An Introduction

 

Greetings!

My name is Madison Wilke, and my sixth school year as a middle school ELA teacher is now in full swing. I recently finished up my ESL Endorsement through Dominican University and am two classes away from my Master's.

When I am not teaching, studying, or working on my ever-expanding "to-do-list," you can find me outside with my husband, two-year old, and two dogs. Over the summer, we packed up our Jeep Compass (and the cargo topper) and ventured out to San Diego and back. It was a blast, beautiful, and I learned a lot (especially about travelling with a toddler). 

Photo by Madison Wilke

My Relationship with Technology: It's Complicated.

Welcome to my love-hate relationship with technology. Technology is such a broad term. Of course I use technology; I live in Chicago in 2023. My daughter's daycare sends a notification to my phone every time she washes her hands. My phone reminds me where I parked my car. My lesson plans are online, and spreadsheets are my administrators' best friends. The challenge I have found with technology as an educator is thoroughly learning and implementing tech tools effectively, so that I am not using technology just for the sake of using technology.

Historically, technology has been a source of frustration for me, as it takes time to learn, compatibility is often an issue, sometimes it doesn't work, and it can be difficult to implement well. During the pandemic--like most other people--I became a lot more fluent in my use of tech tools. I was thrown into using several different sites and Ed Tech platforms that I had little to no experience with prior to remote learning. It was sink or swim, and I think I managed to tread water. Now that we are back in the classroom, some of the technology has stuck and some of it I have left behind.

One Ed Tech platform I have spent the last few years getting to know is Exact Path, a component of Edmentum, that I use primarily for collecting student growth data and organizing intervention groups. Initially, this is a piece of technology that I simply had students spend thirty minutes on per week because I was told to; however, now that I have spent a few years getting to know the platform, I am learning how to use it to effectively supplement my instruction and as an additional tier of academic support. 

A couple other tech tools my school uses that I have come to know and appreciate are Remind and Class Dojo. Both tools are excellent for making school-to-home connections and communicating about students' learning with families. Class Dojo has also proven effective for collecting data on behaviors, which is especially helpful when considering students for individualized behavior support plans.  We adopted a digital SEL curriculum in 2021 called RethinkEd that I am still getting to know. I think it has the potential to be effective, but I'm not there yet. 

Sometimes technology in education can feel like an overload that is constantly changing. I often feel overwhelmed at the vast amount of resources out there and knowing where and how to begin using them, especially all at once. Although I am overwhelmed, I am looking forward to learning and effectively implementing technology tools for the classroom and connecting with experienced educators to learn from and grow with along the way. 

"Nervous Love You" from GIPHY