Teacher gets Carol Stream students to ask the big questions
When Nicole Dodendorf and a fellow teacher introduce their students to a project inspired by a "Sesame Street" song, you would expect to hear crickets from the teenagers.
They ask students to define who they are on strips of construction paper they'll fashion into a colorful mosaic near the entrance of Jay Stream Middle School in Carol Stream.
But a glance across their work shows the students' answers are personal, revealing, funny.
"I am adopted," writes one. "Stronger now." "A big sister."
It's more than an art project, Dodendorf says.
"As much as we have academic standards, (as much as) we have academic goals - that's not the big picture," she said. "The big picture of school is we want the kids to be curious. We want them to know who they are.
"We want them to ask questions. We want them to challenge the status quo."
Dodendorf gives her humanities and English/language arts students the opportunity to do just that in the classroom and out, co-workers say. And eighth-graders - on the cusp of leaving for high school, mind you - buy into what she expects of them.
Jay Stream Middle School Principal Peter LaChance puts it simply: "She is a great motivator first and foremost."
"You would think that I'm describing someone nearing retirement, and she's really hitting the prime of her career right now," LaChance said.
The 37-year-old from St. Charles is this month's Daily Herald Top Teacher, a recognition of suburban educators and their extra effort in schools.
The big picture
Dodendorf has spent her entire career at Jay Stream, arriving as a student teacher 15 years ago. And even then, she was a go-getter who thrives on a challenge.
She had been subbing for a teacher on maternity leave when she asked for a mock interview with Bill Shields, then the principal and now the district's superintendent.
"I gave her some pretty tough questions," he said.
Yes, Dodendorf was in her early 20s and, she says now, a "little overconfident."
But when a full-time position opened up, Shields remembered that interview and her motivation. Dodendorf boiled down her pitch for the job this way:
"No one understands eighth-graders like I do," Dodendorf told him.
After 15 years, she's still known for how easily she builds rapport with teens.
"She's real. She's real with the kids," said James Bartnick, who once taught full-time at Jay Stream and now works as a substitute teacher. "Kids know exactly what's expected of them."
Dodendorf will say a lot of "silent listening" goes a long way, so she makes sure to pay attention to what interests students and to incorporate that into the curriculum.
"She's really good at recommending books," said Bella Castillo, a 14-year-old in an English/language arts class where students are expected to read at least 20 books by the end of the year and many go far beyond that.
But Shields says Dodendorf's a master of what educators call "personalization." It's a classroom where you'll hear more voices from students than the teacher and where students can make choices in what they're learning.
Take a recent unit on the Civil Rights Movement. Instead of giving a multiple-choice test, Dodendorf let students pick from a menu of research projects.
"It's an environment where they want to learn and therefore push themselves to conquer a challenge that they've given themselves," LaChance said.
Some students ended up creating their own documentaries, doing a mock interview of Rosa Parks and producing a mash up of music and images.
"History shouldn't be just memorizing facts," Dodendorf said. "It should be hands-on. It should be investigating. It should be trying to solve a problem."
Creating that environment is all the more important in eighth grade, Dodendorf said. Her students soon will be leaving the structure and familiarity of middle school, and she knows she has to push them outside their comfort zones.
"They're starting to see the big picture," Dodendorf said. "There's life outside of them and their personal experiences."
Giving back
Outside of class, Dodendorf continues to help students look beyond what's familiar.
About three years ago, she started Jay Stream's American Red Cross Club, the only chapter at the middle school level in DuPage County, she said.
"Our kids want to do good things. They want to feel like they're helping the world," she said. "I think oftentimes they just feel helpless and they don't know how to do that."
Dodendorf specifically wanted students to work on Red Cross programs after the nonprofit's efforts in neighborhoods hit by flooding following major storms.
"It's important to let our kids know that there are organizations that help our families," she says.
Last year, students in the club coordinated a blood drive that drew 55 donors and impacted 145 lives. They also taught younger students at Carol Stream Elementary about tornado safety and helped kids prepare a "grab and go kit" that would fill pillow cases in the event of an emergency.
She's now helping organize a second blood drive in May, planning a summer trip for eighth-graders to Washington, D.C., and honing her craft in grad school.
Dodendorf also is working on another schoolwide project with fellow teacher Hally Patel that will display 50 envelopes. Inside will be 50 examples of "random acts of kindness" that students will carry out and document in selfies that will be posted on the school's Twitter page.
It's that kind of enthusiasm for learning that has Dodendorf sending emails to thank her former teachers for their work and dreading when students leave for summer.
"Oh my God, I hate the end of the year! I hate the end of the year," said Dodendorf, stressing each word. "You almost lose a part of you."
Curriculum vitae
Nicole Dodendorf
Age: 37
Residence: St. Charles
Occupation: Eighth-grade English/language arts and humanities teacher at Jay Stream Middle School in Carol Stream
Education: Bachelor's degree in elementary education with middle school endorsements in language arts and social studies from Northern Illinois University; master's degree in curriculum and instruction with a middle school endorsement in English language learning from National Louis University; set to complete an additional endorsement for being a reading teacher from Lewis University in October
Activities: Sponsor of Jay Stream's Red Cross club; co-coach for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports universal team; member of Jay Stream's building leadership team; planning an eighth-grade summer trip to Washington, D.C.