In case you didn’t know, our podcast Teachers’ Lounge is also 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.
On this episode, Julie Zaborac! She’s a physics teacher at West Aurora High School. Julie has a very clear teaching philosophy: play, play, and play some more.
Sometimes that looks like rolling food cans down the hallway and sometimes that looks like her students growing synthetic rubies in a microwave!
We talk about how Julie accidentally became a teacher, her career detour into homeschooling, and why it’s so important -- as a student recently told her -- to learn just enough physics to keep you out of the hospital.
Also, Andrea Gustafson! She’s an English teacher, speech team coach, and director of the theater program at Morris Community High School.
Morris is also her hometown, so it’s been meaningful to build a career at the same school she went to and continue the legacy of the teachers who inspired her.
“I tell my speech classes, I literally took speech in this room,” she said. “For those of you sitting there nervous and scared, I was that kid.”
Andrea has a real passion for theater and speech. But, sometimes, it’s a little bit difficult to pitch students on why they should join the speech team.
“I always laugh, because when you when you describe speech to a person, it sounds horrible,” she said. “You get up early on a Saturday and put on a suit and give speeches, which is like the No. 1 fear of people.”
We also talk about theater, the importance of the community supporting school performances, and much more…
On top of all that, we see what’s going on with our student correspondents! They’re students we’ll talk with on every episode of Teachers’ Lounge. This spring, we’re following a group of students in Somonauk High School’s FFA program! AND we’ve got a group of 8-year-old students from Spectrum Progressive School in Rockford to keep us in the loop with everything going on for them in elementary school.
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 hasn’t gone anywhere. You can still catch episodes every other Friday on WNIJ.org or wherever you get podcasts.
