Wishing you a Happy New Year!!
It was a pleasure to again be a part of ACSI's Korea conference in Daejeon and to speak to and meet new friends like those at Doorae Christian School in Seoul! (for more see below)
2014 was an amazing year and I look forward to the year ahead!
Here is a brief recap of the opportunities I've had to work with schools and organizations in the past six months.
July
- Taught 29 students on site at Dordt College in the ED 501 graduate education course and co-taught 5 additional students in an online format. Many papers to grade!
- Curriculum design work and Curriculum Trak training with Michigan and Ohio Lutheran schools
- Concluded mapping work with Cornerstone Charters in Detroit
- Presentations at the RenWeb conference in Atlanta
- Continued work with Ann Arbor Christian in Michigan
August
- Ongoing curriculum mapping with The Rock School in Florida, speaking at Rehoboth Christian School in New Mexico, leadership team work with Lansing Christian, curriculum mapping with East Martin in Michigan, and strategic planning assistance with Montrose Christian in Maryland
- Two-day Distinctives workshop at Sioux Center Christian in Iowa
September
October
- Led high school retreat at Intermountain Christian School in Salt Lake City as part of CACE team
- Ongoing curriculum mapping work with The Rock School in Florida
- Presented and exhibited at Indiana Non-Public Education Association conference in Indiana
November
- Co-convened and co-hosted the two day Strengthening Christian Schools Conference in Indiana
- Core Clarity leadership coaching with individuals
- Presented pre-conference day-long workshop and three workshops at Association of Christian Schools International ICEC Korea conference.
It was amazing to be a part of a gathering representing 25 countries from around the world!
Presenting my full day pre-conference workshop: "Distinctive Schools, Flourishing Students: Are We Educating for Wonder, Wisdom, and Work?"
It was great to reconnect again with friends working in other places such as Dr. Jim Drexler, President of the International Teachers College at the Universitas Pelita Harapan near Jakarta, Indonesia.
In the week following the conference, I had the privilege of giving lectures at Torch Trinity Graduate University (below), Hangboek Seminary, and Doorae Christian School (see picture at the top).
 
At the end of my trip, it was a special treat to visit what I believe is one of the most innovative schools in Korea - Korea Digital Media High School. Pictured below is their innovative founder, Dr. Kim. His difficult educational experience growing up in Korea motivated him to found a 650 student boarding school that is a model for future educational innovation in Korea.
December
- Attended the Expeditionary Learning conference in Boston, Massachusetts - it was great to connect with other educators implementing this exciting model of education and to have great conversations with new friends implementing this model in a Christian school and also my Canadian brothers and sisters, who also see great promise in this model. More later!
CACE (Center for the Advancement of Christian Education)
- Our team of Fellows began our work with Intermountain Christian in Salt Lake City, Utah and will continue to work with them over the next few years.
- We are now working with five additional schools (schools in CA, VA, IL (2), and PA) and will be meeting for the first time with them in February as we begin our work together.
- We are blogging regularly on our website - check it out!
Strengthening Christian Schools
- Our second annual November conference was held in Dyer, IN and Dr. Erik Hoekstra, president of Dordt College, did a great job as our keynote speaker. Networking sessions were a big hit with attendees and breakout speakers received high marks from participants!
- Our first conference in Florida is coming up soon! We look forward to meeting in Largo, Florida on February 5 & 6. We have a strong line-up of speakers and invite you all to attend!
- We are also in the process of planning for a June conference in California – we will be meeting in Ontario on June 18 and 19. Please consider attending!
Curriculum Trak
- We added 132 schools last year who began using Curriculum Trak, putting our total number of schools using this curriculum mapping product worldwide at over 400.
- We introduced our Faith-Learning Integration component into the product this past summer for our Christian school clients. School leaders have been very enthusiastic about having this valuable material from Dr. Mark Eckel available for their teachers. We now have 9 subject areas available – math, literature, language, science, social studies, arts, world languages, technology, and health/physical education.
- We are offering a six-week, online Curriculum Leadership Development course this winter from February 16 through March 27. This course is designed for new curriculum leaders to help them develop effective curriculum articulation and school improvement processes at their school. Continuing education credit will be available through Dordt College. I will be teaching this course and enrollment will be limited.
Writing
I have concluded writing the Nurturing Faith blog for Christian Schools International. It can still be accessed here.
I am writing on a monthly basis on the CACE website. Here are links to my recent posts:
Additionally, I hope to writing more regularly on my own website in the future. Here is a post I wrote about a wonderful new book on classroom culture by Alan Bandstra that I have been recommending - one of the best books out on this topic from a Christian perspective.
You can also follow me on Twitter via @DanBeerens. If you are not on Twitter yet, let me recommend it to you as one of the very best professional development tools out there – of course, it depends greatly on who you end up following!
Upcoming speaking/events
January
- Mindshift Initiative – Florida
- The Rock School – Florida
- Rehoboth Christian – New Mexico
- ACSI Lancaster – Pennsylvania
February
- CACE Score Group – Florida
- The Rock School – Florida
- Curriculum Leadership Development course begins
- East Martin Christian - Michigan
- Jubilee 2015 – Pennsylvania
March
- Beaver County Christian – Pennsylvania
- Curriculum Leadership Development course concludes
- AMDG Architects Speaker Series – Michigan
April
- NCEA conference – Florida
- ACSI Seaside – Oregon
- Eastern Christian – New Jersey
May
- Eastern Christian – New Jersey
- Rehoboth Christian – New Mexico
June
- SCS California conference
- New Covenant School conference – New Hampshire
Contact Dan:
Email: danbeerens@gmail.com
Phone: (616) 826-0536
Website: www.danbeerens.com
Twitter: DanBeerens |
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