K12 Education Outreach
Educator Extraordinaire
Congratulations Bill Neiman!
William(Bill) Neiman “goes back a ways”, as he put it talking about when he taught in Chicago schools after graduating with an education degree from Chicago State University. He left teaching during a time of cut-backs. During this period Neiman worked for an airline for seventeen years and then went on a leave. He then attended UW-Parkside in 1995 to get certified to teach in the state of Wisconsin. He was always interested in education and participated in local school board meetings even while he was not actively teaching. While working for the airline he ran for the Kenosha school board and got elected twice, serving for four and a half years. During his term he was involved in a recall election over a superintendant firing. Being on a board during a heated time, taught him a lot about the election process and dealing with politicians. In 1996 he was hired part-time between Bullen Middle School and Bradford High School and then started teaching full time at Bradford High school in 1997 as a US History Teacher. He later moved into teaching Government and Politics and has been teaching this subject ever since.
Neiman feels he has a loose classroom style that lets students engage in discussions. For him the bottom line is demanding that students learn to think on their own. He spoke with pride that one of his students that graduated three years ago is now on the school board. This student first ran at age eighteen while a senior at Bradford. He got elected the next year for a three year term. Neiman assisted the student with his campaign. Another of his students was elected the national Vice President of College Democrats while attending UW-Madison. He stresses that personal involvement is so important, because that is how you can change things. He teaches through real life examples.
Neiman likes to think that his class is unique. They don’t just turn in assignments, they discuss them. Through current events he can teach every aspect of the course. Everything that is going on in the news is fodder for discussion. He teaches four general and four advanced placement (AP) honors classes. He said that “students that want a very structure class sometimes don’t get it at first and need to adjust to what my teaching style is, and then it flows.” His students come in asking “what are we going to do today,” his response is “nothing.” This is their ongoing joke, but in the end the students say that they learned an awful lot. His capstone essay for the class is to write a two pages minimum essay describing what they got out of the class without listing facts or statistics, but explaining what the impact of the class was on them. He said the essays are “nothing short of phenomenal.” They know a ton about Government and Politics and they can apply it when they leave the classroom. The class slogan is “Individual action causes change!”
He also encourages his students to engage in their academic experience by advocating for themselves to the school board. Their activism at these board meetings has helped policies get changed. One topic that students felt passionate about was dress code. After attending a board meeting on this subject, several of his students joined the dress code committee and were able to help write the new policy. Two years ago a student wanted to keep the dance class that the school was planning to cut. This student took action, got signatures from students, and presented to the school board. The board then reversed the principal’s decision to eliminate dance. His students were also instrumental in decreasing parking fees. Neiman tells his students that, “You need to fix it if you see something that needs to be changed.” He has taped segments of his students in action at board meetings, which he shares with his current students.
He leads by example through informational picketing during stalled contract negotiations. He gave an example of a time when he showed up to picket and no one else was there. He started the picket line and eventually dozens of people joined him. He cites to his class that “Rosa Parks did not have a mob standing with her on the bus refusing to give up seats, she did it on her own,” again an example of how individual action creates change. He spoke about how once 900 teachers attended a rally over contracts; each individual had to make it a priority to attend this event and make a decision to speak out.
Neiman has served his school and community in a number of ways. He was the Union president for two years, and is currently serving as a building representative. He runs a political action club at Bradford. He tries to keep things even between the different parties. They meet on Fridays after school. The club invites local politicians to speak about their experiences getting into politics, and then the students have time to ask questions. When Paul Ryan came for a meeting, 80 students joined him. Neiman also remembered a time when two school board members spoke to the club at the end of May and 50 students attended this session, this is uncommon because of the time of the year, and because this club meets only on Friday's after school. One year the Mayor came on the last Friday in May, and the 35 students made it difficult for him to leave with all of their questions, they even trailed him to the parking lot. He points out to his students that politicians are just people and this is just the job that they want to do. These individuals also come to job fairs to show what jobs are out there in politics, aside from serving as an elected official. In the past Neiman has also contributed to his school by organizing the chess club.
Neiman has connected his school and his class to local colleges and universities as well. He ran the Model United Nations teams from Bradford to UW-Milwaukee for the last five years. They usually take the maximum number of students that UW-Milwaukee will allow, hitting a peak of about 63 students a few years ago before UW-Milwaukee cut the number they could bring. I have also had several student observers in my class from both UW-Parkside and Carthage in the education programs. The last student from Carthage came back a second time and said he used my examples in his classroom management course “since they flew in the face of the book-experts about how to manage a classroom.” Even visiting college students get the statement, "Individual action causes change."
Thank you Cafe De Lube
"Experience the difference"
5200 52nd St. Kenosha, WI
262-653-0038
for generously sponsoring our November Educator Extraordinaire.
Past Educator Extraordinaire Recipients
October 2009 - Sue Gorman
September 2009 - Paula Rowland
Do you know an Educator that could be our next K12 Education Outreach Educator Extraordinaire?
To nominate yourself or an educator that you know for K12 Education Outreach Educator Extraordinaire, please email jiter@uwp.edu with a brief description explaining his/her contributions to the school and/or community in which he/she serves. Details should include the following nominee information:
- Background, education
- Personal and professional contributions to the school and/or community
- A photo headshot or picture of the teacher in action
K12 Education Outreach accepts nominations for any individual working with youth such as teachers, librarians, after-school personnel, administrators, coaches, and staff. Winners will be featured in our e-newsletter, on our website and will receive a free gift bag!
