Chicago Teachers’ Center
of Northeastern Illinois
University has been providing professional development to teachers for over 30 years. A hallmark of their approach is collaboration that respects
teachers as professionals.

Germania Solórzano leading a writing workshop at YAL, the
Young Adult Literature
Conference.
CTC Professional Development addresses the
4 R’s
Rigor
Relevance
Relationships
Reflection

April Tondelli implementing
one of the units she wrote
for the Units for Books program, offered through Chicago
Teachers’ Center and funded through the GEAR UP
program.

Chris Johnson, CTC Director of Professional Development, Germania Solórzano, CTC Professional Development Coach, and April Tondelli, Clemente High School discussing teaching strategies.

In the unit she created based on the book Our America, Tondelli wanted her students to practice interviewing skills.  After reflecting on an initial attempt, she discovered her students weren’t prepared to do the assignment.  So she did quite a bit of brainstorming with Solórzano.  They developed activities to have her students do mock interviews, listen to taped interviews, and write some sample questions to gain an understanding of how to conduct an interview.

By reflecting on and understanding her students’ needs, she was able to create a unit that challenged her students and allowed them to succeed and grow as learners.  “And that’s really what I do love about Germania,” says Tondelli.  “I can come in with any big, crazy idea, and then she helps me with the a, b, c, d, e, f, g to make it happen.”

Tondelli posted the interviews in her classroom along with pictures the students had taken.  “It looked like an art exhibit on display,” said Solorzano.  She told Tondelli, “This is going to be great for the next year because those kids are going to see that, and they’re going to want to make their own.”  About developing units, Solórzano says “Every year you do it, you know a little more about it and what works with the kids and what they get excited about.”

Tondelli agrees.  “My kids were able to demonstrate that even though they’re supposed to be the lowest one percent of high schoolers in the city, they were still able to do these really rigorous activities because YAL gave them access to those ideas.”

.