headshot of Dr. Gregory Michie

Gregory Michie

Dr. Gregory Michie, the author of Same as It Never Was: Notes on a Teacher’s Return to the Classroom (2019), and Holler If You Hear Me: Comic Edition (2020), will be the keynote speaker for Bilingual Advocacy Week at Illinois State University.

The talk will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 30, in the Kong Room on the atrium level of Hewett and Manchester residence halls, 101 N. Fell Ave., Normal. The event is free and open to the public.

The evening is sponsored by the Student Association for Bilingual Education (SABE), Urban Needs in Teacher Education (UNITE), and the National Center for Urban Education (NCUE).

cover of the book Same as It Never Was: Notes on a Teacher's Return to the Classroom by Gregory Michie, part of the teaching social justice series Michie is currently in ACT III of a 30-year career as an educator. From 1990-1999, he taught seventh- and eighth-graders in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, where he developed a media literacy course and video production program. He left the classroom in 1999 to pursue his Ph.D. and spent a decade as a professor/teacher educator (including five years at Illinois State), preparing new teachers for work in Chicago schools.

In 2012, Michie came full circle, returning to classroom teaching in the same school and community where he taught in the 1990s. He has published numerous essays and articles about teaching in city schools and is the author of five books and co-author of two others.

For more information on the event, or those who need special accommodation to fully participate, contact Dr. Pauline Williams at pwilli5@ilstu.edu or (309) 438-5882 or Dr. Maria Zamudio-Mainou at mmzamud@ilstu.edu or (309) 438-3105. Find out more about Michie on Twitter @GregoryMichie.