radio Show, we’re bringing you even more student voices, this time from Somonauk’s FFA program. We're also learning about how schools fueled America's first culture war, and ask 'What's the real point of social studies?'

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.

We check-in with out elementary school student correspondents, fret about fractions, & dive into some of the biggest education issues of 2025.

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.

On an end-of-the-year Teachers' Lounge Radio Show, we wave goodbye to our student correspondents from Hinckley-Big Rock, check some elementary school students' Christmas lists, & revisit a pair of our favorite conversations of 2024…

On our last episode of the year, we're revisiting some of our favorite Teachers' Lounge conversations of 2024.

On a new Teachers’ Lounge podcast, why being bilingual is a superpower…and how many schools are teaching it in 2024.