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The Chicago Reader

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Blogs, Bleader Feb 22, 2018
Video
Webseries Super Narcoleptic Girl introduces a superhero who fights off crime and sleep

Get woke to narcolepsy via comedians Sarah Albritton and Catherine "Povs" Povinelli.
- By Steve Heisler
- Tags: Arts, Comedy, Small Screen, super narcoleptic girl, sarah albirton, catherine povinelli, full house, modern family, lady dynamite, broad city, teachers, high maintenance, deuce bigolow male gigolo, lee snow, Keelyn Klein, Video

Arts & Culture, Book Review Sep 23, 2015
The Secret Lives of Teachers reveals what really goes on in the teachers' lounge

But its anonymous author doesn't allow enough room for class discussion.
- By Tyler Daswick
- Tags: Book Review, The Secret Lives of Teachers, high school, teachers

Blogs, Bleader Aug 14, 2015
Video
Chicago actors' sitcom pilot a finalist in NBC's Comedy Playground contest

Bobby & Iza, a pilot by Chicagoans Bobby Richards and Avery Lee, is i
- By Janet Potter
- Tags: Television, Arts, NBC, Bobby Richards, Avery Lee, Comedy Central, Broad City, Drunk History, Teachers, Comedy Playground, Video

Blogs, Bleader Apr 23, 2015
Video
Before their sitcom premieres, see the Katydids this weekend at Improv Fest

TV Land is about to launch the Chicago-bred improv troupe's show Teachers.
- By Chloe Riley
- Tags: Television, Comedy, The Katydids, TV Land, Teachers, Younger, Caitlin Barlow, Katie O'Brien, Wild Horses, Orange is the New Black, Funny or Die, Improv Olympic, iO, Larry Jones, Hilary Duff, Chicago Improv Fest, Jason Chin, Cesar Jaime, Lauren Lapkus, Chicago Improv, Video

Arts & Culture, Comedy Critic's Choice Oct 6, 2014
Recommended
School's not quite out for Al Jackson

The comedian probably has an endless amount of material stored away from his years spent as a middle school teacher, and he's not done educating us all on the ways of the world.
- By Kevin Warwick
- Tags: Comedy Critic's Choice, Al Jackson, Comedy Bar, Black History Month, stand-up comedy, teachers, Recommended

Columns & Opinion, On Politics May 20, 2014
Mayor Emanuel provokes a fight with Chicago school principals

After being pushed around for three years, some principals are pushing back.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: Ben Joravsky on Politics, Rahm Emanuel, CPS, Chicago Public Schools, principals, Chicago Sun-Times, Troy LaRaviere, Lakeview, Blaine Elementary School, schools, Chicago School Board, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, dissent, John Kupper, Chicago Tribune, Toni Preckwinkle, Clarice Berry, Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, CTU, Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, City Council, teachers

News & Politics, Feature May 6, 2014
The trials of a neighborhood high school

Wells Community Academy in West Town has disadvantaged students, many unhelpful parents, a bad reputation, charters nibbling at its enrollment—and some rare successes. Can it survive?
- By Steve Bogira
- Tags: Feature, poverty and segregation in Chicago schools, Wells Community Academy, neighborhood schools, Chicago Public Schools, CPS, Rituparna Raichoudhuri, Conchita Castro, Brighton Park, public transportation, Kelly High School, Juarez High School, Chavez Elemetary High School, desegregation, prejudices, race, teachers, ACTs, East Village, West Town, minorities, poverty, Cabrini-Green, Carmen Martinez, Austin High School, school closings, standardized tests, principals, school buildings, California, gangs, Hispanics, African-Americans, Irving Zucker, suspension, violence, teen pregnancy, anger-mangement, conflict resolution, Samantha Kyme, Edwin Caraballo, social workers, Humboldt Park, Clemente High School, Latia Lane, interns, University of Illinois at Chicago, UIC, Facebook, Darius Calhoun, dating, Smyth Elementary School, Back of the Yards, Vashti Taylor, Kenwood, Liberia, ESL, English as a Second Language, college admissions, expulsion rates, graduation rates, sports, athletics

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Jan 21, 2014
In Chicago, charter schools remain untouchable

Aldermen kill a proposal to discuss school policies but find time to take on Eliot Ness.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, 36th Ward, Board of Education, charter schools, Chicago Math and Science Academy, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Teachers Union, City Council, CPS, CTU, Dan Mihalopoulos, Ed Burke, education, Eliot Ness, federal buildings, hearings, James Balcer, labor unions, neighborhood advisory councils, Nicholas Sposato, Rahm Emanuel, rules committee, school budgets, teachers, transparency, unions, United Neighborhood Organization, UNO

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Dec 31, 2013
Rahm creates a process to endorse his plan for more charter schools

Advisory council signs off on two more nonunion schools on the northwest side.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, Board of Education, Bruce Rauner, charter school advocates, charter schools, Chicago Public Schools, community meetings, CPS, Intrinsic, Juan Jose Gonzalez, Karen Lewis, labor unions, Melissa Zaikos, New Schools for Chicago, Noble, parents, Prosser High School, Rahm Emanuel, Rhonda Kochlefl, Stand for Children, teachers, transparency, unions, United Neighborhood Organization, UNO

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Nov 26, 2013
Rahm says the schools are out of money—but not for Lincoln Park

After closings and cuts around the city, the mayor finds $18 million for an affluent neighborhood school.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: Ben Joravsky on Politics, 43rd Ward, Michele Smith, City Council, Rahm Emanuel, CPS, Chicago Public Schools, school closings, teachers, Lincoln Elementary School, Lincoln Park, school funding, gifted programs, French programs, Tim Cawley, school utilization, LaSalle Elementary School, Children's Memorial Hospital, development, Dan McCaffery, school expansion, DNAinfo, neighborhood schools, neighborhoods

Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Oct 17, 2013
The Secret History of Chicago Music: Captain Walter Dyett

This DuSable High School band director taught generations of future stars.
- Tags: The Secret History of Chicago Music, Walter Dyett, The Secret History of Chicago Music, DuSable High School, band directors, St. Joseph, Missouri, violin, theater orchestras, Eighth Regiment Infantry Band of the Illinois National Guard, jazz, Wendell Phillips High School, Nat "King" Cole, Bo Diddley, Roscoe Mitchell, Redd Foxx, Eddie Harris, Leryo Jenkins, Gene Ammons, Von Freeman, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Hi-Jinks, teachers, music teachers

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Sep 24, 2013
Who got in to the UNO school built with clout?

After a new charter school opened in his ward, an alderman wants to know which kids have benefited.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, 36th Ward, charter schools, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago Tribune, City Council, clout, CPS, CTU, Dan Mihalopoulos, Danny Solis, JohnRice, Juan Rangel, labor unions, neighborhood schools, Nicholas Sposato, Pat Quinn, Rahm Emanuel, teachers, unions, United Neighborhood Organization, UNO, zoning, zoning committee

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Sep 3, 2013
Come to the South Loop and see how Mayor Rahm's wasting your money

Touring the site of a future basketball arena and two hotels that will kill jobs, raise taxes, and make our schools even broker than they already are
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, City Council, Rahm Emanuel, DePaul basketball arena project, South Loop, sports arenas, bicycling, Dave Glowacz, recession, real estate, hotels, Windy City Furniture, Michael Cooper, James McHugh, stores, developers, development, eminent domain, data centers, property taxes, Lakeside Bank, Victor Cacciatore Sr., McPier, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, CenterPoint Properties, parking garages, TIFs, tax increment financing, DePaul University, basketball, McCormick Place, jobs, school closings, CPS, Chicago Public Schools, teachers, CalPERS, California Public Employees' Retirement System, pensions, Rees House, Paul Hohmann, city landmarks

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Aug 13, 2013
How I spent my summer break: Firing teachers

A Chicago Public Schools principal explains why she pink-slipped teachers to balance her budget.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: Ben Joravsky on Politics, CPS, Chicago Public Schools, Rahm Emanuel, school closings, jobs, school principals, neighborhoods, neighborhood schools, teachers, arts teachers, gym teachers, longer school day, computers, testing, laptops, recess, budget cuts, Tim Cawley, PowerPoint, pensions, ESL, reading, Supes Academy, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, training sessions, no-bid contracts, Sarah Karp, Catalyst

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Jul 9, 2013
As schools starve, Mayor Emanuel finds $5 million for hot dogs

Teachers get pink slips—and Vienna Beef gets a subsidy.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: Ben Joravsky on Politics, Rahm Emanuel, TIFs, Bucktown, tax increment financing, Bridgeport, Humboldt Park, CPS, Chicago Public Schools, taxes, jobs, teachers, property taxes, Eron Easter, Vienna Beef, hot dogs, subsidies, Department of Housing and Economic Development, Elston Avenue, Sara Lee, Community Development Commission, CDC, business retention, City Council, manufacturing, Republic Windows and Doors, job retention, CTU, Chicago Teachers Union, school closings, special education, violence, poverty, city workers, neighborhoods, sports arenas

News & Politics, Feature Jun 26, 2013
School dismissed for a beloved security guard

Kelvyn Cockrell started going to Henson elementary at age six, and he never stopped. But now that the school is among 50 closed by CPS, he'll have to.
- By Steve Bogira
- Tags: Feature, CPS, Chicago Public Schools, school closings, Henson Elementary School, Kelvyn Cockrell, security guards, North Lawndale, charter schools, Matthew Henson Elementary, neighborhoods, poverty, last day of school, elementary schools, school support staff, parents, teachers, school administrators, Kahinde Longmire, Mia Bonds, Bernadette Shields, special education, Demetrius Hobson, chants, picnics, principals, Joanne Bradley, basketball, coaches, gangs

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Jun 25, 2013
How Chicago's five-year school plan was dead on arrival

With the latest round of budget cuts, Mayor Emanuel dooms the education polices he forced into place.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: Ben Joravsky on Politics, Jean de Lafayette Elementary School, teachers, protesters, school closings, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Public Schools, CPS, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, principals, David Vitale, longer school day, Humboldt Park, TIFs, tax increment financing

News & Politics, Feature Jun 13, 2013
Audio
Trying to make separate equal

Having failed at desegregation, Chicago has tried instead to provide quality education in poor, racially isolated schools. That hasn’t worked either.
- By Steve Bogira
- Tags: Feature, poverty, books, segregation, inequality, desegregation, Poverty and segregation in Chicago schools, education, race, Melville Fuller, suburbs, expressways, City Council, Herold Hunt, history, 1963, 1964, Benjamin Willis, Chicago Times, Columbia University, Kathryn Neckerman, 1863, teachers, West Garfield Park, neighborhoods, Illinois General Assembly, Penny Sebring, law, Nancy Hanks, magnet schools, newspapers, school integration, parents, school closing, school consolidation, CPS, diversity, Chicago Urban League, James Compton, Chicago Public Schools, HEW, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, busing, U.S. Department of Justice, Colored School law, Chicago Board of Education, school utilization, Equity and Excellence Commission, Brown v. Board of Education, 1954, Melody Elementary School, 1888, U.S. Supreme Court, Julius Hoffman, 1961, de jure segregation, de facto segregation, Annette Gurley, CTU, Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago Housing Authority, CHA, Pavlyn Jankov, Karen Lewis, University of Chicago, Consortium on Chicago School Research, Audio

Columns & Opinion, On Politics May 7, 2013
The school model that's good enough for President Obama and Mayor Emanuel

The prestigious University of Chicago Lab Schools respect and reward teachers—so why can't the public schools?
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, academic freedom, Allison Bates, American Federation of Teachers, Arne Duncan, Barack Obama, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Teachers Union, class size, classroom evaluations, CPS, curriculum, education, Faculty Administration, Hyde Park High School, International Baccalaureate, Karen Lewis, labor, labor unions, Lincoln Park High School, longer school day, parents, peer review, Persepolis, Persepolisgate, Rahm Emanuel, Richard M. Daley, Robert Zimmer, school governance, school principals, schools, Senn High School, Taft High School, teacher evaluations, teachers, teaching, unions, University of Chicago Lab Schools

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Apr 30, 2013
In the Chicago Public Schools, promises are made to be broken

The treatment of teachers at Lincoln Park High raises questions about Mayor Emanuel's other school pledges
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: Ben Joravsky on Politics, CPS, Michael Thompson, Michael "Juice" Thompson, basketball, high school basketball, soccer, high school soccer, boys basketball, girls soccer, International Baccalaureate, soccer fields, Lincoln Park, Latin School soccer field, Latin School, Rahm Emanuel, Taft High School, Becky Carroll, Chicago Public Schools, Michael Boraz, Leslie Boozer, tenure, hiring teachers, teachers, CTU, Chicago Teachers Union, Deborah Ditkowsky, Lincoln Park High School

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Apr 2, 2013
Mayor Emanuel's crowded-classroom approach to fixing schools

How the school "consolidation" plan could make teaching and learning even harder.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, Rahm Emanuel, CPS, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, special education, Chicago Public Schools, schools, special education, school closings, Dever Elemteray School, Dunning, Kerry Murphy, Tilly Tremmel, school consolidation, teachers, parents, longer school day, Richard M. Daley, William Banks, school libraries, libraries, school utilizaton, neighborhoods

News & Politics, Feature Mar 27, 2013
Image
Standardized testing overkill at CPS

Even Chicago school officials allow that they're giving students too many standardized tests. Will they really cut back?
- By Steve Bogira
- Tags: Feature, CPS, Race to the Top, Diane Ravitch, history, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, John Barker, Carol Caref, education history, history of standardized testing, Karl Androes, Performance Evaluation Reform Act, Chicago Public Schools, teacher evaluation, PERA, teachers, value-added modeling, Reading In Motion, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Chicago Teachers Union, CTU, Alese Affatato, MAP test, Linda Darling Hammond, Measuring Academic Progress test, standardized tests, school testing, Humboldt Park, REACH test, Daisy Maass, Marlene Martin, More Than A Score coalition, education

Columns & Opinion, On Media Mar 20, 2013
Image
The dwindling ranks of Team Mr. Wolfson

The Trib got more than it bargained for with the story of a homeless substitute teacher.
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Michael Miner on Media, Chicago Tribune, Howard Wolfson, Barbara Brotman, teachers, substitute teachers, Skokie, McCracken Middle School, homelessness, homeless shelters, Niles North High School, Team Mr. Woflson, giveforward.com, Steve Mills, gambling, money, inhere, Adam Youhanna, Jim Sweeney, inheritance

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Mar 19, 2013
The Emanuel administration kicks Persepolis out of class

Chicago Public Schools officials offer a lesson in confiscating books.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, CPS, curriculum, Chicago Public Schools, Marjane Satrapi, graphic novels, books, Persepolis, Persepolisgate, Nora Flanagan, Richard M. Daley, teachers, Lane Tech, Lane Tech College Prep High School, American Teacher Awards, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, school libraries, Christopher Dignam, Fred Klonsky, American Library Association, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Tribune, irony, emotion

Columns & Opinion, On Politics Feb 19, 2013
The City Council's rules committee: Where good legislation goes to die

Mayor Emanuel doesn't have to fight City Council proposals he doesn't like—he just buries them.
- By Ben Joravsky
- Tags: On Politics, 33rd Ward, Ameya Pawar, Bob Fioretti, charter schools, Chicago Teachers Union, City Council, committees, Danny Solis, Deb Mell, debate, Dick Mell, Ed Burke, Englewood, independent budget office, Juan Rangel, labor unions, legislation, Matt O'Shea, outsourcing, Pat Dowell, privatization, Rahm Emanuel, Richard J. Daley, Rick Munoz, Roderick Sawyer, rules committee, teachers, transparency, unions, United Neighborhood Organization, UNO, Woodlawn

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