Dr. Natalie Johnson-Leslie, H. Steve Leslie Publish New Book "The ABC's of Surviving School Violence"

Two members of Arkansas State University-Jonesboro's faculty have
recently published a children's book with a very important message. Dr.
Natalie Johnson-Leslie and H. Steve Leslie's "The ABC's of Surviving
School Violence," available now from AuthorHouse (www.authorhouse.com),
educates, informs, and emphasizes practical, common-sense strategies
that could save lives.

The issue of school violence, in school settings from daycare centers to
universities, continues to be a concern for parents, teachers,
administrators, and the public at large. Events such as the shootings at
Westside Middle School, Virginia Tech University, and Columbine High
School, coupled with incidences of individual bullying that led to
deaths, like the recent case of Phoebe Prince, illustrate the costs of
school violence.

Violence prevention is one of the primary
responsibilities of today's teachers, and teachers are expected to
seamlessly integrate violence prevention skills seamlessly into and
across the curriculum as their students develop. "The ABC's of Surviving
School Violence" is targeted to early learners to encourage them to make
the right choices. The book can help its young audience develop critical
and divergent thinking skills as they learn to reason, solve problems,
make decisions, and weigh consequences.

Early learners will be helped to
resolve small conflicts, listen to each other, talk to each other, work
cooperatively, and make non-violent decisions.
Parents and teachers can use this 20-page full-color book to provide
children with a course of action for every letter of the alphabet to
help them know what to do in the case of school violence. The authors
strive to empower early learners with strategies that prepare them to
survive violence.

In addition, the authors hope this book will be a catalyst for
meaningful change in the curriculum by addressing school violence early
and eliminating it in the school setting altogether.
Dr. Johnson-Leslie and Mr. Leslie state, "The book is timely and
relevant, and the strategies advanced are practical and implementable.
Additionally, the incidences of school violence over the last decade
need attention in order to prevent more harm to the nation's children,
as well as to alleviate the fears and discomforts that accompany our
students, teachers, administrators, and visitors who go into schools."

Dr. Natalie A. Johnson-Leslie, a Jamaican native, is an assistant
professor of teacher education at Arkansas State University. She
received her doctoral degrees from Iowa State University in the areas of
educational leadership and policy studies as well as curriculum and
instructional technology. She joined the faculty at ASU in fall 2004.
She teaches early childhood, mid-level and secondary pre-service
teachers. She also supervises student interns and is thereby actively
engaged in many classrooms throughout the Arkansas Delta. Her main
research interests lie in the field of school violence, educational
leadership, technology integration in the curriculum, and assessment and
evaluation of student behavior. Her work has been published in the
Journal of Educational Technology (JET), International Journal of
Reflection (IJR), Journal of the European Teacher Education Network
(JETEN), and the International Journal of Learning (IJL). She served on
the review board of the Journal of College Student Development for four
years.

H. Steve Leslie, a Jamaican native, is an adjunct instructor in
communication studies and an academic technology specialist at ASU. His
professional background is in education, banking and financial systems,
sales and service management, and as an integrator, trainer, and
financial analyst. He has a teaching diploma in math and science, an MBA
in finance and banking, an MA in communication studies, and an MS in
information systems and e-commerce. Prior to joining ASU, Leslie worked
as regional sales director and trainer for a commercial bank in Jamaica.
Since 2007, he has taught speech communication to freshmen and
sophomores. His research interests include international business
communication, intercultural communication, organizational
communication, and educational software and technology.

For more information, contact Dr. Natalie Johnson-Leslie
(njohnson@astate.edu) at (870) 972-3947 or H. Steve Leslie
(sleslie@astate.edu) at (870) 972-2307.