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.

Every year on Teachers' Lounge, we interview the same teacher every month to trace a school year in their life. It's time to meet this year's classroom correspondent!

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.

A Rockford STEM teacher takes flight, literally. And we talk with two local educators who just wrote the new book “Your Words are Fire.” That and more education stories on a new Teachers' Lounge radio show.

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 Radio Show, you can hear a school year in the life of our student correspondents. Follow the journey of a group of Rockford elementary schoolers and Hinckley-Big Rock kids putting on their school’s first musical…

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!