CHICAGO — Literacy teacher Jillian Nolke is now in her 13th year of teaching. She pursued teaching because she wanted a career where she could inspire a love for books, but she found that her career path has been rewarding in many unexpected ways.

For many, middle school isn’t necessarily synonymous with kindness. But in Ms. Nolke’s literacy class at Skinner North Classical School it’s a driving force: Be kind and be free to be yourself.

“Middle schoolers are figuring out who they are,” she said. “And I want them to have a safe place in my classroom to be weird and to experiment with what they like and who they want to be and read books where they could read characters who are also weird and just like are kind, and I think that goes pretty easy to be kind. And I want the kids to be weird

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