[360] MTSU Hosts 'Positive Behavior' Conference For Educators, Parents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 16, 2010
CONTACT: Dr. Zaf Khan, 615-904-8429, or zkhan@mtsu.edu

MTSU HOSTS ‘POSITIVE BEHAVIOR’ CONFERENCE FOR EDUCATORS, PARENTS
Free Event Focuses on Working with the ‘Misunderstood Child’ for Positive Outcomes

(MURFREESBORO)—Eighty percent of behavioral problems come from 20 percent of students, says Dr. Zaf Khan, assistant professor of elementary and special education at MTSU, who will oversee the university’s annual Positive Behavior Support and Inclusion Conference.
Now in its fourth year, the event will be from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 29, in MTSU’s James Union Building. The conference is free and open to teachers, parents and MTSU students, as well as anyone involved in teaching children.
Khan, who is the project director for MTSU’s Positive Behavior Support and Inclusion grant project, said that positive behavior support, or PBS, uses a positive approach to addressing “negative” behaviors and encourages social competence and academic achievement through strategies, practices and interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective.
Dr. Harry K. Wong, a former classroom teacher-turned-author and speaker on classroom management, will be the featured speaker for the conference, which also will include breakout sessions about “Inclusive Teaching Practices,” “PBS and Inclusion Success Stories” and “Reading Strategies for Inclusive Teaching,” among other topics.
The author of 30-plus publications including The First Days of School, a leading education title, as well as his latest book, New Teacher Induction: How to Train, Support and Retain New Teachers, Wong is the recipient of numerous educator honors, including being voted one of the most-admired people in the world of education in 2006 by readers of Instructor magazine.
Dubbed “Mr. Practicality” for his common-sense, research-based, no-cost approach to managing a classroom for high-level student success, Wong has been credited with transforming schools through his teaching techniques that reduce dropout rates and alleviate discipline problems.
Registration for the April 29 conference is currently open, but seating is limited.
Registration forms, as well as an agenda for the conference, may be accessed at www.mtsu.edu/pbsi. For more information about PBSI and the conference not found online, please contact Khan at zkhan@mtsu.edu.

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• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To secure a jpeg of Khan or Wong, or to request an interview with conference organizer Khan, please contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at lrollins@mtsu.edu.



With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.