Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Introduction to ME

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Cristin Kochanowicz, and I am a middle and high school French teacher in Cheshire, CT. I am originally from Hamilton, NJ, and graduated from Fairfield University in 2008, when I decided to stay in Connecticut and accept a teaching position here. I recently married my college sweetheart in July 2012, and we currently live in Plainville, CT with our kitten, Phoebe.
 
I'm finishing my master's degree here at USJ with a concentration in Educational Technology, and will (hopefully) graduate December 2013. I love doing scrapbooking and other crafty things, so naturally I am completely addicted to Pinterest. I'm also passionate about incorporating technology into my classroom. I use my SmartBoard and iPad daily during class time, and am always looking for new ways for students to interact with technology to improve and encourage learning.
Posted by at
Labels:

3 comments:

  1. Jamee FreitagFebruary 6, 2013 at 4:08 PM

    Cristin, congrats on your wedding!! That is so exciting. I am addicted to Pinterest too; what types of crafty projects do you do? I'm always looking for ideas. And how do you use your iPad and SmartBoard in the classroom? One last question, did you name you kitten after Phoebe from Friends? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. CristinFebruary 6, 2013 at 5:20 PM

    I do a lot of DIY home decor crafts from things I've found there, and I also love making holiday-themed treats when I go to parties. Feel free to check out my boards! I'm not sure if you can see them this way but give it a shot: http://pinterest.com/Kochanohoof/

    I went from using the SmartBoard for a handful of activities here and there, to using it virtually every day. What really made the transition was taking all of my "notes" that I would typically write on the board from memory and creating Smart Notebook files with them already typed out. Then, I would include practice activities on the following pages so students could practice the skill right off the bat. The next day I would go through the notes one more time to review. Having them already typed out made me more likely to review them in later classes, which kids definitely had been needing but it took up too much time to write them out on the board again. I would also recommend using the Smart Exchange website and the Lesson Toolkit. There are a ton of templates out there just waiting for you to plug in your own content!

    And yes, as a matter of fact I DID name my cat after Phoebe in Friends! I am a self-admitted Friends addict - just got the BluRay set for Christmas - so excited! I know what I'm doing over February break...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jamee FreitagFebruary 9, 2013 at 11:30 AM

      Thanks for all of the help with the SmartBoard Cristin, I admit I don't use it as much as I'd like. I will definitely be checking out the Smart Exchange website and Lesson Toolkit!

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)