McDowell Institute concludes successful 2014-2015

BU’s McDowell Institute for Teacher Excellence in Positive Behavior Support continued to provide professional development experiences emphasizing student support models during the 2014-2015 academic year. The institute focused on increasing awareness of bullying, child sexual abuse prevention and mental health issues.

A highlight of the spring semester was the McDowell Institute’s professional development experience for more than 150 student teachers. The program emphasized preventive classroom management, including the core foundations of building rapport, providing clear and explicit behavioral expectations and providing high-density, behavior-specific positive reinforcement for students as they acquire and demonstrate appropriate behavioral skills and meet performance expectations.

This fall, the McDowell Institute plans to increase mental health awareness by collaborating with student organizations to host events and activities in conjunction with the World Federation for Mental Health and their partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illnesses. In addition, the McDowell Institute will convene a symposium for the BU community with an emphasis on students enrolled in the College of Education’s teacher preparatory programs. The symposium will highlight practical actions classroom teachers can take to create trauma-informed learning environments, as well as collaborative statewide initiatives to support trauma-informed educational approaches sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Office of Children’s Mental Health within the Department of Human Services.

The McDowell Institute’s Charlotte Kemper can provide more information on these events. If you are interested in attending, please contact Charlotte at 570-389-5124. You can learn more about the McDowell Institute and read our newsletter at www.bloomu.edu/mcdowell.

 — Angela Pang, Interim Director, McDowell Institute

Professional Mini-Conference for our Teacher Candidates

As our teacher candidates prepare for their educational careers following graduation, it is our hope that they will be ready for the rigor and relevance of the profession. The latest trends, the highs, the lows, the excitement and eagerness to make a difference for the many students who they impact is what education is all about. Education is also constantly changing, which can make the journey more challenging.

The College of Education: Office of Field Experience, in collaboration with the McDowell Institute: Teacher Excellence in Positive Behavior Support and Alumni and Professional Engagement, has implemented a C.A.T.C.H. event to provide our teacher candidates with a snapshot of the latest trends and insight on how to begin their journey in a positive direction. This year, C.A.T.C.H. is scheduled for March 27.

So what is C.A.T.C.H. and how do our teacher candidates benefit from the event? C.A.T.C.H. – Collaborating to Assist Teacher Candidate Hiring – is a professional development event for all of our teacher candidates. The C.A.T.C.H. initiative was developed in spring 2014 to prepare aspiring teacher candidates for the job market with sessions on current trends, interview preparation and the hiring process.

C.A.T.C.H. provides opportunities for our students to collaborate, network and interact with Bloomsburg University alumni, including superintendents, principals, teachers and others who have chosen an educational career. This opportunity gives them experience and exposure to the districts and to the latest professional changes.

Being a lifelong learner is key to educators’ sustainability and success. We hope the annual C.A.T.C.H. professional development mini-conference provides our graduates with the tools necessary to be problem solvers and innovators … to make a difference. These skills set them apart from other candidates and prepare them to make a lasting first impression during the interview process.

Get Ready …. Get Set …. C.A.T.C.H.

— Candy Trate, Director Field Experience Office

Every Child Deserves to Have Someone Be Crazy About Them

Speak to anyone and they will name the teacher who made a difference in their lives. Whether the teacher was a source of encouragement to succeed and pursue opportunities outside of their comfort zone, someone who made them feel valued, or perhaps the person that rescued them from a harmful situation, the thing that all influential teachers have with their students is rapport.

 As the new academic year commences, we should remember that establishing rapport with each and every student is critical to students’ academic success and overall mental health. By seizing the opportunity to build rapport with each student, the teacher is validating the student’s importance in the school community. As a result, students may feel safer, experience a sense of belonging to a community, and be motivated to work hard in the classroom. Students who have rapport with their teacher feel safer to talk to the teacher regarding serious issues that may be impacting their physical or mental health.

I’ve learned through my experience that a great way to establish rapport is to greet each student individually by name when he or she enters the classroom. This lets the students know that they are welcome and you are excited to have them in the classroom. Rapport may be very easy to establish with some students, whereas, others may make you work for it. These students may have a history of behavioral issues, academic failures, or persistent issues at home. To make these students feel part of the classroom community, I advise new and experienced teachers to find opportunities for brief conversations. Talk with these students about general topics, not academics or behavior, to demonstrate that you, as a teacher, value what the students see as important. You may just find your name mentioned some day when someone describes the teacher who helped them reach their potential.

As the late newscaster Andy Rooney once said, “Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.”

Kate Nichols, Director 

McDowell Institute for Teacher Excellence in Positive Behavior Support

Harvard Professional Development Opportunity

This summer, I had the opportunity to attend a Harvard Professional Development Program for Academic Leaders – Institute for Management and Leadership in Education (MLE). It was two weeks of magic and, as Oprah used to call them, “ah-ha moments” for me. It wasn’t so much what I learned how to do (there were wonderful sessions on academic planning, academic assessment and budgeting in the “new normal” of higher education, to name a few) but more what I learned about myself.

I have been proud and humbled to lead the College of Education for the last five years – and have tried each day to work on my skills to maximize the benefits of the College. However, at Harvard I learned I must continue to grow these skills and develop others in order to truly lead this great College, which I believe is the true foundation of this university. This means leading our team to effectively make decisions that will benefit us all. And, enjoying the journey that the College is on, both on campus and with our external partners.

For this upcoming academic year, this will mean a renewed focus upon our mission to educate ethical individuals and be a resource to the community within the tenants of our conceptual framework – which, among other things, focuses upon our collective beliefs of valuing lifelong learning and engaging in collaborative endeavors. I look forward to this upcoming academic year as a time to expand the COE’s academic reputation across the campus and the region. We have just begun to shine.

— Elizabeth Mauch, Dean

Professor Feather has national impact through textbooks

Dr. Ralph Feather has been writing middle and high school science textbooks longer than most of our students have been alive. He recently published one more -- a three-textbook series in Texas for middle school science, iScience for Texas, Grades 6, 7, & 8, copyright 2015, with McGraw-Hill Education.

Dr. Feather, professor of science education, education foundations, and educational research in the Department of Teaching and Learning, published his first textbook in 1988. Since then, he has authored more than 60 titles for Merrill Pub. Co., Glencoe Pub. Co., and McGraw-Hill Education.

He also published a six-textbook nationwide series for middle school, iScience Grades 6, 7, & 8, iScience Life Science, iScience Earth and Space Science, and iScience Physical Science, copyright 2012, with McGraw-Hill Education. In addition, Dr. Feather published a high school text, Physical Science with Earth Science, copyright 2012 and a three-textbook series, Florida iScience, Grades 6, 7, & 8, copyright 2012, all with McGraw-Hill Education.

Think of how many students Dr. Feather has helped to educate – not only on Bloomsburg’s campus but also in school systems across the country. This is just one example of the vast reach of our College of Education.

— Elizabeth Mauch, Dean

Mini-conference focuses on the serious business of play

Bloomsburg University’s College of Education recently hosted the 5th Annual Mini-Conference on Play, Development, and Early Childhood Education. In partnership with Penn State University’s College of Education and Syracuse University’s Jack Reilly Institute for Early Childhood and Provider Education, this year’s conference focused on the promotion of developmentally and culturally appropriate practices in early childhood development and education by emphasizing the interplay among ecological niches, child development, and early education. Dr. Michael Patte organized the event, in keeping with his many distinguished accomplishments in the area of play.

In keeping with the mission of the three sponsoring institutions to promote children’s safety and optimal development, featured topics this year included: “A Look Inside Tocati, The International Festival of Street Games” presented by Michael Patte of Bloomsburg University, “International Perspectives on Play: Themes from a New Volume” presented by Jaipaul L. Roopnarine of Syracuse University, “Teaching Teachers to Play for ECE and More” presented by James E. Johnson and Serap Sevimli-Celik of Penn State University, and “Kids Want Play-Friendly Parents and Teachers…Why?” presented by Belma Tugrul of Hacettepe University.

Multicultural literature and math education

Frank D’Angelo, assistant professor of early childhood and adolescent education, has co-authored an article for Teaching Children Mathematics — an official journal of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. His collaborator on the piece is Nevin Iliev, an ESL teacher and graduate student in elementary education at Bloomsburg University. Their article, entitled “Teaching Mathematics through Multicultural Literature,” discusses the importance and benefits of incorporating culturally relevant texts into mathematics lessons, especially as classrooms increasingly reflect the diverse nature of our society.

D’Angelo and Iliev argue that multicultural literature that focuses on mathematics and features familiar concepts, such as counting, enables children to move beyond their current knowledge base, forge culturally relevant mathematical connections, and understand from an early age that math concepts are universal in nature. In this way, the integration of multicultural literature into the classroom fosters more globally aware students.

If you would like to learn more, the full article can be found here: http://www.nctm.org/publications/article.aspx?id=41299