Teachers' Lounge
Host Peter Medlin connects with teachers, students and leaders in education as they discuss the biggest issues impacting classrooms.
We want to hear your experiences as an educator. Send us a note to teacherslounge@niu.edu.
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A music teacher puts a soundtrack to climate anxiety…with classical music…“If I'm going to continue spending hours each day practicing music from the past, then I also need to find a way to bring that to bear when coping with the present.”Composing the Climate…hear the music and conversation on Teachers’ Lounge.
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"I don't need a student to like my class. I know that I've done my job when a student says, 'Oh my gosh, I can't drive my car without thinking about physics anymore!' or 'I'm always seeing physics through everything, and it's driving me crazy!'"We’re headed to the lab on a new Teachers' Lounge podcast.
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We’re checking in with a group of 8-year-old elementary school students who LOVE their drama club and give us a rousing performance…that and an award-winning P.E. teacher joins us, and more is all on a new Teachers’ Lounge Radio Show!
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Middle school can be an awkward time…let alone middle school P.E. class…so any breakthrough is a big deal!“I love those moments. I even go and have those personal conversations with those kids, like, ‘hey, it was awesome to see you out and moving today. This was probably the best day ever,’ and then they sit there and smile,” she said. “They take that home with them.”Get your gym shoes on for a new Teachers' Lounge out now here on WNIJ.org or wherever you get podcasts.
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On a SPECIAL episode of TL, our education show turns 5 YEARS OLD and we’re celebrating by revisiting some of our favorite moments over the years.Join us for a “Best of” Teachers’ Lounge out now on WNIJ.org or wherever you get podcasts.
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We’re welcoming our brand-new classroom correspondent for the 2024-2025 school year. We've got all of those in-depth education stories and more!
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Kathy started her teaching career in 1965 and…to say they threw her right into the deep end…oof."When I started teaching, as a teacher, you were extremely isolated," she said. "You were closed in this room with them. In my second year of teaching, I had 50 3rd graders!"We talk about how in the world you teach that many kids at once, how she evolved as a teacher as she got older and adapted to new teaching styles and technology. We hear some of her favorite stories from over the years and much more.
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On a new Teachers’ Lounge podcast -- we all want to eat good food and we all want to live in a beautiful home. So, when you teach Food and interior design like Katey -- it’s not that hard to make the lessons feel relevant.
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On a new Teachers’ Lounge podcast, Tracey teaches agriculture, woodworking, welding, horticulture and sometimes she needs to learn yet another skill to help one of her students, like building guitars."He literally starts laughing. He goes, either you're the best teacher ever, or you have no idea what you're doing! I'm just chuckling. I have a kid who has this need, I can reach the kids need by learning this new skill. I'm going to learn this new skill."Building her students’ confidence…and whatever else they want to build. It’s on a new Teachers' Lounge.
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We’re talking to the Wisconsin professor who wrote the first ever comprehensive history of American motherhood.We also talk with an award-winning Illinois educator about the Human Geography class she teaches…and what exactly human geography is…That and more is all on a new Teachers’ Lounge Radio Show…