Instructor Spotlight: Meet Catherine Atkinson!

Who is Catherine Atkinson?

Catherine Atkinson is an instructor with EdTechTeacher. She is an experienced classroom teacher, curriculum designer, presenter, and technology coach. Catherine taught history/social science and ELA to English language, gifted, and special education students for 27 years at the middle school level. She has taught in a 1:1 classroom since 2008 where her students used MacBooks, iPads, and Chromebooks to collaboratively and creatively demonstrate their learning. Catherine 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 earned a Doctorate in Education with a specialization in Technology Integration in K16 Education from Johns Hopkins University. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara and M.S. in Educational Technology from California State University Fullerton. Catherine has presented at over 75 regional and national conferences in the areas of technology integration, differentiation, gifted learning, and digital literacy. Her research interests and publications focus on ways to integrate meaningful learning with technology in K-12 and teacher education.

Did you know that…

  • Catherine and her husband split their time between California and Michigan–they get to enjoy life on the West Coast (Orange County) and Third Coast (Lake Michigan) 🌅
  • Catherine loves learning new words–she uses Duolingo to practice Japanese, Spanish, and Italian. She is finally a member of the 365+ club! 🇯🇵🇪🇸🇮🇹
  • Catherine and her husband love spending time with their adorable fur-baby Pickles where life is anything but boring!

Certifications 

  • Adobe Express
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe InDesign
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Formative Certified Educator
  • Google Level 1 Certification
  • Newsela Certified Educator

Ways That Catherine Can Help!

Catherine’s expertise and knowledge can help you and your school/district:

  • Create lessons and activities that support English language learners
  • Conduct research studies/evaluations to determine the efficacy of programs and products
  • Design learning opportunities that incorporate meaningful learning with technology: active, constructive, cooperative, authentic, and intentional activities
  • Instill a sense of belonging in the classroom environment using frameworks such as: Brain-Targeted Teaching and CASEL 5
  • Tailor instructional practices to support multiple modalities of learning
    • SAMR Model
    • TPACK Framework
    • Universal Design for Learning

How to work with Catherine

Email is the best way to make initial contact: [email protected]. If she cannot answer your question, she will find someone who can!