Beyond the Bell
A college-and-career counseling podcast designed to provide students with tools and tips to look beyond the bell of their high schools into their futures (be it, college, careers, trade schools, or gap years) where bells do not exist. Beyond the Bell is hosted by Evelyn Lauer, who has worked in education for nearly 25 years, serving primarily as a high school English teacher, but also assuming roles as an instructional coach, college writing instructor, workshop leader, and journalism/media advisor. Lauer is also currently a graduate student at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago where she is studying school counseling. She is a mother to two sons, who are in 10th and 7th grade. She also serves on the board of Friends of Amundsen High School. Topics discussed will include: college admissions, college essays, trade schools, gap years, finding one’s passions and future careers.
Lauer's work has been published in The Huffington Post, Education Week, The English Journal, Sentence, and elsewhere. She served as the PR/Publications director for the Journalism Education Association for six years and is currently serving that organization as a mentor teacher. BTB was highlighted in the New York Times Education Briefing during the pandemic. Episodes from 2020-2022 are about teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. They include interviews with educators from across the United States about their experiences teaching remote, hybrid, and in-person during the pandemic.
Beyond the Bell
Alyssa Guzman
English teacher Alyssa Guzman and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the challenges of being a first-year educator during the pandemic and the experience of presenting diverse texts and controversial conversations in a conservative community, especially this school year.
Guzman is a first-year teacher out of Lincolnwood, Illinois. Her time at Niles West High School led to her becoming passionate about reading, writing, and the power of words. She pursued those interests at the University of Iowa, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in English and creative writing in 2018, and her Master of Arts in secondary English education in 2020. She believes a very important aspect of her job is ensuring her students take in a diverse array of authors and that they leave her classroom thinking critically about the world around them.
You can follow host Evelyn Lauer on Twitter @evelynalauer.