Hi. I'm Mrs. Nancy Simanek. I am a life-long resident of the Chicago area. I have always loved going to school, reading books, and learning new things. I still have many of the books my parents bought me as a child, even though our pet rabbit chewed some of the bindings off! I was an English major at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I also earned my certification to teach grades six through twelve. I began my teaching career at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park. I taught English and literature courses, and worked in the theater department as well. During those years, I was married and had two daughters. While on maternity leave, I accepted a short-term position at Pershing Elementary School in Berwyn because a teacher could not finish the school year. While I was there, I discovered how great it is to work with middle-school aged kids, so I never went back to teaching high school. I taught at Pershing until five years ago, and during that time earned my Masters degree from St. Xavier University. My husband passed away after a long struggle with cancer in 2002, but my daughters and I stayed strong and helped each other through the hard times. I came to Heritage in the fall of 2003 and taught Language Arts and Literature Studies for an eighth grade team. I was given the opportunity to teach Literature Plus class last year, a class where I can help kids practice reading and learning strategies that will help them become better students. I am continuing my own education at night so that I can use the very best teaching practices for my students. My oldest daughter is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is working on her Masters degree to be school media specialist some day. She has begun her first year of teaching - eighth grade Language Arts! My youngest attends Illinois State University, working on a double major in public relations and political science,with a minor in writing. She may work on political campaigns some day, work for a major league sports team, or go on to law school. It will be very interesting to see how their lives unfold. Several years ago I met a wonderful man with three daughters of his own, and we were married in 2007. We are enjoying being grandparents to our first grqandson, who was born in October of 2008. I am already buying books and reading to the baby!
