Chicago Semester

Carole and Lisa: Student Teaching Coordinators

Posted by Lisa Hensey in Special Tracks in Staff Stories | Aug 18, 2010

Well, it’s almost Orientation Week and, no doubt, you are looking forward to your time in Chicago, staying at the Allegro Hotel, settling into your apartments, and initiating your internships. Those of us who research and prepare your work sites are excited as well. And, just as you have apprehensions, so do we.

Carole Kolconay, Student Teaching Placement Coordinator
I have been working on student teacher placements since last March and hopefully the schools I have chosen will assure you a great student teaching experience. How do I orchestrate your placement? Well I need to know what your majors and minors are, what you need for certification, what special interests you have, and how willing you are to embrace the urban experience. Then I study a list of schools and cooperating teachers that we have used in the past. I also explore new settings each semester with the hope that they will eventually be placed on the list of schools we will use again. After you report to your sites on the Thursday of Orientation Week, your supervisor will meet with you to reassure that you are in an appropriate setting for your student teaching requirements. Hopefully all will go well !!
As a native Chicagoan who really loves all the city has to offer, I am always happy to showcase this great city. I also have enjoyed 41 years in the Chicago Public Schools and have tried diligently to make professional and social connections during those years as a teacher and administrator. These connections have been especially helpful to me since there is so much competition in a city filled with colleges and universities. It is hard even for me to believe, but I have been with Chicago Semester since 2002. During that time I have gone from just supervising to working on placements to assisting Lisa Hensey in developing a meaningful and exciting curriculum for our Weekly Seminars. In my free time, I enjoy traveling and enjoying Chicago’s festivals and cultural events with my husband and, when they are free, spending time with my son and his wife. Like you, I am looking forward to another semester and preparing you for your first professional experience.
 
Lisa Hensey, Student Teaching Program Coordinator
My husband and I, along with our two children, moved to Chicago in 2005 and I have been working at Chicago Semester ever since. I am a former junior high mathematics teacher who dreamed of teaching college students. I completed by Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and taught at a small liberal arts college for 7 years before leaving it all behind to move to Africa.  As missionaries, my husband and I worked at the first private university in Tanzania. Five years later, my family and I returned to the USA and settled in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago’s south side.
Throughout the year I work with eleven colleges/universities to ensure that the Chicago Semester student teaching program requirements meet or exceed the mandates of each state and each college/university.  In addition to teaching the professional seminar with Carole, I update the handbook, select library resources, visit colleges, and supervise student teachers. (My other tasks are too mundane to list here!) I love working with student teachers and I am looking forward to the start of a new year!