Suzanne Houff Publishes Book
Suzanne G. Houff, College of Education department of curriculum and cnstruction professor and chair, recently authored Managing the Classroom Environment: Meeting the Needs of the Student. Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education, the book offers educators practical strategies for managing the classroom. Using William Glasser’s ideas as a foundation, the text covers the five basic needs and their relation to classroom management. Additional management theories and concepts are explored alongside developmental recommendations to offer an overarching classroom plan that focuses on meeting student needs and moving away from reward- and punishment-based systems.
Education Students Present at Festival of Makers
Students from UMW’s College of Education provided hands-on demonstrations of new technology at the Central Rappahannock Library’s Festival of Community Makers on Saturday. The Festival was held at the England Run Branch of the Library, from 2 p.m. through 5 p.m. and featured exhibits and demonstrations by local artists, craftspeople, and maker groups.
Mark Frauenfelder, author of Made by Hand and the editor of Make magazine, was the featured speaker at the event. Graduate students from the College of Education demonstrated 3-D printing, Makey Makey alternative input devices, and a LEAP motion controller, new technology that allows a user to control a computer by hand motions and finger gestures. Undergraduates enrolled in the education program provided attendees the opportunity to test their design skills by building and launching paper rockets and creating flyers for a wind tube. The demonstrations and hands-on activities were developed by COE students working in UMW’s two makerspaces, the ThinkLab and the LearnerSpace. University Librarian Rosemary Arneson also provided a demonstration of e-textiles as an example of work being done in the UMW makerspaces.
Educating Innovators
H. Nicole Myers Publishes Book
“Social Skills Deficits in Students with Disabilities: Successful Strategies from the Disabilities Field,” edited by H. Nicole Myers, associate professor of education, was recently published by Rowman and Littlefield Education. The book explores how social skills can impact students with disabilities and gives readers strategies to support social skill development. The text includes a chapter by Beverly D. Epps, associate professor of education.
Courtney Clayton Presents at VATESOL Conference
Courtney Clayton, assistant professor of education, presented her research at the annual VATESOL conference. The presentation was entitled “Using Action Research to Improve Instruction for English Language Learners”. She presented with one of her former M.S. in Elementary Education students whose action research project focused on improving writing skills for English Language Learners using dialogue journals through EduBlogs.
VATESOL is a professional organization dedicated to promoting professional development, strengthening instruction, and supporting research opportunities at all levels for teachers and administrators of ESL/EFL/ESOL.