Introductory Post EEND 681Z

Hello! My name is Melissa Eaton, and I am an Elementary ELL Teacher for District #204. Currently, I teach grades K-5, and each year I teach a variety of ages and English levels. I've been teaching since 2000, and I have worked in District #204 as an ELL teacher since 2007. Before that, I was a classroom teacher (of mostly ELL students) for grades 3, 4, and 6 in Cicero. Pretty much my entire career has been spent working with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. I absolutely love the variety and the challenge involved in my job. I'm proud to work in a building where every class is like the United Nations; I can have ten students in a group and every single one of them has a different first language. I have all six grade levels K-5 this year, and I'm really hoping to learn something new and easy to implement that I can use with my students. I check out 10 Chromebooks every day, so I can function as a sort of 1:1, though many of my student still don't have technology access at home.

 I've been teaching since I had an actual chalkboard and no computer in my classroom. For most of my teaching career, though, I've had a single computer, and I have always integrated technology into my teaching as much as possible. I am one of the founding members of Teachers Pay Teachers, and I found out recently that one of my digital products was the first-ever sale on the site. I'm fairly comfortable with technology, and I feel like it's my responsibility to integrate technology into my teaching in a way that benefits my students and gives them the skills they need to succeed. My district will be 1:1 with Chromebooks as of 2018-2019, so I want to be ready for that transition.

 Actually, until the fall of 2016,  I'd never had a SmartBoard, just a projector that overheated multiple times a day. I was lucky enough to get the latest small classroom SmartBoard that has a screen more like a TV instead of using a projector. Since starting this instructional technology program, I have been integrating more and more of what I learn into my teaching. In addition, my second job is as an adjunct instructor for Benedictine University's graduate ESL endorsement courses, which are blended. This has required me to learn a great deal about online programs like Blackboard, Canvas, and D2L.

 On a personal level, I live in Plainfield with my husband, my two sons, and, most recently, my baby daughter. I've had a blog about my family since 2009, though I haven't done many posts since the baby was born. Using the blog as a kind of journal, my blogging varies in regularity. Using a blog, I can look back and remember not only the milestones from my children's lives but what I was thinking and feeling at the time.