ABOUT ME
Hello and welcome to Tangents in Technology, a blog about teaching, adolescence, math, ed tech, and anything else I find interesting.
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| Image Source: Personal Photo |
My name is Pete Drinan and my wife, Katie, and I have been married for 17 years and live in Downers Grove, IL. We have two children, Charlie (12) and Maggie (8) that keep us very busy with school, soccer, cross country, theater, basketball, dance, and softball. In what little free time I have, I like to travel, spend as much time as I can outdoors (golfing, biking, boating, and hiking), reading and listening to podcasts. One of my favorite vacation spots is Hilton Head Island, SC; specifically the Sea Pines Resort. My family has been going there since I was a toddler and Katie and I have started a tradition of each summer alternating between Hilton Head and somewhere new. Two summers ago we went to Breckenridge, CO and this past summer was Hilton Head so we are in the process of finding somewhere new for next summer if anyone has suggestions.
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| Image Source: Personal Photo |
EXPERIENCE
I am currently in my 20th year of teaching mathematics. I taught junior high for 3 years, and am starting my 17th year of teaching high school. All 20 of these years have been spent in Catholic Education. I am a product of Catholic Education, my kids go to a Catholic School, and I am a firm believer in the important role that it plays in education along with the the positive impacts and unique opportunities that it provides students. I have taught Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Precalculus at both the college prep and honors levels. Currently I am teaching Honors Algebra and Advanced Algebra Trigonometry.
Throughout my career I have used a multitude of technologies including chalkboards, whiteboards, overhead projectors, document cameras, graphing calculators, iPads, Macs, PC's, and projectors. I have gone from a paper/pencil classroom to 1:1 iPad classroom all while trying to keep class engaging, challenging, and informative. It has been an exciting and often exhausting journey, but one in which I have thoroughly enjoyed!
TECHNOLOGY
The learning management system (LMS) that we are currently using is PlusPortals by Rediker Software. However, we are considering making a change next year to Blackbaud. I am very excited about this potential change because the new system seems to offer many more features than our current system which would benefit our school community. In my classroom, I use Google Classroom for organization and management, Notability for guided notes and homework, and the TI-SmartView for presenting calculator applications.
Incorporating and integrating technology into a Catholic high school math classroom can be challenging for a couple of reasons. First, resources can be scarce. We don't always have the best, brightest, or newest equipment, software, systems or applications and rarely do we spend professional development time on ed tech. And second, change comes very slowly. The word tradition often gets thrown around, but all to often what is really meant is "because that's how we have always done it." However, this shouldn't stop us from moving forward. We must forge ahead, be creative, take risks and continually remind ourselves that tradition is simply innovation that worked, which is why I am excited about this course.
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| Image Source: www.gifer.com |