April Van Dyke
April Van Dyke is a dedicated elementary educator with over 26 years of experience, all within the Palos Community Consolidated School District 118. She began her teaching career in 2000 as a special education preschool and kindergarten teacher in self-contained classrooms. Over the years, April transitioned to general education, teaching kindergarten for five years, second grade for eight years, and third grade for the remainder of her classroom career. Her extensive experience across multiple grade levels has provided her with a deep understanding of elementary education and student development.
Currently, April serves in a dual role as a Professional Learning Community (PLC) coach and instructional math coach for K–5 teams. In this capacity, she facilitates team meetings, conducts coaching cycles with teachers—including planning sessions, co-teaching, and lesson modeling—and develops common formative assessments. She also curates research-based instructional resources and provides targeted instruction or enrichment for small groups of students. April thrives in this dynamic role, balancing her passion for working directly with students with her dedication to supporting and developing teachers.
April holds two master’s degrees: one in Education from St. Xavier University and another in Educational Leadership and Administration from the American College of Education. Her professional philosophy emphasizes collaboration and continuous growth, ensuring that both teachers and students receive high-quality, research-informed instruction. Known for her commitment, adaptability, and student-centered approach, April continues to make a meaningful impact in her school community while fostering a culture of excellence and lifelong learning.
• American College of Education - MEd
What do you attribute your success to?
I definitely attribute my success to the support in my life, whether it's family or colleagues. I wouldn't be where I am without them, that's for sure. My parents have been a huge influence on me as far as my work ethic, and I'm pretty self-driven and self-motivated throughout my whole life. Even in the difficult times, I kind of just kept pushing myself, kept wanting to learn, kept wanting to improve and be a better teacher throughout all of that. So I definitely would say the people who are close to me in my life have been my biggest support.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received, which I now pass on to other teachers, is to always go back to your students and families. We are here to serve them, no matter what. I am here to serve my families and my students, so if I just kind of black out some of the other chatter and nonsense that comes along with teaching, and I center myself back to that, I'm always okay, and I always know I'm still in the place I need to be. I tell teachers who are feeling burnt out, who just want to leave this profession right now, to always go back to your students and families. When I think of the most meaningful piece of advice, that would be it for me.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice would be the same as what I mentioned about going back to your students and families, but it still comes back to the kids. I do believe that if you're going to enter teaching or education, especially in an elementary building, you have to genuinely love children. You would think that that's a given, but I have met teachers who I can kind of tell don't really, really love kids. That's not to say we still don't lose our patience - we're human beings - but if your heart is there, or you genuinely love kids, you'll be okay. You will be okay, because you'll keep coming back to that. So I guess that would be my advice: when you're making a decision to get into education, just make sure your heart is there, and that you truly love the service you're about to provide.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say, if I'm being very honest, the biggest challenge is that I get some pushback from teachers - teachers who either don't feel they need coaching, they don't feel they need to improve, or they don't necessarily want another adult in their room working with them and trying to improve. They're just not comfortable with that for many reasons. That is a big challenge, because I'm just here to help, and no matter how many times I say I'm here to support, I'm here to help, let's do this together, you still get some pushback. The other thing that's been difficult for me this year is we have a very strong teachers union, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but there's some halts that have been put on things too. Anything that we've kind of tried to do as coaches, sometimes union will say, nope, can't do that, nope, you can't do that, so there are a lot of little roadblocks there too.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are integrity, discipline, and finding joy. In both professional and personal life, life can get pretty hard, and I am a very disciplined person, and I have integrity. I have those things that I think are extremely important, but if you don't stop and find the joy in both parts of your life, you need to find that to have a fulfilling life, to be satisfied all around. You need to find that joy to be fulfilled, you know, be satisfied all around.