A Peachy Weekend for our COE!

This weekend was just Peachy for our COE students, faculty, and staff!

Over the weekend, five young women from Louisiana Tech University participated in the 2016 Miss Louisiana Scholarship Competition. Of those, we are happy to report that one of our COE's own, Miss Anna Blake, a junior kinesiology major also competed and did quite well.  She is pictured to the right in the News Star at check in. Check out the link to learn more. http://www.thenewsstar.com/picture-gallery/news/2016/06/19/miss-louisiana-contestant-move-in-day/86120768/
Anna even made it to the Top Ten! Congratulations, Anna! Your COE family is quite proud of you!

Our College clocked over 50 hours of community service for the Peach Festival this year! Pictured is PDRIB's Sheena Manuel that helped contribute to our COE volunteer time. Thanks, Sheena! We are still waiting to hear back about the total hours for all organizations and see if we won; however, win or lose, It is pretty impressive to have that kind of support from a single College within Louisiana Tech University. Thanks to all who found a way to contribute and be part of the Peach Fest experience!

AROS, a branch of the Department of Psychology had an incredibly important job this weekend, too. They began data collection related to the economic impact of the Peach Festival on our community. AROS is a supporting partner of the Ruston/Lincoln Chamber and CVB and a sponsor of the 66th Annual Peach Festival.

In addition, SciTEC in our COE helped host multiple events at the Annual Louisiana Peach Festival including the Fishing Tournament at Lincoln Parish Park and the Entertainment Tent for Kids near RailRoad Park! Check out the pictures of all of the fun!

....and this week may even be better!

Co-Directors, Drs. Carrice Cummins, Libby Manning, and Kim Kimbell-Lopez of the Literacy Center in CIL in our COE will be hosting the first annual Powerful Instruction Literacy Conference in Shreveport/ Bossier and welcoming teachers from across the region for the three day professional development in-service Tuesday through Thursday of this week. The event will be held at the Tech Center.

Drs. Jordan Blazo and Braden Romer of Kinesiology and Lindsey Vincent of SciTEC will be hosting the first Project KINES Professional Development workshop funded by the Lincoln Health Foundation. The three day event will be a precursor to the year-long implementation in AE Phillips Lab School and RJHS and serve as an introductory class meeting series for the corresponding fall graduate course for participating Lincoln Parish educators.

Camps through SciTEC's IDEA Place and Bricks4Kidz will continue this week with Worlds of Amusement and Mining and Crafting. Students will design, create, and build. A few spaces are still available if there is interest in participating!

Notre Dame's D'Agistino Visits our COE for STEM Partnership

The Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB) is privileged to welcome Notre Dame of Maryland University Chemistry Professor Alfred D'Agostino, Ph.D. to Ruston. Dr. D'Agostino is spending a week in Ruston working with blind high school students enrolled in the Center's Summer Training and Employment Project (STEP) Program. LCB is working in partnership with Louisiana Tech University through the College of Education's SciTEC outreach initiatives, as well as the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness (PDRIB) to provide high-quality, fully-accessible STEM initiatives for blind and visually impaired students in kindergarten-21 programs.

As a blind person himself, Dr. D'Agostino understands how critically important it is for all students to experience hands-on, meaningful interactions with STEM-related subject matter, and we are grateful for his expertise and leadership. The Center is appreciative of Dr. Donald Schillinger, Lindsey Vincent, Dr. Edward Bell, and all of the faculty and staff at Louisiana Tech who work collaboratively to ensure greater access to fun and interesting activities designed to strengthen student skill sets in a variety of areas and through completely accessible means.

Thanks to Mr. Guillory for the blog submission above, our friends Drs. Eddy and Deese in Chemistry for use of some of their Chemistry equipment, and Dr. D'Agostino for the  visit!  We in the COE are hopeful that it is the first of many!

Kinesiology's Blazo Blazing Trails Internationally

Dr. Jordan Blazo, pictured with his furry friends, in the Department of Kinesiology recently presented at the annual meeting of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) in Montreal, Quebec. Dr. Blazo presented two projects focused on understanding sibling relationships in sport and how they may change as children approach and go through adolescence. The first project presented data regarding the adaptive function of making sport-based comparisons with an older sibling for developing perceptions of competence in youth sport. This project also highlighted the importance of the relationship quality of sibling interactions (i.e., warm and compassionate, or hostile and conflictual). Specifically, siblings that reported making more comparisons, perceiving more warmth, and higher levels of conflict, related to higher perceptions of sport competence. 

Dr. Blazo's second presentation shared information from a recent study regarding sibling relationship qualities, role modeling, and engaging in shared activities. The findings again suggested the importance of sibling relationship qualities.Sibling warmth was positively associated with using an older sibling as a role model, and leading to more shared activities in sport. Sibling conflict was negatively related to these same outcomes. Across both projects, specific attention was paid to the age of the participants (8-13 years old), as prior research in physical activity, and family studies areas has suggested that the importance of family relationships begins to wane compared to the broader peer group. In both studies, the influence of age was not supported, suggesting that having a sport involved older sibling may continue to hold value for youth sport experiences in the presence of other relationships. 

 

Thanks to Dr. Blazo for this amazing work and great story to share with our COE family! We are fortunate to have you with us, Dr. Blazo. Congratulations on your International Success!

Words Their Way in the COE Today!

On Tuesday, June 21st from 9am to 3pm, 38 Lincoln Parish professional educators joined Dr. Carrice Cummins, Dr. Libby Manning, and Dr. Kim Kimbell-Lopez from the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University for a Words Their Way Workshop in Woodard Hall in the new College of Education Literacy Center. Teachers came from each of the Lincoln Parish elementary schools, and many administrators joined as well. Central Office Elementary Lead, Sherry Boyd was also in attendance and has been a great advocate for the use of the tool in the schools she serves. Dr. Bryan McCoy, Department Chair for Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership noted that this workshop was a "fantastic opportunity to engage with K-12 educational professionals to strengthen both the teacher education programs and K-12 classrooms." Words Their Way is a trademarked product through Pearson Learning Services. The system focuses on " word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction," as noted on their website www.pearsonschool.com. The faculty enjoyed a full day of professional development activities and modeled instruction delivered by the University professors. "This voluntary workshop was hosted at no charge, and is an extension of the strong existing partnership between the Louisiana Tech University College of Education and the Lincoln Parish Schools," noted Dean Schillinger. In addition to the exciting event today, the trio of outstanding literacy educators will be hosting a regional conference in Shreveport/ Bossier at the Tech Center from June 28- June 30. This is the first annual conference of its kind and is titled Powerful Instruction: Developing Readers, Writers, and Thinkers. For more information about the upcoming conference, please visit the Eventbrite site at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/powerful-instruction-developing-readers-writers-and-thinkers-tickets-22048621019?aff=erelexpmlt . There is limited space available for those interested in registering.

COE Volunteers Help Out with the Annual Louisiana Peach Festival!

In just three short weeks, the Annual Louisiana Peach Festival will be taking place in our very own Ruston, LA! We are happy to report that as of Friday, June 3, the Louisiana Tech University College of Education was 4th place in the race for the most volunteers helping with the event! In addition to those from SciTEC helping host special events including the Kid's Fishing Tournament, the Family Tent, AROS in the Department of Psychology will actually be doing evaluations of the economic impact of the event on our community! There is still time to register and lend a hand with the volunteer effort. Events for which you can volunteer your time include pre-festival preparations; clean up; FREE Kid's Fishing Tournament; multiple art and craft shows, booths, and competitions; the annual Peach Hunt and Passport Challenge; Peach Cookery Contest; Baby Photo Contest; concerts; parades; 5K Walk/Run; Tennis Tournament; Peach Cobbler Eating Contest; Rodeo, Bass Tournament;  Antique Car Show; Pageants; Family Kids Tent;  BMX & Skateboard Show; and even a new Dinosaur exhibit! If you have any free time in the next three weeks, please check out the link below and select times and events of which you would like to be a part. The winning organization will receive a  recognition at the festival and a cookout for those who volunteered from the organization sponsored by Super 1....PLUS: You get free passes to the festival and a volunteer shirt!


https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1uzcVBJ1VcH76U1FZIIQ8RhXcSJ8ResPmG1xUXRJdiZo/viewform?c=0&w=1

http://www.louisianapeachfestival.org/