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ALUMNI NEWSLETTERSCHOOL OF EDUCATIONWelcome from the DeanGreetings! This academic yearbegan with a flurry of activityand has not slowed at all! Ourjoint commitment to "Reach AWorld Class Standard" isproducing good outcomes. Ourpre-service teachers graduatingin December passed the nationaledTPA assessment of teaching ata 95% rate! This is outstandingand approaches 20% higher thanthe national first-time pass rates!Our new teachers are indemand! Recruiters fromAlabama, Georgia, Tennessee,Florida, Mississippi, and evenNew Mexico converge on our JSUcampus each spring to seek tohire JSU teachers! We believe weproduce the best first-day-readyteachers to be found anywhere,and the hiring evidence supportsthat conclusion.VOLUME 3Enrollment in our graduateprograms at the masters andeducational specialist levelscontinues to increase. Enrollmentincreases of 5-10% per year overthe past several years places evenmore highly-trained teachers andadministrators in our schools toassist and support our students.Their improved learning andconfidence, as well as increasedincome, serve to retain goodteachers in the field. This may bethe best way to combat thenation-wide teacher shortage!Our hospitality, nutrition,dietetics, fashion, and otherprograms in the department ofFamily and Consumer Science(FCS) continue to be very popularmajors and offer terrificemployment opportunities forgraduates. On that note, we saygoodbye and a heartyFALL 2019Dr. Tommy Turner"Congratulations" to ourcolleague Dr. Debra Goodwin,Department Head for FCS, asshe retires on December 31. Heroutstanding professionalism,leadership, and commitment toher profession will leave apositive and lasting mark uponall of us, and she will be missed.Center for Autism Studies Hosts EventsBy Valerie WheatThe JSU Center for Autism Studies(CAS) hosted 2 major events in2019. The 6th Annual JSU CASAutism Conference was held onJuly 25th at Grace Church inAnniston. Participants includedlocal educators, social workers,therapists, and parents of personswith autism spectrum disorder(ASD). The presenters coveredtopics including mindblindness inautism and behavioral strategiesfor working with persons withautism, including mindfulnessactivities to help with selfregulation. A JSU SoE alumna,Mrs. Janet Kuchinski, who is aparent of a child with ASD as wellas a special education teacher atOxford City Schools, shared aboutalexithymia and other markersfor autism. The keynote speakerwas Mr. Michael Goodroe, ayoung man on the autismspectrum. Mr. Goodroe was aparticipant in a CAS panel ofyoung persons with autism inthe past and has gone on towrite a book: What Autism GaveMe. Michael is now aninspirational speaker and shareshis story at conferences acrossthe country. He providedautographed copies of his bookto all participants.The second event was therecent Parent Night on Nov.12th at Houston Cole Library onthe JSU campus. This eventprovided training for parents onunderstanding an IndividualizedEducation Program that wasfacilitated by JSU SoE alumna,

Mrs. Amber Hammonds, who iscurrently serving in the role asspecial education teacher at OxfordCity Schools. The event alsoprovided behavioral strategies andmindfulness activities for helpingwith self-regulation and anxiety forparents working with their childwith ASD. The keynote speakerwas Mr. Steven Waters. Mr.Waters is the parent of MichaelWaters, who has been our keynotespeaker in the past. Michael is ayoung adult on the autismspectrum who has had greatsuccess as an adult. Michaelgraduated from JSU with anundergraduate degree in GeneralL to R, clockwise: Michael Goodroe;CAS conference attendees; AmberHammonds; parent workshopparticipantsStudies in 2015. Michael is a giftedmusician and was the director for afood distribution ministry for manyyears that he created titled,Reaching Out International, thatfed more than 300 people permonth for many years.

FCS Child Development Graduates Begin Next StepsBy Robbie BoggsDonald Smith (right), FCS ChildDevelopment Graduate fromSummer 2019, acquired his first jobas a lead teacher in an AlabamaOffice of School Readiness (OSR)First Class Pre-K classroom atNoccalula Academy in Gadsden.His supervisors have alreadybragged at how well he is doing inthis position.Brooke Frix (below right), a 2018graduate in FCS ChildDevelopment, recently returnedhome from a Child Life Practicumexperience in Cape Town, SouthAfrica (pictured). During thisincredible experience Brooke gotto rotate among three hospitalsand sharpen her skills in the ChildLife area while under the tutelageof two different supervisors.Brooke is the first FCS graduate topursue the Child Life SpecialistCertification (CCLS). Her next andfinal step will be applying for aninternship as she works toward herprofessional goal of becoming aCCLS.Mary Bullock, a 2019 ChildDevelopment graduate, is nowserving as the assistant director atthe preschool at 12th Street BaptistChurch in Rainbow City.Completing her degree enabledMary to get an almost immediatepromotion.Catherine Brown (Catie) is a 2019Child Development graduate. She isemployed as an early childhoodteacher at Marshall ChildDevelopment Center on RedstoneArsenal in Huntsville. Catie’sprofessional goals include writingcurriculum for parenting classesand to eventually become a parenteducator.

Collaboration Provides Learning Experiences for Teacher CandidatesBy Cynthia Connorthe TU experience depends onAlthough the importance ofcareful planning. Therefore, twocollaboration and co-teaching hasweeks prior to TU, the Teacherbeen instructed, modeled, andCandidates meet together for apracticed for years in the JSUspecial TU Planning Day. TheSchool of Education, there is now a Special Education Teachernew opportunities for JSU Teacher Candidates collaborate together toCandidates from two differentplan their individual classrooms’Schools and Departments (JSUco-taught transition lessons. LaterSchool of Education, Departmentin the day, the PE Teacherof Curriculum and Instruction, and Candidates join in on the planningJSU School of Health Professionssession. Each TU involves aand Wellness, Department ofdifferent group of PE TeacherKinesiology) to collaborateCandidates, some of whom havetogether in order to provide anever worked with students withunique learning experience for high significant disabilities; thereforeschool students with intellectual,the Special Education Teacherphysical, and other moreCandidates, who participate in TUsignificant disabilities.for three semesters, share theirplans for lessons and provideTransition University (TU), the JSU valuable information about theon-campus community learningvariety of learning, physical, andexperience for high school students emotional needs of the high schoolages 18-21 who have autism,students who will attend TU.intellectual, and physicaldisabilities, provides around 80All of the teacher candidates have100 high school students from 24learned the value of flexibility anddifferent schools a chance tohaving a “plan B” to fall back on.interact with same-age peers in the While the first TU took place oncollege community while receiving one of the warmest days inco-taught transition lessonsSeptember, the second TUinstructed by JSU Special EducationTeacher Candidates. The highschool teachers, who mustaccompany their students to JSU,are provided ProfessionalDevelopment Activities while theirstudents are receiving instruction.This year the TU program hasadded an additional feature. JSUPhysical Education TeacherCandidates taking the Adaptive PEclass as part of their program arenow also collaborating with theSpecial Education TeacherCandidates in order to plan and coteach recreational activities forthese high school students. Aswith any program, the success ofoccurred during one of theheaviest rains of the year.Classroom sessions were affectedby some schools arriving late, andthe recreation activities went fromthe JSU quad, which was easy forall students to access, to inside thegym the day of the rain. Thiscaused the need for buses totransport students from RamonaWood to Stephenson and to unloadin the downpour at two differentlocations in order to accommodatethose students in wheelchairs.However, in the classrooms, on thequad, or in the gym, once the highschool students were in place, theTU lessons and activities weresuccessfully implemented. Bothgroups of Teacher Candidates feelthat not only did the high schoolstudents benefit, but that theexperience was of great value toboth Teacher Education Programs.There is one more TU sessionremaining this semester and it hasalready been suggested that thissuccessful collaboration betweenprograms continue next semesterand possibly become a permanentfixture of both programs.Some of the TU Teacher Candidate Participants

FCS Association Participates in Community Projects and EventsBy Robbie BoggsThe FCS Association, student unitchapter of American Association ofFamily and Consumer Sciences(AAFCS), invited Ms. RaishaMorrell of Second Chance(Anniston) to speak at theirNovember meeting. She informedmembers of the signs of domesticviolence and abuse and explainedthe services that Second Chanceprovides for its clients. Studentspainted messages on purple rocksto place throughout thecommunity to bring moreawareness. Ms. Morrell was also aguest speaker in Dr. JeannieFrazier’s Family Life Educationclass. Dr. Frazier serves on theExecutive Board of Second Chance.The FCS group also conducted a“Pennies War” between the sevenFCS concentrations, with proceedsbeing donated to Second Chance.Pennies and dollars counted as aPLUS, but silver change coinscounted against the concentrations(a deficit). It was a fun event in theFCS department and definitely aWIN for the cause! Approximately 75 was collected from all sevenconcentrations.In December, the FCS Associationwill be gift wrapping at QuintardMall in Oxford to benefit SecondChance and bring more awarenessin the community.Another initiative that the studentshave been involved is Coups forTroops. Collected food andproduct coupons are being sentoverseas to help military familiessince coupons are not available inthe countries in which they havebeen deployed.Above: Raisha Morrell; Below: FCS students paint kindness rocks.

It was STEAMing Up at JSU This Summer: Math Summer CampBy Ahmad AlhammouriIn July 2019, the SecondaryEducation Department at JSUoffered a one-week long summercamp called UnderstandingMathematics Matters (Umm ) forrising 7th and 8th grade students. Inaddition, pre-service teachers ofmathematics were invited toprovide them with an informalpracticum experience. The Umm camp was fully funded andsupported by the School ofEducation at JSU. The main goal ofthe camp was to enhance theparticipants’ motivation towardschool, college, and real-worldmathematics. The campersexperienced real-world problemsthat were written in the form of“here is a situation, think about it”(Henry Pollak). To engage thecampers effectively, JSU wasloaned technological tools by TexasInstruments. These tools includedTI-nspire CX CAX calculators, anavigator system, and TI-InnovatorRovers. The summer camp waswell-received by the participants.For example, one participantmentioned: “I have more a lot funhere and I understand it[mathematics] a lot better here Ilike do it [mathematics] in myway.” Another participantmentioned: “I like how there is nota specific answer that you arelooking for; you are trying to findout what we have in our head tosee if we can relate to showeverybody else.” The JSU SoE aimsto offer the Umm camp for theupcoming years and continue tosupport the local community.The Umm Campers engaging in real-world andopen-ended scenarios, including coding, led by Dr.Ahmad Alhammouri.