A CPS Teacher’s Diary Of His Final School Year

For Chicago teachers, a note from the principal detailing their assignment for the upcoming school year is a mere formality. Some return to the same grade level or subject as the year before. But for others, including veteran teacher Gregory Michie, the switch was a “sucker punch.” Michie was reassigned to teach media literacy to all grade levels, from kindergarten through eighth grade, a challenge he hadn’t encountered before. In a series of diary entries, he chronicles his experiences of his final year in Chicago Public Schools. Now readers can learn from Michie’s experience in his published book, “176 Days: A Teacher’s Diary of an Unexpected Year.” Reset sits down with Michie to learn more about the lessons he learned. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.