About Me

About Me

My name is Andrea While. I grew up in Ohio and graduated from Ohio University with a degree in English. After moving to Illinois, getting married, and starting a family, I decided to go back to school to get my license to teach English. This proved to be one of the best decisions I’ve made. After getting my license from Illinois State University, I taught for six years at Calvary Christian Academy. I’m currently teaching at Clinton High School and loving it. I have the privilege of teaching Advanced English to sophomores, Speech to sophomores, and American Lit to juniors.

I will be married this fall for 24 years. We have four kids, three are in college and one is a senior in high school. We’ve always had a very busy household and have felt incredibly blessed for it.

I look forward to learning new ways to integrate technology in my classroom, particularly during this very strange new school year.

Instagram: @andreawhile

What is your biggest hurdle when integrating technology into your teaching?

I’d have to say my biggest challenge in integrating new technology into my teaching is time. Since I’m not the most tech savvy, it usually takes me a lot longer to figure out new and different technologies. I’ve experimented a bit this summer, which has helped me feel a bit more confident in working with different tools. Knowing that we could very well be thrown into remote learning at any time, I recognize the need to take the time necessary to enhance online learning for my students.

Another interesting twist is my own assumption that my students are comfortable using technology or are able and willing to learn new things. As I’ve introduced a few new tools in the classroom, I’ve noticed some unwillingness on the part of some of my students to take the time to learn how to use the tool. Likewise, some students struggle just logging on to google classroom. Since I am presented with students at such different places on the learning curve regarding technology, I struggle knowing how much time to take out of teaching content to teaching the tech tool.  Again, I think it all goes back to being patient enough to teach my kids how to use the new technology, and my students being patient enough to learn it.

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