Her Story
Jean Damisch came from three generations of teachers — her mother, herself, and eventually her own daughter — and knew from early childhood that she wanted to teach. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Northwestern University in 1951 and returned there for an M.A. in Counseling (1966–69) and a Type 75 Administration Certificate (1980). After years as a full-time substitute teaching everything from physical education to art across Chicago and the north suburbs, and a stint teaching nursery school, she found her calling in special education, joining Niles Township High School District #219 in 1975 as a teacher in the Individualized Instruction Center at Niles West High School — a role she held for the next twenty years, working with freshmen through seniors who were learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, or behaviorally disordered.
In 1988 she enrolled in the first doctoral cohort program at Northern Illinois University in Leadership and Educational Policy Studies, completing her Ed.D. in 1990 with straight A’s. Her dissertation research, “Teaching Techniques of Outstanding Teachers,” took her into thirty classrooms across urban, suburban, and rural high schools to videotape and study what set exceptional teachers apart — work that went on to earn the Special Merit Award in the 1991 Awards for Action Research in Schools from the Institute for Educational Research, one of only three such awards given nationally.
Her professional honors accumulated steadily: the Kohl International Award for Outstanding Educators in 1987, becoming one of ten teachers worldwide named a Fellow of the Kohl International Academy of Outstanding Educators (and later serving as its president from 1987–1990), and in 1988 becoming the first worldwide recipient of the Phi Delta Kappa International Doctoral Fellowship. She was also a founding member and the first woman president (1979–81) of Phi Delta Kappa’s 850-member Northwestern University chapter, founded the Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy Alumni Association in 1973 and served as its president from 1980–82, and received the Northwestern Alumni Association Service Award in 1979, given yearly to only ten people worldwide.
Beyond the Classroom
Damisch and her husband escorted four charter jet trips of 175 people each around the world, during which she taught music and dancing to children at Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s hospital for leprosy patients in Lamborene, Gabon, and worked with Masai children in Kenya and children in Ouagadougou, the capital of Upper Volta. She also escorted thirty people on a trip to the Holy Land. As a founding member of the Area 5-J Coordinating Council of eight area Phi Delta Kappa universities and field chapters, she organized leadership training and workshops, including a program on China featuring broadcaster Linda Yu and the first two Chinese scholars to receive doctorates in the United States after the Cultural Revolution — an interest she pursued further in 1983 when she traveled to China on a PDK International Gerald Read Scholarship to study its educational system.
In 1990, when Marshall Field’s and Marilyn Miglin/Destiny perfume formed Women of Destiny with 100 leading women in the Chicago area, Damisch served as a mentor to two African-American women working to improve their professional skills, including one she recommended for a grant to write a major paper who went on to present it at Harvard. She was a guest soloist for Chicagoland New Citizens receptions and presented the award to the 1985–86 Outstanding New Citizen. At Niles West, she served on the National Honor Society, District In-Service, Academic Awards, College Night, and North Central Evaluation committees, was a soloist and actress in the 1991 faculty show, and had her homeroom selected twice as the school’s outstanding homeroom. She was also deeply active at Village Presbyterian Church of Northbrook, serving on its officers’ nominating committee and as program and legislative chair for the Villagers, and singing as a church soloist.
Philosophy Into Action
Damisch’s goals as a special education teacher were to help her students become self-confident, build their writing, reading, and math skills, and learn to be successful in their futures — and, above all, to help each one feel pride in their own accomplishments. She used regular contracts with each student, celebrating even the smallest victories with rewards like dinner out or a party in her classroom, and kept an achievement board where students rushed to post their academic successes. She believed a positive mental attitude and personal warmth were the secret to her students’ success, and made herself available before school, during breaks, at lunch, and after school to help them succeed.
Nearly 50% of her mainstreamed students achieved honor roll status in a given year, and for twenty years she personally administered the untimed ACT on Saturdays to seniors with learning disabilities, after first requiring them to take it under standard timed conditions — and more than 95% of her students went on to apply for college. She maintained close contact with parents and teachers alike, and took pride in the fact that former students returned years later, inviting her to their college graduations, weddings, and baby showers.
“I see the most difficult challenges as opportunities. I am constantly in search of new ideas and methods that make being in the I.I.C. a wonderful experience for my students. As I motivate each student, I am aware of each person as an individual.”— from her essay, “In the Classroom”
In Her Own Words
“Since I was a small child, I always wanted to be a teacher… Teachers have the opportunity to positively influence the lives of young people and to nourish them. I enjoy teaching more each year. My students come first and I am excited about fostering intellectual growth. To me, teaching and learning is the joy of a lifetime. My reward is seeing a student accomplish his or her goal, no matter how small.”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“At education conferences, I sing these words to the song ‘Memories’: ‘Learning is the joy of a lifetime. Put your mind to inquiry. Look it up, write it down. You’ll remember it better with motivation. Let the learner begin to grow.'”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“I believe in my students. They know I expect success, even if for them it means finally getting organized, using an assignment notebook, having a regular study time at home, researching assignments, being focused, and being prepared for all classes. I try to engender in each student a positive self-concept, pride, and belief that it can be done — whatever it is!”— from her essay, “In the Classroom”
What Others Said
“Jean Damisch can be judged a superior teacher by any standard. Her students, all of whom have learning or behavior disabilities, routinely make honor roll. Most go on to college and fare well as adults… There are few veteran educators who have honed their skills so precisely and maintained a professional sincere regard for the profession and its beneficiaries.”— Mark O’Brien, Special Education Coordinator, Niles Township High Schools
“Dr. Damisch settles for nothing less than unlocking the genius in each child with whom she works… Without exception I observe the same scene when I pass Dr. Damisch’s classroom — students and teacher are always actively engaged, creative ideas are being exchanged and plans for further success are being formulated.”— Jean Rutherford, Ed.D., Principal, Niles West High School
“It takes a unique and wonderful teacher to change the self concept of so many students. Dr. Damisch’s students leave Niles West with new dreams and with the confidence to take new risks and succeed. This remarkable teacher deserves to be recognized as truly outstanding.”— Judi Sloan, 1992–1993 Illinois Teacher of the Year, Niles West High School
“I think that Jean achieves what she does with her students through her own example. Her students seem to know that she does indeed value her own education and that she is one-hundred percent behind them as they are being educated… They know she cares so much about them and they want to do their best — for themselves and for her.”— Mary P. Carr, Counselor, Niles West High School
“Jean represents the best in our profession: She is innovative, committed and dedicated. She is a master teacher in every sense of the word — one of the most dynamic education leaders that I’ve ever met.”— Dolores Kohl Solovy, President, Dolores Kohl Education Foundation