EdTechTeacher is so thrilled to welcome Dr. Catherine Atkinson to our team of summer instructors. Catherine Atkinson is an experienced classroom teacher, curriculum designer, presenter, and technology coach. She taught history/social science and ELA to English language, gifted, and special education students for 27 years at the middle school level. Catherine has taught in a 1:1 classroom since 2008 where her students used MacBooks, iPads, and Chromebooks to collaboratively and creatively demonstrate their learning. She has served in a variety of leadership positions: history/social science department chair, technology coordinator, master teacher, mentor teacher, and member of the instructional leadership team.

Catherine is excited to share her knowledge and expertise in her workshop entitled, “Let’s Get Appy – Creativity in the Social Science Classroom.” As an introduction to the ideas she will share, Catherine writes:

“I believe this passionately: that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it”

~ Sir Ken Robinson

Creativity in the classroom can easily be pushed aside amidst the pressure for students to perform well on standardized tests. But creativity and literacy skill development are not mutually exclusive. Students can acquire and practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking literacy skills in ways that are engaging, authentic, and, more importantly, creative. 

If you are interested in learning how to infuse creativity into your instructional practices, come join me on June 27, 28, 30 or August 1, 2, 4 for my session “Let’s Get Appy – Creativity in the Social Science Classroom.” I will share lesson ideas along with student samples that my colleagues and I have used in our classrooms. Even if you don’t teach social science, come join us anyway as many of these ideas are applicable to ELA, science, and math. Many of our students are content creators outside of school—let’s harness their passion and use it for the benefit of learning in our classrooms!