Fall, 2005 Volume 1, Number 1

Greetings and welcome to the inaugural issue of our Education Department Newsletter. It is our hope that this occasional communication from us will help us to stay in touch with you, keep you updated on all that is happening here, and provide a forum for on-going communication.

Ashlock’s Ninth Edition!

Dr. Robert Ashlock, Professor Emeritus of the Education Department, recently received a copy of the ninth edition of his Error Patterns in Computation: Using Error Patterns to Improve Instruction published by Pearson/Prentice Hall! His book has been used by both elementary and secondary teachers in the classroom and in workshops both in the U.S. and abroad. This is a significant achievement and we hope you’ll join with us in congratulating Dr. Ashlock on this publication as well as a lifetime of contribution to the field of education. If you want to do so personally, he’d love to hear from you at ashlock@covenant.edu.

Howard Gardner at Covenant

Dr. Howard Gardner, the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will be on campus for an all-day conference Thursday, February 23, 2006. Dr. Gardner is most famous for his seminal work on multiple intelligences, but has also contributed to the fields of cognition and psychology during his 35-year tenure at Harvard. If you’d like to attend this significant conference, go to covenant.edu and look for the “Events” announcement. At that site, you can register and pay on-line. We hope you can attend!

Did you know?

The Education Department is currently working with over 240 students! That’s right, we have nearly 120 traditional students who are pursuing a major in education, 45 adults currently enrolled in our new Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education program, and about 75 students who were enrolled for courses this past summer in our M.Ed. Program. Praise the Lord for these healthy numbers.

Faculty Happenings

The fulltime and adjunct faculty and staff of the department have grown quite a bit in the past few years, and everyone is staying very busy! Here are a some of the publishing and speaking highlights over the past year:

Jack Beckman
When Children Love to Learn - A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy for Today (Crossway Books, 2004)

“Action Research in the Classroom,” a plenary workshop of the Perimeter Christian Schools Association (Atlanta) conference.

“Teaching Young Children in Line with their Nature,” Lookout Mountain PCA Pre-school.

“Charlotte Mason Yesterday and Today,” plenary address at the Charlotte Mason Institute.

“Looking Backward in Order to Look Forward,” plenary address for Redeemer Christian Academy (NC).

Praxis Conference plenary speaker and workshop leader.

Phil Horton
Fulbright Senior Scholar and Visiting Professor of Science and Technology Education, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria (see interview below). During his year in Africa, Dr. Horton made numerous presentations and workshops during the 2004-2005 school year.

Becky Pennington
“Reading Research-Finding the Pearl in the Oyster” presented in February, 2005 at the Childlight Conference, Intown Community Schools, Atlanta.

“Living Through the Looking Glass: The Legacy of Louise Rosenblatt’s Transactional Theory of Reader Response for Christian Language Arts Teachers” in Journal of the International Community of Christians in Teaching.

Hamilton County Reading Initiative Steering Committee member, January-October, 2005.

Daphne Haddad
“Teaching Them What to Think, or Teaching Them How to Think?” seminar presented at ACSI conference, Birmingham, Alabama.

“Encouragements and Hindrances Within our Religious Traditions to Inter-Religious Dialogue.” Paper presented at the Institute for Inter- Religious Dialogue conference in Tehran, Iran.

“Profiles of Three Women: The Faces of Today’s Iran,” presentation to the American Association of University Women.

“How Should Christians relate to Islam and Muslims in a Post-9/11 World?” Sunday School classes at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church.

Visits to Elam Bible College and Iranian Bible College in England for collaboration on Christian education (June, 2005).

Jim Drexler
“Checking the Temperature of Your School,” Christian School Education (Volume 9,
Issue 2).

Commencement speaker for Trinity Christian School, Statesboro, Georgia (May).

Preached morning services at New Covenant PCA, Anderson, South Carolina (February).

“Feeding our Young: Helping New Teachers Grow Through Mentoring and Induction,” paper presented at the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration in Washington (July).

What’s the BSECE?

Perhaps you’ve heard of the BSECE and you have wondered what it is. The Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education is a new evening degree completion program that enables adults with some college credit to finish their degree and earn certification. Our first cohort of students will be finishing up in December, while the second and third cohorts continue their coursework. There are currently 45 students enrolled, and the department hopes to begin a new cohort each January and August. Check out more information on the Covenant College website.

15 Years for M.Ed.

Back in the 1980’s, a masters program at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi was one of the few options available for Reformed Christian Education training. When that program was discontinued, several folks began to meet and discuss how Covenant College might start an M.Ed. Program on Lookout Mountain, the first graduate program for the college.

During the past 15 years, hundreds of students have completed their work in either Educational Leadership or Integrated Curriculum and Instruction and are now serving in Christian and public schools around the world. During our summer courses in 2005, we recognized four faculty members who have been with our program for all 15 years: Robert Ashlock (the original Dean of the program), Stephen Kaufmann, Rebecca Dodson, and Barbara Bellefeuille from Toccoa Falls College.

If you have an interest in finding out more about our program, go to covenant.edu or e-mail us at MED@covenant.edu. We will also be happy to send out 2006 Program Prospectus to you or others who may have an interest. We really count on friends like you to promote our M.Ed. program among your friends and colleagues.

Dr. Horton Interviewed

Dr. Phil Horton spent the entire 2004-2005 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor of Science and Technology Education at the University of Jos in Nigeria. While there, Dr. Horton taught, conducted several workshops on curriculum, assessments, and technology, and served in a variety of other ways.

What motivated you to apply for the Fulbright Scholarship?

This was the second time I applied. When I was first accepted, there was a coup in Nigeria so Fulbright didn’t send anyone then. Our family went there as missionaries subsequent to that and I wanted to follow up on some of the work that I began then. I knew that Fulbright funded such programs for a whole year and it’s a prestigious program for the college.

Did you choose the University of Jos, or was that institution assigned to you?

Fulbright wants you to choose where you plan to go and what you plan to do, and it certainly helped that I had a contact there to help coordinate the appointment. The work I had started while we were there as missionaries was at Jos.

What were you able to offer to your colleagues in Nigeria?

The main thing was my background and knowledge with technology. I brought the first computers there in the 1990’s and helped to set up their original network. My concern, though, was that the technology wasn’t reaching to individual professors to help them in their instruction. I was able to help them move to the next level so that they are now better able to integrate and use technology in their work.

What parts of the Nigerian system of higher education do you think American schools could learn the most from?

They are not afraid of faith. It is very natural for them in all areas of their lives. It’s not unusual at all to hear discussions sprinkled with spiritual truth. They don’t have the issues with separation of church and state so it’s not awkward at all to bring up faith issues. In fact, they look for spiritual solutions to their problems and not more money or the government. It’s nice.

Did your family enjoy the experience?

Oh definitely. It was a good and profitable experience. There are the frustrations that come with living in a third world country but the girls in particular enjoyed their year at the missionary school, Hillcrest Academy. They had fellow students and teachers from all over the world so it was a real multi-cultural experience.

What are some of your most significant memories of your year in Nigeria?

One of the great blessings was supervising Rachael Sasscer who did her student teaching at Hillcrest (Rachael is a 2005 graduate of Covenant’s Teacher Education Program and is now teaching at Faith Academy in Manila, Philippines). She was well-prepared and jumped right into the life and work at Hillcrest. She was comfortable and a real natural. It was nice to have that link back with Covenant while we were gone for the year.