Who is Mrs. Hofmann?
My name is Rachael Hofmann. I am a sixth grade teacher at Hanover Highlands Elementary in Hanover Park, IL. This is my fourth year teaching in School District 54 and my tenth year overall. I spent my first 6 years teaching third grade at a small Catholic school in Elgin, Illinois. In my first six years I called myself an island as the only third grade teacher in my building. All planning and decisions were up to me, myself, and I. The transition to not only public school, but a public school in a district that is PLC centered was startling to say the least. After four years in the district, I have learned kids are kids and best practice is best practice. I am so grateful for my island years that gave me the confidence to lead a meeting or find new innovative ways to teach an old topic.
Over my ten years, I have taught third grade, second grade, and been an interventionist supporting multiple grade levels. This is my first year diving into the world of “middle school.” While initially terrified, especially being asked to take a classroom less than a week before school started, I am finding the unique joys of teaching older students. These include but are not limited to labeling their own folders, independent work time, and tying their own shoes. I know we are still in the honeymoon stage of the first few weeks, but I must say I am pleasantly surprised how much I am enjoying my days with these students. I am very fortunate because my dinner table is a built in PLC. My husband is also a sixth grade teacher in School District 54.
Beyond teaching, my life revolves around my one year old daughter, husband, and husky. We had a big summer celebrating a first birthday and moving into our “forever home”. After moving in June my husband and I spent nap times cleaning, painting, and switching out light fixtures. Our list is long with how we plan to make this house even more our own, but we’re so excited to continue the work. When not working on our house, we love going on hikes. During the pandemic we discovered so many local forest preserves and continue to rack up our miles now with our daughter in tow. Our daughter, Abigail, enjoys being outside and one of her favorite things to do on our hikes is point out the birds and wave to other puppies. The final must know about me is I am a huge Cleveland baseball fan. My life’s goal is to see all 30 major league ball parks. I only have 6 more to go! The highlight of my summer (besides buying our forever home) was taking my daughter to her first major league baseball game in Cleveland.
Technology and Me
Just like the technology available, my relationship with it is ever evolving both personally and professionally. As someone in my early thirties, it is hard for me to remember a time that technology wasn’t around. My middle school evenings were spent on AOL instant messenger and by high school my friends and I were all communicating via text and posting on My Space or Facebook. While I would never claim to be an expert on anything having to do with technology, I am not afraid to play and try. My mom always says that is the difference between my generation and hers. While capable, the technology intimidates her and she’s afraid to click around and explore. On the other hand, if I am learning a new site or device, I will mess around click on icons and see what works and what does not. Day to day my personal technology use is limited to my phone, watch, and iPad. While I no longer use social media, I use technology to communicate with family and friends, read, stream, listen to music, and google anything and everything.
Technology in My Classroom
Professionally, my team and I were just joking about how I don’t remember teaching before Google Slides. I am lucky enough to work in a district that has one to one technology for our students and an interactive monitor in almost every classroom. Every day teaching I have no less than ten tabs open toggling between subjects and modalities. I love the flexibility these resources offer me. I am able to change the lesson at a moment’s notice based on student interest or need. Technology gives us so many more options and opportunities to reach our students.
One of my favorite resources is Peardeck. I love how simple it is for both myself and my students. I first started using Peardeck as a second grade teacher. My team and I discovered having students complete their whole group math work on their iPads eliminated many headaches we were having monitoring whiteboard use and appropriateness. Peardeck also gave us a real time informal assessment on each math lesson. Since then I have used Peardeck in every subject with every grade level I have worked with.
I am looking forward to learning about more ways to enrich my students learning with technology!
Hi Rachael! I loved reading your blog post. I really related to your "island" years (I may have to steal that phrase..). I taught for 2.5 years at a private school in River Forest and I was the only teacher of my grade level each year. Transitioning to a public school where I joined a well-established team was overwhelming but a wonderful change. I love bouncing ideas off of my teammates and learning new ways to teach old skills. I wish you luck with teaching middle school! They're a different breed, but it sounds like you've got so much to pass on to them!
ReplyDeleteI am excited to have someone to share with that has had a similar trajectory as me. Hopefully we can be teammates as well and learn from one another!
DeleteGreat to meet you, Rachael. Thanks for the detailed introduction. I appreciated the positive tone- especially for someone that had a week's notice about taking a classroom! At least your husband has lots of 6th grade cheat sheets for you :)
ReplyDeleteWe have much in common! I, too, have an "Abigail" only mine is 21. At home she goes by Abby but at work (she works in the engineering department at Iowa State and is a senior mechanical engineering major) she prefers Abigail. The only confusion for her is on legal documents (she wasn't sure how to sign when she voted and had to see which name they listed her under!). I am a huge baseball fan as well. You have me beat- but just a little. I have 22 parks under my belt. In two weeks I'll be back at Fenway for a game and this past May we traveled to Kansas City to see the park.
Looking forward to learn with you this fall.
So fun that we have so much in common! I must admit while cool to be an Fenway from a historical viewpoint, it is not one of my favorites overall. Although my sister and I could not help bein thrilled at being on the set of the movie "Fever Pitch".
DeleteHope you had a great trip!
Hi Rachael! I love your introduction. I wish I was as dedicated as you are in visiting all major league baseball parks, it sounds like such a fun experience (especially now that you are taking your daughter!) One of the things I love about my school is the collaboration I am able to have with team members. As a special education teacher I work with multiple grade levels and I feel like a valued team member for each one. Like you, this is a very different experience than my first year of teaching when I was an "island teacher." I have never heard of Peardeck but would love to know more about it and hopefully use it in my own teaching!
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