Spring, 2006 Volume 1, Number 2
Greetings again and welcome to the second edition of the Education Department Newsletter. A lot has happened in the past number of months as the Lord continues to bless our work and our programs.Educators Conference a Big Success
?Over 250 visitors came to Covenant’s campus on February 23 to hear Dr. Howard Gardner as the featured speaker in our annual Educators Conference. Dr. Gardner, who has been at Harvard as either a student or professor for over 40 years, is most noted for his seminal work with Multiple Intelligences, but those in attendance learned about several other initiatives he and his colleagues have been involved with at Harvard.
Dr. Gardner made several formal presentations followed by lively Q & A times for what most rated a stimulating day.
Details about our next Educators Conference will be coming out soon, so watch your e-mail.
Schools as Communities
The new book, Schools as Communities: Educational Leadership, Relationships, and the Eternal Value of Christian Schooling, is set for a January 2007 publication. The book, edited by Education Department Chair James Drexler, features 18 chapters written by 21 authors from around the country, including chapters by several from Covenant: Jack Beckman, Steve Kaufmann, Bruce Young, Daphne Haddad, Jim Drexler, Kevin Eames, Jeff Hall, Niel Nielson, and Brian Fikkert.
An article appeared in Covenant’s View magazine earlier this spring and you can read it by clicking here. Schools as Communities, published by Purposeful Design and endorsed by both Christian Schools International (CSI) and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) will be used in Covenant’s Master of Education program (and hopefully in graduate programs at other Christian colleges).
Numbers! Numbers! Numbers!
On May 6, a total of 63 Education Department students received their diplomas at Covenant’s 51st Commencement Exercises:
- 29 traditional undergraduates received either their Early Childhood, Middle Grades, or Secondary Education diplomas
- 12 Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education (BSECE) graduates, our first cohort to finish this evening adult-degree completion program, received their diplomas (read more information below)
- 22 Master of Education students received their diplomas and were “hooded” by Drs. Haddad and Drexler.
?What’s the BSECE?
This question was answered in the last issue, but the BSECE is a new evening adult degree-completion program that enables paraprofessionals with some college credit to finish their bachelor’s degree and earn their certification as an Early Childhood teacher. Our first cohort of 12 students finished their work in December 2005, and we were thrilled to learn from them at graduation that all of them are employed as full-time, certified teachers.
This is a win-win-win program: adult students are able to finish their college work and earn certification, the education program offered through our department gains a wider audience, and much-needed certified teachers are available for elementary schools in our area.
Faculty Happenings
Here are some of the publishing and speaking highlights from the department:
Steve Kaufmann
“The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Educational Thought of Charlotte Mason” in The Journal of Education and Christian Belief, Fall, 2005
Book review of Patrick W. Carey’s Orestes Brownson: American Religious Weathervane, in Christian Scholar’s Review, Spring, 2006
College Faith 3: 150 Christian Leaders and Educators Share Faith Stories from their student days (contributor).
“Effective Teaching Methods in the Christian School,” a worldview applied to pedagogy course taught both in Budapest (August, 2005) and Nyiregyhaza (March, 2006), Hungary, sponsored by ACSI Europe.
Directing seven Covenant education students in their work for three weeks at the Mustard Seed School near New York City for May Term.
Daphne Haddad
“How should Christians relate to Islam and Muslems in a post-9/11 world?” taught at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church (September, 2005).
The Faculty Status committee approved Dr. Haddad for full professor Status. Congratulations, Dr. Haddad, Professor of Education!
Jim Drexler
“Feeding our Young: Helping new teachers grow through comprehensive induction programs” presented at ACSI Regional Conference in Birmingham (January, 2006) and at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education in San Diego (February, 2006).
Donna Phillips
“The Fried Green Classroom: Creating comfortable classroom environments” and “Best in Show: Best teaching practices of Chattanooga area teachers” presented at ACSI Regional Conference in Birmingham (January, 2006).
She and Becky Pennington are beginning their doctoral programs at UTC in June, 2006.
Phil Horton
Returns to Nairobi in May and June to continue his work with the University of Jos in Nigeria. Dr. Horton spent all of the 2004-2005 school year in Nairobi on a Fulbright Scholars program (see Volume 1, Number 1 of the department newsletter for details).
Encouraging Words from the Trenches
The Education Department receives many cards, letters, and e-mails from our graduates, and they are often encouraging, challenging, funny, and insightful. Here are a few recently received comments:
Nathan Hall (B.A., 2005): “I do not know what effect I have on my students; I only know that I love people, and I love to watch them light up when they learn. And the answer to the problem of education can be neither science nor art. The answer will always be softly and intrinsically human. It is neither perfect nor all encompassing, but it might just be the best we have to give.”
Shelly Johnson (M.Ed., 2006): “The Covenant program really changed and challenged my thinking, and I know it is one of the things in my life that God will use the most to change me and help me minister to others.”
Linda Johnson (B.S., 2006): “I am thankful that someone had the insight to create a program such as this (BSECE) and I am very proud to be part of the first graduating cohort. . . .I learned that it is ok to love your students and let them know that you care. During the course of our studies, out of all the areas of content that we covered, I have found the most valuable teaching to be the focus on the importance of the student/teacher relationship.”
Megan Terrell (B.A., 2006, from her student teaching journal): “What the textbooks never told me:
- 6:00 AM comes early . . . day after day after day.
- Teachers have more homework than their students.
- Middle school boys have a large store of pick-up lines.
- Middle school kids don’t want to look stupid, but they won’t respect you unless you are willing to.
- Trust before you distrust.
- Wear comfy shoes.
- When you hold parent-teachers conferences, you are most likely interacting with an older version of the student which you are meeting about.
- Don’t tell them how old you aren’t.
- If a student prefaces any question with ‘Are you our teacher today?’ it is imperative that the answer be ‘NO!’
- Expect of yourself what you expect of them . . . Give 100%.
- Be prepared to answer the question, ‘Why?’
- Remember their names, their birthdays, their auditions, their nervous habits, their favorite foods, their gifts . . . or at least as much as you can.
- Hope.”
And one final word of encouragement, not from a Covenant College graduate but from the great Reformer Martin Luther: “Christian teachers are special servants of God. There is no dearer treasure, nor any more precious thing on earth . . . . A diligent and pious school-teacher or whoever it is that faithfully trains and teaches children can never be sufficiently rewarded.”