Colleen Catania

Gmail: [email protected]

Hello!

My name is Colleen Catania, and this is my fourth year teaching Bilingual Language Arts here at TSD and 1st year teaching Public Speaking. 

I was born and raised in Houston, where I grew up enjoying volleyball, figure skating, and theater. While I’m still a big fan of the stage, I’ve since traded my knee pads and skates for fantasy novels and an ever-growing collection of coffee tools.

I earned my B.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Baylor University, with a focus on Deaf Education. During my senior year, I had the opportunity to complete my internship right here in the TSD middle school department—and I absolutely loved it. Although I had initially been unsure about entering the teaching profession, that experience revealed how meaningful and fulfilling teaching could be. I loved seeing my students’ growth over time and discovering creative ways to explain topics that didn’t quite click the first time around. When I graduated in 2019, I moved to Austin for a teaching job and am now in my 7th year as a teacher! 

As an educator, my goal is to equip all students with the tools they need to become life-long learners—ready to thrive not just in school, but out in the world. I believe life is a continuous learning journey, and literacy plays a vital role in that. With strong language and literacy skills, we can keep learning and growing no matter where life takes us.

Grading Policy:

• If a student is not satisfied with a grade, they can meet with the teacher within 1 week of the due date to review their work and redo the assignment for up to 100%.
• If an assignment is not turned in by the due date, a “missing” will be put in the grade book.
  • If the student had an excused absence, the student should make a plan with the teacher to make up the assignment within a reasonable amount of time.
  • If the student had an unexcused absence, 10 points will be taken off of the grade for each day that it is late (exceptions only for specific accommodations).

• • If an assignment is more than one week overdue, the student will receive a 0 and the work cannot be accepted.

  • Cheating on an assignment (including plagiarism) will result in a redo of the assignment and a maximum grade of 75%. Repeated offenses will result in a zero. 

Please reach out at any time via email if you have any questions about your child's progress or general questions about the class. See the Links page below for the class syllabus. Go Rangers!