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.

Children's Choices Awards

The Children's Choices Program is a joint project between the Children's Book Council and The International Literacy Association. There are only five Children's Choices selected sites in the U.S., and Louisiana Tech's College of Education is one of those partnerships! Dr. Amy Massey Vessel applied last year to serve as a host site and was selected to serve as a team leader on ILA's Children's Choices Committee. Lincoln Parish School district leaders, Lisa Mangum (District Reading Coach) and Sherry Boyd (Elementary Supervisor) were integral in supporting the establishment of the Children's choice program in our area schools and will continue to support this 3-year program. More than 2,500 students at Hillcrest Elementary, Ruston Elementary, Glen View Elementary, and Cypress Springs Elementary School submitted votes from August - January after having the opportunity to choose books to read and share their reviews. Those votes were compiled and submitted to the Children's Book Council to create the 2016 award winning reading lists that were published this week during Children's Book Week.

Teachers from across the country use Children's Choices, Teachers' Choices, and Parents' Choices recommended book lists to select new books for their classroom libraries. For the many hours the Lincoln Parish Schools dedicated to this project, their reward is an entire set of almost 1,000 books for their school libraries. Teachers had the opportunity to see these 2015 published books from the many national publishing companies, sometimes even weeks before they were available in local bookstores.

According to Children's Choices Team Leader, Dr. Amy Vessel, "Bringing the Children's Choices Program to Lincoln Parish was a dream come true! Some things cannot be captured with a photo or put into words, like the excitement of delivering new books to the hands of a child. We look forward to watching this partnership continue to reach additional schools in the next year." Vessel is currently collaborating with Dr. Bryan McCoy, Chair of the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership, to establish a children's library in Woodard Hall for our teacher candidates and the community. The 2016 Children's Choices winners are currently on display in the Clinical Residency Research Center in Woodard Hall 214. The following link highlights the selections: http://www.cbcbooks.org/childrens-choices/ Thanks to Dr. Amy Massey Vessel for her hard work, the story submission, and the impact being made in our region through this program!

Strong Evidence of COE and Lincoln Parish Schools Partnerships this Week

Only one day into a four day work week and only two weeks into 2016, our College of Education faculty at Louisiana Tech University are partnering with almost every elementary school in Lincoln Parish ! On Tuesday, January 19 the Department of Kinesiology, the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership, and the new UTeachTech Program served more than 50 teachers and 60 University students through four separate professional development training sessions for staff and a STEM Day where UTeachTech candidates taught 30 fourth graders Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math for 8 hours! Literacy-focused professional development sessions were held at Glenview Elementary, Cypress Springs, and Dubach. Professional development sessions for physical education educators was held at Memorial Gym. UTeachTech STEM Day was held at AE Phillips Laboratory School. Faculty and staff involved in the events included Dr. Tammy Schilling, Dr. Jordan Blazo, Dr. Jean Chen, Dr. David Szymanski, Mr. Chris Campbell, Dr. Bill Deese, Mrs. Diane Madden, Mrs. Erika Jones, Mr. Glenn Larson, Dr. Kim Kimbell-Lopez, Dr. Carrice Cummins, Dr. Libby Manning, Dr. Jordan Glenn, Dr. Braden Romer, Dean Don Schillinger and Mrs. Lindsey Keith-Vincent. We also want to send a special thanks to Mrs. Cathi Cox-Boniol for her support of the UTT iniative through purchasing lunch through Project ACHIEVE, Joanne Hood at AE Phillips for the STEM day space and SciTEC in the COE for materials and support! Pictured are students from the Kinesiology training and the UTeachTech STEM Day.

The TEEMS Team joins SciTEC in the COE for another Professional Development Session

The 3rd grade science teachers from Choudrant Elementary, Cypress Springs Elementary, Dubach, Ruston Elementary, and Simsboro Elementary schools are leading the way for a stronger focus on elementary STEM throughout the district.  These hard-working teachers are part of an ongoing professional development initiative that provides job-embedded workshops, classroom support, a graduate-level course through Louisiana Tech University's Office of Professional Education Outreach, and carefully prepared kits of materials and supplies designed to equip and empower them in facilitating rigorous and engaging hands-on, minds-on learning experiences.  Plus, the team is piloting the district's first implementation of the new TEEMS "Engineering by Design" Curriculum in order to really bring STEM to life in the classroom! The teachers met at Louisiana Tech University's SciTEC Center in the College of Education on October 2. We will meet again in late October for a third session. "We at SciTEC in the COE are thrilled to partner with Project ACHIEVE on this project and are looking forward to collaborate on the composition of an upcoming grant proposal to support additional professional development opportunities for  STEM educators in Lincoln Parish,"said SciTEC Director, Lindsey Keith-Vincent. It's an exciting time for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the Lincoln Parish public schools!!!

The article and accompanying images were submitted for the College of Education Blog at Louisiana Tech University by Mrs. Cathi Cox-Boniol, Director of Lincoln Parish Project ACHIEVE. If you or someone you know wants to share some exciting partnerships with the Louisiana Tech University College of Education family, please feel free to email lbkv@latech.edu.

Shell Supports Interdisciplinary Project - SAMPLE

SciTEC STEM Outreach Coordinator and UTeachTech Associate Director, Mrs. Diane Madden, presented information relating to the 5E Instructional Model at the SAMPLE workshop led by Principal Investigator, Dr. Pedro DeRosa, and funded by Shell. The year-long professional development collaboration with Grambling State University and the Louisiana Tech University College of Engineering and Sciences , College of Applied and Natural Sciences, and SciTEC in the College of Education is a hybrid program including hands-on labs, coursework through SciTEC's Office of Professional Education Outreach, and professional development workshops on Tech's campus.Teachers from Ouachita, Lincoln, and Morehouse Parishes are participating in the project. The graduation of the students from the program will occur in the fall of 2015 during a formal dinner and recognition ceremony at Louisiana Tech University.  The Shell SAMPLE collaboration is one of many interdisciplinary projects in which the College of Education participates.