Get to Know Me

A bit about me...

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Hello! My name is Madeline and I am a 2nd grade teacher. I currently work in Wilmette, IL, but have also taught in North Chicago, IL (teaching full-day kindergarten) and Antioch, IL teaching (first grade). I am currently in my 8th year of teaching, my 4th in second grade. Second grade is the best! 

Before getting my first job out of college, I had the wonderful opportunity to do my student teaching abroad in Australia. That is when I had my first introduction to blogging, where I posted all about my teaching and my travels.

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Although I have not been back to Australia since then, that trip heightened my passion for traveling and experiencing different places and cultures. I hope to get back there one day.

This summer, my (new) husband and I got married! We had a very small destination wedding in Jamaica where we got to celebrate with our closest family and friends. Unfortunately, our dog Rupert couldn’t make the trip! 

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When I am not teaching, I love spending time with my family and friends, playing with Rupert, and creating scrapbooks filled with photos and memories.

My relationship with technology…

 I have always loved experimenting with technology both personally and professionally. I enjoy connecting with family and friends through social media, collecting and sharing ideas (often on Pinterest), and finding new ways to communicate with my students. One of my most recent technology successes was creating a classroom website for the parents and students of my class. Before our school year started, I used my website as an opportunity for the parents and students to get to know me and get a feel for my personality before getting to meet me in person. I heard from many parents that this eased their second-grader’s anxiety and heightened their excitement for the start of the year. Now that the year has begun, my website is a one-stop-shop for resources, information, and communication from me.

I also really enjoy creating things with technology- specifically my Cricut machine. I have found recently that I enjoy exploring and trying out new tools until I have a better idea of how they work and what all I can do with them. 

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My husband is a software engineer and is always around to support me or help me work through any issues I come across. I enjoy learning new tips and tricks from him to make my life with technology more useful, successful, and enjoyable!  

Moving forward… 

I am thrilled to be on this journey of learning how I can better incorporate technology into my classroom. 

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During a professional development, my administrators shared that over half of my students will likely end up working in jobs that don’t even exist yet. That mind-blowing statistic motivates me even more to make sure that my students have the 21st century digital literacy skills and understandings to be able to succeed in our ever-changing world. While new technology tools and information can be daunting to learn, I am truly excited to start applying my new knowledge in the classroom.