Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on the NIU professors who won the 1991-92 Presidential Teaching Professorships. Today’s article features Jerry Johns, the chair of reading in the Curriculum and Instruction Department.

One quality that all three Presidential Teaching professors have in common is also an important one to each of them— students love their classes. The selection process for the award is based heavily on student course evaluations as well as random questionnaires sent to students who have had the professors within the last six years, according to the Provost’s office.

The same qualities students look for in teachers when assembling a semester schedule can be found in the three award winners. The knowledge, teaching skill and accessibility that make for a rewarding class are just some of the qualities these three possess.

Jerry Johns, the faculty chair in reading, has an abundance of all three of these characteristics. Johns has been an NIU faculty member since 1970 and said he thinks of the university as a “wonderful place to be.”

“When I first came here, I came because first, I would get to teach reading courses; second, I thought the reading program had potential and then third, the salary wasn’t bad.”

The one thing Johns said he didn’t expect when he came to NIU was the quality of the students. “I think over the years I have been richly blessed with just some fantastic students.” Johns said NIU and the College of Education attract some of the finest students in the state because of the university’s proximity to suburban areas.

The master’s program in reading, which Johns said he is most involved with, attracts many of these students to NIU. A higher-caliber student makes for a better class, Johns added, because it allows “collaboration, presentation and writing and research activities” to take place.

Johns said interaction between himself and the students is a major part of his teaching philosophy. Johns schedules one-on-one conferences with students during the semester to encourage this interaction. While students receive the benefit of the face-to-face meeting, Johns said he receives a different type of reward—positive response from his students.

Johns said that the conferences allow him to see the student’s learning progress, which is quite possibly the greatest reward for any teacher. Johns said that the enjoyment and challenge he has felt while teaching young children how to read is similar to the feeling of training NIU students to teach primary reading.

Johns got the foundation of his experience with young children in the public school systems of Pontiac and East Lansing, Mich. While there he taught elementary school students how to read. This came in handy at NIU because the College of Education reading clinic which Johns heads is also used for these purposes.

Located in Graham Hall, the reading clinic is full of children’s books, teaching aids and small rooms where the children receive their counseling and instruction.

While Johns is kept very busy with things directly related to his job at NIU, he also served as president of the Northern Illinois Reading Council, the Illinois Reading Council and the College Reading Association. He has also been elected to the board of directors of the International Reading Association.

During the semester off which the award brings, John said he plans to do work with the international association.

He also has been quite active in research, making more than 400 presentations at schools and professional organizations. He has published about 250 different items.

All of this teaching-related activity leaves Johns with little spare time. In the personal time that Johns does get, he likes to spend time with his wife or travel to see relatives in other areas of the country.

One of the most relaxing things he does is sit and just watch the fire in his fireplace on cool nights, Johns said.