Our podcast Teachers’ Lounge is on the radio! We’ve got all the interviews with Illinois teachers and education stories you love -- along with exclusive segments -- in a monthly, hour-long show on WNIJ.
Important programming note: the Teachers’ Lounge Radio show now airs the last Friday of each month at noon. You’ll also be able to tune in and hear the show again the following morning, Saturday, at 6 a.m. You can listen right here, right now too!
On this episode, we’re revisiting our 2021 conversation with comic book artist and art teacher Marcel Walker. He helped create the educational comic series “CHUTZ-POW! Superheroes of the Holocaust” with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and works with “ToonSeum" -- a museum of comics and cartoons.
The ToonSeum even held an exhibition called “From MLK to March: Civil Rights in Comics and Cartoons” with civil rights icon, the late Representative John Lewis.
“[Rep. Lewis] got his copy of The Montgomery Story [comic] directly from Martin Luther King Jr. And as he's talking about this, that's when it kind of clicked for me like, ‘Oh, in this moment, I am one person removed from Martin Luther King, Jr!’” said Walker. “When Barack Obama gave Representative Lewis' eulogy, he referred to him as one of our founding fathers. I thought that is completely apt. I am right now sitting here talking to a founding father. He volunteered in that moment in talking about The Montgomery Story, he said ‘a comic book changed my life.’”
We’re also talking with Evelyn Cassano! She’s an Adult Education instructor at Waubonsee Community College. She teaches students of all ages -- 17 through 70 years old --about everything from digital literacy to English Language learning.
Her students come to learn for a wide range of reasons and bring a range of life experiences to the classroom. It makes for a special learning environment. And it’s not just Spanish speakers learning English. Last year, students speaking 45 different languages came into their English language courses.
“Last spring, I had a student from Ukraine. I was doing my homework. I was watching YouTube videos. I study and I want to learn even just how to say ‘Hello, how are you?’ in their language just to help make them feel comfortable,” she said.
It helps that Evelyn also has a unique education journey of her own.
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.
