About Me
I've been teaching at LZHS since August 2000. Since that time, I have headed the journalism program and feel fortunate that the program has continued to grow and thrive. As the newspaper adviser, it’s probably obvious what my favorite classes are to teach.
Prior to my tenure at LZHS, I was a career mentor at Hoffman Estates High School and helped students “try out” careers through job site visits, job exploration, job shadowing, and internships. I also spent a year at Rolling Meadows High School as the school’s permanent on-site substitute and assistant Congressional Debate Coach.
I graduated from Albion College (in Michigan) where I was bound for law school until an internship in Washington, DC and some tutoring of underprivileged kids convinced me I needed to change my career goals. I graduated with an English major, poli-sci minor, and concentrations in several other areas, and I couldn't be happier with my career choice.
Both my parents are former teachers, as well. My dad was a speech and English teacher at Rolling Meadows High School and retired in 2002. I haven’t got a clue what it’s like to have a normal high school experience; I attended school where my dad taught, and he was even my debate coach. My mom, who spent her entire teaching career in District 95, retired in June 2006 from Seth Paine Elementary after teaching music for over 38 years.
My sister, Kristan Wagner, also teaches in the district and is currently teaching 5th grade at Seth Paine.
I've been teaching at LZHS since August 2000. Since that time, I have headed the journalism program and feel fortunate that the program has continued to grow and thrive. As the newspaper adviser, it’s probably obvious what my favorite classes are to teach.
Prior to my tenure at LZHS, I was a career mentor at Hoffman Estates High School and helped students “try out” careers through job site visits, job exploration, job shadowing, and internships. I also spent a year at Rolling Meadows High School as the school’s permanent on-site substitute and assistant Congressional Debate Coach.
I graduated from Albion College (in Michigan) where I was bound for law school until an internship in Washington, DC and some tutoring of underprivileged kids convinced me I needed to change my career goals. I graduated with an English major, poli-sci minor, and concentrations in several other areas, and I couldn't be happier with my career choice.
Both my parents are former teachers, as well. My dad was a speech and English teacher at Rolling Meadows High School and retired in 2002. I haven’t got a clue what it’s like to have a normal high school experience; I attended school where my dad taught, and he was even my debate coach. My mom, who spent her entire teaching career in District 95, retired in June 2006 from Seth Paine Elementary after teaching music for over 38 years.
My sister, Kristan Wagner, also teaches in the district and is currently teaching 5th grade at Seth Paine.
Why I Love J-Kids
J kids are a special breed. They work hard all year, putting in as many hours outside of class as student athletes do for their sports or student thespians do for stage productions, yet they hardly get the same recognition. J kids don’t have fans. They don’t have booster groups. They don’t even typically get a word of praise. But what they do have is a love of their craft.
J kids are tough. They track stories, conduct interviews, and revise, revise, revise. They know they can easily put in seven, eight, nine hours of work or more on a single piece, and it may only take a minute for the audience to read it. And that’s not all. Even after polishing a piece for hours and revising a half dozen times, J kids can expect readers /viewers to point out the mistakes sooner than they point out the positives.
But J kids don’t mind. J kids know what they are doing is important. Their work is part of history. Long after they graduate, their work will live on. Years from now, when the cheering of fans fades for student athletes and few remember a musical everyone raved about, J kids’ work will live on in the pages of publications and in video archives. And when it comes time for high school reunions, they’ll finally get the applause they never got during their four years here because their work will remind us all of what we cheered about so long ago.
J kids are a special breed. They work hard all year, putting in as many hours outside of class as student athletes do for their sports or student thespians do for stage productions, yet they hardly get the same recognition. J kids don’t have fans. They don’t have booster groups. They don’t even typically get a word of praise. But what they do have is a love of their craft.
J kids are tough. They track stories, conduct interviews, and revise, revise, revise. They know they can easily put in seven, eight, nine hours of work or more on a single piece, and it may only take a minute for the audience to read it. And that’s not all. Even after polishing a piece for hours and revising a half dozen times, J kids can expect readers /viewers to point out the mistakes sooner than they point out the positives.
But J kids don’t mind. J kids know what they are doing is important. Their work is part of history. Long after they graduate, their work will live on. Years from now, when the cheering of fans fades for student athletes and few remember a musical everyone raved about, J kids’ work will live on in the pages of publications and in video archives. And when it comes time for high school reunions, they’ll finally get the applause they never got during their four years here because their work will remind us all of what we cheered about so long ago.
My Advising Philosophy
Being an adviser is hard; because there aren’t many of us in the school, it’s difficult for people to really know what we do. We work in a building full of teachers and coaches and administrators and support staff, yet we are none of these –although, in many ways we are all of these.
We teach the elements of strong writing, photography, and design so students can share their voices and ideas with our community. We coach our student journalists through multiple revisions, and act as quiet leaders of our staffs, knowing that sitting back while students make decisions is more important than making the choices for them. We challenge students to constantly push themselves in order to achieve more than they think themselves capable of. And we do this knowing that no matter how much effort we put in, the publication will still have typos and omissions and snags along the way.
The key to all of this is that publications are a learning tool; school publications are not staffed by professional journalists – although with the way some people gleefully point out our mistakes, one might assume our staff rivals the New York Times or Washington Post – and it’s important for everyone to keep in mind that these are student publications. Keep in mind, when you write an essay in English or any another class, you get feedback and assessment from your teacher and possibly from a peer proofreader; when J kids write an article for the newspaper or tape a segment for use on intra-school channels, they get feedback from over 2,000 people. That’s a lot of potential critics. It’s no wonder I smell apprehension in the air when a new paper comes out.
My role as an adviser is to help students be the best journalists they can be. While most times I am thrilled with the feedback I receive regarding my students’ work, sometimes the offered feedback is a thinly disguised question: “why didn’t you, the adviser, fix that?” It’s easy. I don’t fix my J kids’ mistakes for the same reason that coaches don’t play the game for their athletes, directors don’t act the part for their thespians, and teachers don’t write the papers for their students. My role as an adviser is to offer advice, to encourage revision, and to demand excellence. My role, however, is also to let students do their own work, and sometimes that means spelling errors, garbled sentences, or content oversights occur. If I make suggestions regarding corrections, I expect those corrections get made. But as any coach, teacher, director, or employer might know, feedback meant to improve job performance doesn’t always mean the person will get it right the next time. That’s why the focus is on learning, not on perfection.
Being an adviser is hard; because there aren’t many of us in the school, it’s difficult for people to really know what we do. We work in a building full of teachers and coaches and administrators and support staff, yet we are none of these –although, in many ways we are all of these.
We teach the elements of strong writing, photography, and design so students can share their voices and ideas with our community. We coach our student journalists through multiple revisions, and act as quiet leaders of our staffs, knowing that sitting back while students make decisions is more important than making the choices for them. We challenge students to constantly push themselves in order to achieve more than they think themselves capable of. And we do this knowing that no matter how much effort we put in, the publication will still have typos and omissions and snags along the way.
The key to all of this is that publications are a learning tool; school publications are not staffed by professional journalists – although with the way some people gleefully point out our mistakes, one might assume our staff rivals the New York Times or Washington Post – and it’s important for everyone to keep in mind that these are student publications. Keep in mind, when you write an essay in English or any another class, you get feedback and assessment from your teacher and possibly from a peer proofreader; when J kids write an article for the newspaper or tape a segment for use on intra-school channels, they get feedback from over 2,000 people. That’s a lot of potential critics. It’s no wonder I smell apprehension in the air when a new paper comes out.
My role as an adviser is to help students be the best journalists they can be. While most times I am thrilled with the feedback I receive regarding my students’ work, sometimes the offered feedback is a thinly disguised question: “why didn’t you, the adviser, fix that?” It’s easy. I don’t fix my J kids’ mistakes for the same reason that coaches don’t play the game for their athletes, directors don’t act the part for their thespians, and teachers don’t write the papers for their students. My role as an adviser is to offer advice, to encourage revision, and to demand excellence. My role, however, is also to let students do their own work, and sometimes that means spelling errors, garbled sentences, or content oversights occur. If I make suggestions regarding corrections, I expect those corrections get made. But as any coach, teacher, director, or employer might know, feedback meant to improve job performance doesn’t always mean the person will get it right the next time. That’s why the focus is on learning, not on perfection.
Education & Qualifications
Spring 2006 — Certified Journalism Educator status through Journalism Education Association
Summer 2005 — American Society of Newspaper Editors fellow, Kent State University
Summer 2005 — Radio Television News Directors Foundation scholar for Student Television Network, Drury University (Springfield, MO)
May 2005 — MEd Curriculum and Instruction, Northern Illinois University
Summer 2004 — Harvard University Media Institute facilitator, John F. Kennedy School of Law
Summer 2003 — Harvard University Media Institute, Graduate School of Education
Summer 2000 — Ball State University summer journalism program
May 1997 — BA English with Political Science, Public Service, and Education concentrations, Albion College (Albion, MI).
Spring 2006 — Certified Journalism Educator status through Journalism Education Association
Summer 2005 — American Society of Newspaper Editors fellow, Kent State University
Summer 2005 — Radio Television News Directors Foundation scholar for Student Television Network, Drury University (Springfield, MO)
May 2005 — MEd Curriculum and Instruction, Northern Illinois University
Summer 2004 — Harvard University Media Institute facilitator, John F. Kennedy School of Law
Summer 2003 — Harvard University Media Institute, Graduate School of Education
Summer 2000 — Ball State University summer journalism program
May 1997 — BA English with Political Science, Public Service, and Education concentrations, Albion College (Albion, MI).
Awards & Honors
April 2006 — CJE through JEA, one of only 12 new inductees and 378 CJE status members nation-wide
October 2003 — District 95 Employee of the Month/Someone You Should Know Award for starting the Back-to-School issue of Bear Facts which comes out on the first day of school each year
October 2002 — Principal's Award
April 2006 — CJE through JEA, one of only 12 new inductees and 378 CJE status members nation-wide
October 2003 — District 95 Employee of the Month/Someone You Should Know Award for starting the Back-to-School issue of Bear Facts which comes out on the first day of school each year
October 2002 — Principal's Award