Teaching/Learning Center

Mission

The mission of the Teaching/Learning Center (T/LC) is to provide teacher candidates opportunities for hands-on, in-house, supervised practice of instructional strategies learned in the classroom. The need to blend theory with practice in the field of education is recognized by the Alabama State Department of Education. Pre-service teachers apply strategies during lab sessions with area school students in the Teaching/Learning Center.

Innovativeness

The T/LC has been called the "Center for Two Learners" because both local school students and JSU pre-service teachers make significant academic and personal progress. JSU classroom concepts are used as the prospective educator prepares to become a creative decision maker. The T/LC is an invaluable practicum, as it provides a close replica of cooperative education or service learning within a College of Education and Professional Studies framework. Local legislators have proclaimed this to be one of the community's greatest "natural resources."

The Center's continuing goal is to aid the College of Education and Professional Studies in providing qualified teachers that are creative, reflective decision-makers.

General T/LC Statistics

The T/LC has supervised over 12,500 JSU education students who provided the community with more than 132,000 hours of free tutoring since 1982. Almost 8,000 students from area schools have participated in the tutoring program. The tutorials focus on a wide variety of subject areas from basic reading and mathematics to upper-level secondary courses such as chemistry and calculus.

Involvement of Students in the Community

Elementary and secondary students generally receive between 1 to 4 hours of free, one-to-one tutoring per semester week in academic areas designated by their parents and/or teachers.

Hours of Operation

During the fall and spring semesters, children attend local schools from approximately 7:30 AM to 3:15 PM. In order to accommodate local school students, the T/LC generally schedules tutoring sessions between 3:30PM and 4:30PM. However, tutor assignment hours in the T/LC are flexible in order to accommodate the JSU student as much as possible. There is no on-campus tutoring during the summer.

Please contact Courtney Christopher for more information regarding the free tutoring services provided by the Teaching/Learning Center.