Work History
I currently work for a very small school district in an unincorporated area of Chicago. Our township is 4 blocks x 8 blocks big. We are completely surrounded by the city of Chicago, but have our own school district, fire dept., park district, etc. I taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade science for three years when I first started there, and then moved to a language arts classroom where I taught for the past 14 years. But this year, I am moving (somewhat) out of the classroom. I will be teaching 8th grade language arts part-time and working part-time as an instructional coach helping other teachers in the building use our newly purchased chromebooks to incorporate more technology and 21st century learning into their lessons. I am very excited about this new position (but also a little bit overwhelmed).Education
I am just starting the Technology Specialist program at Dominican University as part of this new position. I have also earned an ELL Endorsement from National Louis University, my M.A. as a reading specialist from St. Xavier University, and I attended the University of Michigan where I studied Elementary Education for my undergraduate degree. |
| My kids at Camp Michigania-My favorite place on Earth Summer 2017. (personal photo) |
Background
I was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Chicago after graduating from college. I met my husband here (although we grew up less than 5 miles away from each--crazy small world!) and we lived in the city for many years until our kids reached school age. We moved to the western suburbs of Chicago about 7 years with our two kids who are now in elementary school.About Me
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| Our annual Thanksgiving Turkey trot. Last Thanksgiving our kids were big to join the race. (personal photo) |
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| My husband and kiddos in Yellowstone National Park on our family road trip. (personal photo) |
I am looking forward to learning about new technologies that I can bring to my students and the other teachers in my building. I'm also excited to hear about new ways to engage kids in learning. Our district went one-to-one last year for our middle school students and having access to that kind of technology has made teaching much easier, but also much harder. Access to materials and new, interesting ways to teach things has helped some students stay more engaged, but it also means rethinking lessons, researching new websites, apps, and extensions, and always keeping in mind the "why of doing something." Technology for better learning, not technology for the sake of technology.
Welcome Lisa! We have many things in common! I actually do some adjuncting for Michigan State. Happy to see you will be working 1/2 time as an instructional coach. It can be an awesome job. I just wrote a blog post about being a coach for the past 10 years (http://zumpanotechlab.blogspot.com/2018/08/water-flowers-not-rocks-tips-from-10.html). There might be something there you can use. Two years ago we visited Yellowstone and the Tetons as well! Yellowstone was amazing beyond belief. We stayed two nights in the middle of the park and had an incredible time (except for the super crazy high drive up and then down to Lamar Valley). We didn't love the Tetons after Yellowstone (maybe we should have visited there first) but stayed in Jackson Hole and whitewater rafted on the Snake river. Amazing fun. Like you, we'd love to eventually see all the parks. Looking forward to learning with you and giving you some ideas on technology for your teachers.
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you Lisa! I too love to read and travel, and YA books can be awesome! I love the Hunger Games and Divergent series, as well as other books. I prefer romance novels, but YA authors are also on top of my list when I need to take a break from romance.
ReplyDeleteI am also taking this class to learn new ways to use technology in the classroom. I teach online, and I know there are many more things I could be doing to improve my students experience. This is specially important for teenagers, who can get bored very easily!
Hi Lisa, so nice to meet you. I also work in a district that borders Chicago. Throughout the school year we get many transfer students from the west side of the city. I also love to take my summers and travel. This summer I especially spent a lot of time in the San Diego area, I find the beach to be very therapeutic. Our district has talked about going 1:1 and I like to know if you think if it has improved student growth?
ReplyDeleteHi Julianne,
DeleteNice to meet you as well. It sounds like our districts may be quite similar. Although, we get fewer students transferring from the city; they primarily come from a neighboring suburb. It's a little too early in our adoption of chromebooks for me to definitively say that they have helped to improve student growth in content areas. The students are definitely growing in basic computer use and understanding though. They made significant gains in basic skills such as typing, formatting documents, manipulating websites and online features. Our staff is still slowly moving into using them more frequently which is what part of my job will be this year. In general, I would say that we are still primarily using the tech to teach lessons in the Substitution and Augmentation level (to jump ahead a little). But I think that's where most people start, and I know we'll be moving forward even more this year.
Hi Lisa, I enjoyed reading your post because I was able to relate to a lot of it. I also became a tech coach at my school this year so I'm looking forward to hearing about your experiences. My girlfriend and I have made trips the last three summers to meet up with a group of friends from college at different National Parks. We did the Yellowstone/Grand Teton trip two years ago and also went to Glacier, which I'd highly recommend if you haven't been yet. This year we went to Olympic National Park in Washington and it was pretty unique with the different ecosystems. Being able to plan for trips like this each summer is definitely a perk of working in education!
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