Week One: About Me (Who is Briana Grenke?)
All About Briana Grenke!
I am currently in my 3rd year of teaching at Waukegan High School - Brookside Campus. I am currently teaching Algebra 1, which consists of mostly freshmen, but I have also taught Pre-calculus and Geometry.
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| Go Waukegan High School Bulldogs! |
I graduated in 2014 with my Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree at Benedictine University in Lisle with a major in Mathematics and a minor in Secondary Education. This summer, I decided to further my education by going for my masters in technology at NLU. I am really interested in technology and when my school decided to go 1:1 with Chromebooks last year, I figured now is the time to go back and learn about how I can integrate more technology into the math and education world through the use of Chromebooks.
See more about Benedictine University: http://www.ben.edu
Or watch this catchy music video made while I was attending BenU: Who's That Chick?
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| Benedictine University Campus |
Soccer:
I have a huge passion for soccer! I started playing when I was in 2nd grade for my town's travel soccer team called the Lombard Firebirds. I played on that team until I was able to play as a midfield/forward for Glenbard East's High School girl's soccer team on junior varsity as a freshmen and varsity for my sophomore through senior years. I then got recruited to play for Benedictine University women's soccer team for college. After teaching for a year at Waukegan High School, I applied for a coaching position for the girls program during my second year and got hired as the JV girl's soccer coach. I am now in my second year of coaching, but this completely terrible weather was been causing a lot of rescheduled games and thus even though we are half way though the season, we have only played one game!
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| WHS JV Soccer Team - Last Year 2016 |
Life:
I am currently not only teaching, working on my masters and coaching, but I am also planning my wedding. I got engaged this past summer to my now fiance after dating for 6 years going on 7 this summer. We met right after high school and moved in together about 2 years ago. We have been busy with all the final touches as our wedding date is approaching quickly on Friday, July 14th, 2017. The wedding planning has been going pretty smoothly for the most part as we are working well together and with our parents to prepare for the "big day". It has just be stressful juggling everything at once, but I am working through it! I am super excited to see it all come together and then get whisked away to a stress-free Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon! Here is one of our engagement photos below. We are both HUGE sports fans. Go Cubbies, Bears and Blackhawks! I have been to numerous Chicago Cubs and Blackhawks games, but it is still on the bucket list to see a Chicago Bears game and go to a playoff game for the Chicago Cubs and Hawks. I also really enjoy watching the US National Women's Soccer Team and Chicago Red Stars, which is the women's soccer leagues team for Illinois, on tv and when they are in town at Toyota Park.
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| One of Our Engagement Photos |
Dog:
I have a Black Lab named Riley. She will be 6 years old on May 1st! My fiance and me rescued her from a dog farm that went bankrupt and she has been our little girl ever since. She is very energetic and friendly puppy who by the way is starting to get little grey hairs under her chin that keep reminding me that she is not a puppy anymore! Well anyways, here is picture of the cutie!
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| Riley being cute! |
Very nice to meet you Briana! I have to ask, are you and Karen colleagues?! I think it's great that you can bring your love of soccer to high school students. Kids (and adults) recognize passion and enthusiasm when it's sincere so you never know how you are impacting your team. You mentioned being in Lombard for a time- I'm in Bloomingdale. Congrats as well on the wedding! I hope you took the summer off from graduate class.
ReplyDeleteYes Karen and I are colleagues and actually roomies since we share a classroom together. I decided to go back to school this year and after telling her about the program that I started in the summer time when we got back to school she decided to look into it and join me. I really enjoy coaching it brings a whole different aspect to teaching! I grew up for most of my childhood in Lombard (went to Glenbard East) and I actually did my student teaching at Addison Trail High School so I am definitely familiar with Bloomingdale. I am actually having my wedding shower at Tony Spavone's Restaurant in Bloomingdale! I love their Italian food!
DeleteBriana,
ReplyDeleteI too decided that it would be a great time to begin my master's degree in educational technology once I discovered that my school would be switching over to 1:1 devices this school year. I feel that the knowledge that I have gained in the courses I've completed thus far have provided me with tips and tools to help me through this transition. Congratulations on your engagement and wedding planning! That is definitely a lot to take on all at once. Good for you for managing all of your work!
Danielle what a great mindset about getting your ed tech masters to help improve your school!
DeleteHi Briana,
ReplyDeleteWow, is there a bit on your plate! I worked for a principal once who made it a point of telling prospective hires that there were two words she did not want to hear during their first three years at our school: wedding and pregnant. To this day I don’t know how we weren’t fined by the state employment board. Good luck with all of it!
#GoCubsGo!! #FlyTheW!! We’re season ticket holders -- 7th row behind the visitor’s dugout. We were at all the home playoffs and games 3 and 5 of the World Series. We live a little more than a mile from Wrigley, so of course we walked over for all the celebrations after the win. What an amazing night!
One of the big ideas I took away from our class last term was that tech knowledge is another specialized knowledge set teachers will need to have now along with content and pedagogy. Without laying a strong foundation of professional learning, it will be next to impossible to infuse technology in consistent, sustainable ways. I’d be curious to know what PD you received after becoming a 1-to-1 school. From your post, it sounds like you were given Chromebooks and the rest was up to you. Was that the case?
Looking forward to learning with you again this term, Briana!
--Doug
I am so jealous of the season tickets/playoff games you got to see. Must have been an out of this world experience! They did give us 3 days of professional development on the chromebooks and different websites, extensions, apps, etc we can use but it was very do/use whatever you want. I also felt like most of the information was useful for teachers in terms of planning but not as much of how to use it with the students. I would say it was the basics and then it was up to use to learn the rest and implement it in our rooms however we want as long as we use them basically.
DeleteYour PD experience is quite consistent with what I found in my research for our lit review last term. Among teachers who use tech, it's used mostly for communication, planning, and administrative tasks and far less for instruction. At least, it's not used extensively higher up on the SAMR scale.. Guess you were doing a lot of just-in-time learning yourself!
DeleteDoug we're practically "neighbors"- my school is less than 2 miles from Wrigley which can be painful as a Sox fan by heart married to a Cubs fan. But overall I'm just a fan of the game! I've been to about 19 of the parks so far.
DeleteNicole, I believe we are neighbors. If I recall from some of your bio material we're a quick ride down Lincoln from each other. It's funny, a dear friend of mine is a lifelong Sox fan. For her 40th birthday she wanted a bunch of us to go to a game to celebrate. My husband and I got off the train at 35th and we both felt as we do when we travel abroad. That disoriented feeling of not knowing your surroundings, being unaware of the subtleties of custom, and not knowing the language. We laughed at ourselves. While "Guaranteed Rate Field" (please shoot me) is impressive with its size and amenities, there's just nothing like Wrigley, its history, and being able to walk right into it from the neighborhood. I hope the Ricketts don't wreck that experience with all their "upgrades".
DeleteHi Briana, I have to admit something silly: I thought your name was Brian! Then I started reading your post, and I'm like, that's so cool, they allow boys to play on girls teams...I'm an idiot, I finally figured it out.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, omg you are doing a lot! I hope all your plans work out and especially your wedding day is fantastic. Yes, I'm sure you will be so thrilled when that honeymoon happens!
Good for you that since the 1:1 chromebooks you realized you might need more support for adding tech into your math classes. I can sympathize, 'cause that's how I feel too. The tech is so cool but how do I make it happen without sacrificing anything else AND making sure my tech use is relevant and necessary?
I love your pics and your dog is beautiful! I am a Chicago sports fan too - no Bulls or White Sox, huh? I can understand since those teams are not doing so well...and hopefully the Bears will get back on track! Can't wait for Blackhawks playoff games!! We need the Stanley Cup back in Chitown!!
Nice to meet you, Carol G.