I am a Google Certified English teacher at Windsor High School. I have worked in Sonoma 
County for nine years. I am currently on sabbatical writing my first book– Blended Learning for Grades 4-12: Leveraging the Power of Technology to Create a Student-Centered Classroom– to be published June 2012 by Corwin Publishing. I have taught high school English and online college research writing courses through Axia College.
In addition to writing, I am spending my year off leading professional development (online and in person), designing curriculum and support resources, and speaking at EdTech events (CUE, TIES, FETC, ISTE, etc.) all over the country on subjects related to blended learning.
Note: If you are interested in contracting a blended learning expert to support the teachers in your district in successfully adopting and integrating technology, feel free to post a comment to my About page.
I earned my B.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles and received my Single Subject English Credential and Education Masters from the University of California, Santa Barbara. My Masters in Education focused on creating and maintaining a safe space in the classroom to lower the affective filter and create a more supportive and effective learning environment to foster dynamic discussions and improve learning outcomes.
Find me on Twitter at @CTuckerEnglish.
Hi Catlin,
I JUST started reading your posts and information on Collaborize Classroom – and I love them! I teach middle school English and feel that this application has so much potential. I know that you have multiple classes as well, so may I ask how you set up the site? Do you set up a different “category” for each class, or do you group all of them together? I am still working my way through the logistics of the site and any help/advice you can give is much appreciated. Thanks – and thanks!
Hello Diana,
I apologize for this ridiculously late reply. My blog has so much spam that I am only now making my way back to the summer postings! My apologies.
I am thrilled you have enjoyed my postings on Collaborize Classroom. I teach high school English (though I am on sabbatical this year because I just finished my first book on Blended Learning for K-12 teachers- to be published in June).
I used my single Collaborize site with 6 classes (164 students total). I did create a category for each class and named them 2A English, 3A English, etc. Then I had category groups (i.e. discussion questions, test preparation, creative writing, etc.) under each category for the different types we did online (…I know the wording category vs. category group is confusing).
Now with the “Groups” feature you can create a group for each class so they only see the questions you post for them as a class.
You may be well on your way by now, but I wanted to respond since I had not seen this comment before. Please let me know if you have any questions at this point in the year I can answer!
Catlin
Glad to see your having success Catlin.
Hi Catlin!
We’ve connected in the past on #edchat and I wanted to reach out and let you know about a new site we just launched: Teach.com. Because of your importance and influence in education and teaching I wanted to let you know about the new site!
If you’re interested in getting involved with the site or guest posting on our blog, we’d love to have you — We’d also love some help building our PLN on Twitter (@Teachdotcom) so any help you can give would be very appreciated!
See you on #edchat!
Sarah
Hello Sarah,
I will definitely check out Teach.com and I would love to contribue to your blog. After I get a feel for it, I will make sure to mention it on #edchat. Thank you for reaching out! It is always nice to connect with other people in education.
Catlin
Thanks Catlin!
Do you ever use Collaborize as a venue for students to present work (like creative writing, etc.) that is not a direct response to a discussion question, so then other students can see it and respond to it? I am thinking about having my students start submitting work on Collaborize… What do you think?
Hello Rebekah,
Yes, I use my site for creative and formal writing all the time. I like to use media (bizarre pictures or interesting videos) to inspire creative writing on a variety of topics. I create a Vote or Suggest question type and embed the media, then ask students to post their story or poem. After everyone has submitted their creative piece, I ask them to vote for their favorite story. It has been so fun and validating for them. I can tell they put much more effort into their work because they know their peers will be reading them, replying to each other and voting for their favorites.
When we work on a process paper for a formal essay topic, I ask them to post parts of their essay for peer review. One night I will ask them to post their introduction with hook and thesis for peer feedback. Then I have them select their strongest example of a quote with analysis to share since so many of them struggle with analyzing. I will also post feedback if the class does not catch and error, but it makes my job so much easier since they do a great job of providing each other with constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement (especially after we practiced a few times).
Let me know if you have any additional questions! Good luck.
Catlin
I am trying to set up my site to use and am having problems. When I go into the topic library it asks me to create a library profile. I fill out the information requested and click “save my profile”, but it continually tells me {object Object} and won’t save it. Any help?
Hi Mary,
I would suggest sending the tech support team at Collaborize Classroom a message http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/support. I have not heard of that problem before. My profile set up without a problem.
Good luck!
Catlin
Hello Mick and Vicky,
I apologize for not responding to your message from this summer sooner! My blog gets so much spam that I am just now wading through these messages.
I have a ton of resources for teachers using technology that I can share. In fact, I just finished my first book Blended Learning for Grades 4-12: Leveraging Technology to Create a Student Centered Classroom which will be published in June 2012.
A collection of my resources are hosted at Collaborize Classroom and you can access them at http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/resources. You can view them and/or download them for free. They are great for any teacher incorporating online work (discussions, group work, etc.) into the traditional classroom setting = blended learning.
Let me know if you have a need for a resource you don’t see because I may have it in my private collection!
Nice to connect with you.
Catlin
Dear Catlin,
I just listened into your Common Core presentation with Simple K12 and I think you would be a great presenter for ISTE, as well. Would you be willing to talk further about presenting a possible webinar for ISTE?
Let me know. Thanks, Sherry Bosch, ISTE
Hello Caitlin,
Dear Caitlin,
It’s been a while, but I just wanted to let you know that you were by far the most thoughtful presenter I encountered at the FETC 2012 conference. I really enjoyed your presentation, and have only just started looking at your blog, where I was happy to find the same sorts of insightful evaluation of trends in educational technology.
Keep up the good work!
Michelle
Thank you, Michelle!
I really enjoyed FETC. I’m looking forward to (hopefully) returning next year. I actually just submitted my sessions for FETC 2013 last week.
Glad to hear you are enjoying my blog. Take care!
Catlin