Lel Gray Levin

Since the early 1990s, I have worked in a middle school and high school setting. I have spent the majority of my career teaching at a high school on Chicago’s North Shore. Throughout my teaching career, I have taught a variety of history classes, a course on reading skills, and a course on developing an academic identity. Although I am not a special education teacher, I have significant knowledge in supporting students with 504s and IEPs because, by choice, I have spent most of my career working with students with accommodations and students who are school avoidant. In addition to teaching high school history, I am a one-on-one academic coach.  

I am a life-long learner. My passion for teaching, history, reading, and psychology creates a foundation for my work with students. I believe that students learn best when they feel unconditional support from their academic coach.  I have been blessed to hear from many students throughout my career that they know I care about them because they feel seen and heard by me. In that safety, students feel the comfort to share what is really getting in their way in school.  

My areas of expertise include teaching executive functioning skills, supporting students with school anxiety, sharing focusing techniques, and teaching advocacy skills in the school setting. By nurturing these skills, I help students develop more academic confidence which translates into greater success in the classroom.

In addition to teaching and coaching, I am active in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work and have practiced meditation since the early 1990s. I often provide tips from my exploration of mindfulness when supporting students.

I completed my undergraduate studies at Northwestern University. I majored in history with a concentration in United States History and African History. I also earned a certificate in Secondary Education from Northwestern. In addition, I received a Masters's degree at National Louis University in Curriculum and Instruction, and my thesis examined the significance of relationship building in the classroom. I completed graduate coursework at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Clinical Psychology. Early in my career, I taught AP US History at a lower-income high school in Chicago. My class visit to Washington, DC was featured on ABC on Bill Campbell’s “Chicagoing” TV series. I was also awarded The Microsoft Innovative Teacher Award because of my work creating a school within a school for students with academic struggles.  This program was one of the first offered in a public high school setting on Chicago’s North Shore.