West Chicago High School teacher Mary Ellen Daneels rarely knows what each class will include.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m kind of kooky,” Daneels said to her class as she pointed to a pile of dusty textbooks lying against the cinderblock walls.

The books aren’t really necessary in a class that teaches about Congress by creating a House of Representatives and Senate out of the senior class and by running discussions using parliamentary procedure.

Legislative Semester is mandatory for the senior class at Community Unit High School District 94. But most students would take it anyway.

“I hated politics,” Lindsey Haines said. “This class actually made me care and see that politics isn’t just people yelling at each other.”

That’s not to say the students don’t tackle controversial issues. Once a semester, students voluntarily line up at 5 a.m. to file bill proposals for the upcoming legislative session. Each topic is limited to one bill. That means whoever chooses to write a bill about abortion gets to decide whether it will be pro-life or pro-choice. Daneels said students write and debate bills about hot-button issues like the death penalty, gay marriage and immigration.

“(The class) helps you to tolerate different people’s opinions,” senior Christine Williams said. “It forces you to accept others that have a totally different opinion.”

Daneels credits school leaders with much of her success in the classroom, saying they have allowed her to teach using rather unorthodox methods, such as sending students outside of the school to volunteer.

“These programs wouldn’t happen if I didn’t have the administration behind me,” Daneels said. “If an administration isn’t willing to think out of the box, then these unique opportunities don’t happen.”

Principal John Highland said support goes beyond Daneels’ classroom.

“We have always encouraged our teachers to think outside the box, take chances and try new things,” he said. “If they fail, that's OK. Learn from your mistakes and try again from another perspective.”

One of Daneels’ successful experiments is the elective Community Leadership class.

Students are required to volunteer their time for one semester and last year organized a communitywide fundraising campaign to build a school in the poverty-stricken African nation of Angola.

“Mary Ellen has always stressed community involvement and giving back to others who may be less fortunate or needy,” Highland said. “She has done much to foster civic responsibility and community service.”

Although the class fell victim to budget cuts this year, the school rallied to raise additional funds for school supplies without classroom prodding.

This summer, Daneels will travel to Angola to teach local educators at the school — but not before she travels to Washington, D.C. to accept one of only three 2007 American Civic Education Teacher Awards. The national award recognizes educators who excel at fostering civic understanding and responsibility in the classroom, a lesson her students say they learned well.

“It made me see it doesn’t matter how big or small you feel,” Williams said. “ I saw that one person can really change things.”