NIU Today

Area educators can now register for edcamp Northern Illinois, a free evening of professional development that offers nontraditional opportunities to share teaching techniques, discuss new classroom tools and make connections with like-minded professionals. This innovative event will be held from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, at DeKalb High School, 501 W. Dresser Road....

The NIU College of Education’s ongoing Community Learning Series continues Thursday, Oct. 22, when the college welcomes back three distinguished alumni to share their experiences as educators and school administrators and to provide insights into what it takes to be successful in today’s classrooms. The guests also will provide an “on-the-ground” look at some of...

Health. Leadership. Maturity. Self-reflection. Adventure. Children everywhere need these and other building blocks to lead productive, successful lives – and faculty in NIU’s Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education are working to deliver those strong foundations. Research and engagement programs already making differences locally are poised to create a broader impact across the country and...

Sitting in clusters of three, the Cortland Elementary School second-graders write things for which they are thankful onto “leaves” and “pumpkins” cut from red, orange and yellow construction paper. Friends. Clothes. Cousins. Mama. Teacher. Food. Halloween. Next, they squirt Tacky Glue onto their harvest-colored shapes and press them onto paper plates as they create Thanksgiving...

During the last hour of any Friday work day – even the 12th period at DeKalb High School – concentration does not always come easily. Five days of labor are coming to an end. The weekend beckons. Just one more lap to go, and with any luck, time is barreling downhill. But for the 35...

A team of faculty affiliates from the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy (CISLL) developed and presented a two-day administrator academy for all DeKalb Community Unit School District 428 administrators and DeKalb Classroom Teachers’ Association representatives. Held Aug. 12 and 13, “Effective and Ethical Evaluation Within a Balanced Assessment Framework” addressed the Performance...

With a fourth consecutive Mid-American Conference Championship berth sewn up, the 1-10 Western Michigan Broncos coming to town Tuesday night and a No. 14 ranking in the BCS, there are some who might assume that NIU football coach Rod Carey is already thinking post-season. Those people are wrong. “There is no ‘next game.’ This is...

NIU’s Student Dietetic Association (SDA) at NIU will host a “trick or treat”-style canned food drive Wednesday, Oct. 30, and Thursday, Oct. 31. Expect to see SDA members dressed up in fun costumes walking around campus seeking can donations. Donation stations will also be set up in Wirtz Hall, residence halls and the Holmes Student...

The screams erupted immediately. As soon as the half-dozen NIU Huskies football players pushed open the side doors of Brooks Elementary School and stepped onto the cold and sunny playground, they heard a greeting worthy of Justin Bieber or One Direction. Children quickly mobbed the Huskies, who were ready to sign autographs, answer questions and...

All are welcome to join the NIU College of Education for a fall tradition: The Community Learning Series. This semester, a “Superintendents Summit” panel discussion is planned at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, in the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center. A reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres begins at 5 p.m. Members of the panel are...

NIU teacher candidates and their co-teaching partners in District 428 recently celebrated the successes of a new model of teacher preparation – the professional development school’s co-teaching model. In the co-teaching model, an NIU teacher candidate is paired with a master teacher from a partnering school district. The pair spends a full year collaborating on...

In an effort to reach out to Latino middle school students in DeKalb County, the NIU Literacy Clinic has teamed up with the NIU Latino Resource Center, the NIU Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy and DeKalb Community Unit School District 428 to create a one-on-one, bilingual student-mentoring program. Creando Caminos, loosely translated...