2007 Fall Newsletter

Posted Mon, 09/10/2007 - 22:01

2007 FALL NEWSLETTER

The Convention Planning Committee is finalizing plans for the 2007 CEA Convention which will be held October 18 and 19 at the Century Center and South Bend Marriott in South Bend, Indiana. We hope this convention will provide professional stimulation and challenge each one of you!

Theme: Celebrate the Story

Thursday
- Keynote Speaker: Tony Campolo
- Mass Meeting begins at 9:00 a.m.
- Featured Lecture: David Smith
- Focus Sectional (K-8):Gary Schmidt
- Focus Sectional (6-12): James Schaap
Friday
- Devotional Leader: Nancy Knol
- Mass Meeting begins at 9:15 a.m.
- 2 Part - Featured Lecture: Rachid Hmami

The mission of the CEA is to inspire and support Christian educators and encourage community by providing opportunities for spiritual and professional growth based on God’s Word.

On Thursday there will be no lunch break in the schedule. Please plan your own lunch according to the sectionals you wish to attend. There will be snacks and sandwiches available in the Century Center, South Bend Marriott, and area restaurants. A list of additional eating places close to the Century Center will be available at Convention Headquarters.

In respect to speakers and fellow teachers, the Planning Committee requests that those in attendance at meetings not leave until the chairperson indicates the close of the session. The last sectional time slot on Friday will be from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. PLEASE DO NOT INSULT THE GUEST SPEAKERS BY POOR ATTENDANCE AT THE LAST SECTIONAL.

Children and infants may not attend any CEA sectional or mass meetings. We ask for your cooperation in this area so someone from the Planning Committee will not be forced to ask you to leave. Contact your hotel for babysitting services or make other arrangements for your children if you choose to take them along to the convention.

Visitor’s Guides and information will be available at Convention Headquarters.

Remember that retired Christian school teachers and administrators may attend the convention free of the normal registration charges. Contact the Executive Secretary, Brenda VanderPloeg, for details.

Spouse passes may be obtained at Convention Headquarters for $5 and guest passes for educators who are not CEA members are $35. If you forget your program booklet, additional booklets will be available at Convention Headquarters for a $1 fee (to cover printing costs).

CEA dues for this year will be $75 per member. These dues cover your convention registration, a subscription to the Christian Educators Journal, and committee expenses. Your delegate will be collecting dues in September.

An instrumental ensemble will be formed to assist at the Mass Meetings on Thursday and Friday. This year the ensemble will once again be directed by Pat Root from Holland Christian High School. If you are interested, please bring your instrument and a music stand and plan on participating. If you have questions, feel free to contact Pat at Holland Christian High School – 616-820-2905.

A hotel reservation form was sent to you in the spring and you have hopefully already made your hotel/motel arrangements directly with the hotel/motel. Another copy is attached.

The exhibits will be in Convention Hall C on the Street Level of the Century Center. Our Chairperson of Exhibits is Jerry Mastenbrook (Kalamazoo Christian Middle School). He has worked very hard at obtaining vendors to come to our convention. Please be sure to visit the exhibits and order materials right at the convention whenever possible. Even when placing an order later in the year, be sure to mention the convention exhibit. Since the exhibits are an important source of CEA income, we urge your cooperation.

Two name badges will be sent to each teacher this year for use at the convention.

There will be various sectionals offered this year for which you must pre-register. Please see details and more information later in this Newsletter.

2008 CEA Convention will be held on October 23 and 24 at the Century Center and South Bend Marriott.

Commemorative Edition Posters of the Theme Banner by artist Jim Kamphuis (Illiana CHS) and his students will be available for purchase at Convention Headquarters for a $2.00 Fee. Be sure to pick one up for your room and one to give away.

CONVENTION HEADQUARTERS will be located on the Street Level of the Century Center. This is very important for you to remember if you are a sectional chairperson or need to buy additional passes to the convention.

Cracker Barrel sectionals have been renamed Loaves and Fishes Sectionals. We look forward, just like the little boy who offered his lunch to Jesus, to coming with a small amount and leaving with a blessed large amount.

Convention 2007 will feature new sectionals – Focus Sectionals – where we can be inspired and learn new ways of integrating our faith into the curriculum.

Celebration Sectionals will be offered in conjunction with our theme of “Celebrate the Story.” Each time slot will offer a sectional where we can celebrate together the ways God walks among us.

For the first time we will host our very own CEA Book Club. Read The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and come to book club on Friday.

The beautiful CEA Banners of past years have been made available to display at your school. See headquarters for details.

As of April, 2006 South Bend will now participate in Daylight Savings Time. South Bend is now in the the Eastern time zone, rather than the Eastern Standard Time Zone. That means that South Bend is now on “Michigan Time.”

www.ceateachers.org

The Professional Standards Committee will again be available on call at the convention to hear concerns or receive ideas from teachers and as a resource for CEA members. If you have any questions or suggestions for the PSC, feel free to give the Executive Secretary (letterhead of Newsletter) and she will relay your message to the PSC prior to the convention.

Loaves and Fishes will once again be offered this year. Come ready to share in your subject area. See the attached “Sectionals at a Glance” sheet for the times and days. The LFs on the schedule this year are:
o PreSchool Teachers (Please bring along 2 activities which will promote the spiritual, social, physical (fine & gross), intellectual, and language development of God’s children.)
o Learning Comes Alive for 3rd grade (Share an idea that has worked in your classroom.)
o Fourth Grade Teachers (Please type up 1-2 of your favorite ideas in the subject of your choice and bring 30 copies to hand out.)
o Elementary Art Educators (Please bring lessons and/or methods you use to incorporate Art History into your curriculum.)
o Elementary Administrators (Please bring ideas to share about successes and struggles of serving as an elementary administrator.)
o HS Administrators (Please bring 15-20 copies of students handbooks.)
o Celebrating the Story Through Middle School Worship
o Family + Consumer Science
o HS Foreign Language (If you plan to share ideas or strategies, please bring copies to distribute.)
o Applied Technology
o HS Library/Media/Technology (please email items for discussion to Judd Rinsema at rinsemaj@timothychristian.com)
o Directing and Theater Teachers (Please bring names and information about great scripts, easy techie info, costume hookups, conversation starter questions or anything to make all our jobs easier.)
o HS Art Teachers (Please come with ideas of how we can better celebrate the efforts of our student’s work.)
o HS Chapel Coordinators (Please share ideas)
More detailed information regarding each Loaves and Fishes will be found in the program booklets when you receive them shortly before the convention.

NEW CEA EMAIL ADDRESS: Please update your records and send all electronic correspondence to the new CEA email address - cea@ceateachers.org

Elections for new officers will be held at your school sometime before the convention. Your CEA delegate will be in charge of the procedure. The candidates are as follows:

Vice President Elect (vote for 1)

George Guichelaar: M.A.T. – Calvin College
George is Assistant Principal at South Chr. High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he has been for 13 years. He previously taught at Toronto District Chr. High and has served on 2 committees of the Ontario Alliance of Chr. Schools. George has served as a deacon and taught catechism in his church. He enjoys running and has participated in local races.

Bill Haagsma: M.A. – Grand Valley State University
Bill is a fifth grade teacher at Calvin Christian Elementary in Wyoming, Michigan where he has been for 19 years. He is a past member of ASCD and the MACUL and currently is a member of the MRA. His roles at Calvary CRC have included that of a choir member, a Sunday School teacher and an elder.

Karen Ophoff: M.A. – University of Michigan
Karen has been a teacher and an administrator at Hudsonville Chr. School for 19 years. A past and present member of CEA and ASCD, she was also a member and recording secretary for the Eastern Ottawa Schools Curriculum Council for 13 years. She has been a member of Hillcrest CRC for 34 years.

Vice Secretary Elect (vote for 1)

Joyce Groen: M.A. – Purdue University
Joyce has been at Highland Chr. School for 8 years where she teaches 6th grade literature, 7th grade geography and 8th grade literature. She is a Certified Mentor Teacher in IN as well as a member of the National Geographic and Indiana Historical Societies. Joyce serves at her church and has volunteered for CRWRC in New Orleans.

Sue Scholten: M.A. – Western Michigan University
Sue taught at Bradenton Chr. in FL for 3 years and now teaches 3rd grade at Calvin Christian where she has been for the past 18 years. She has served on various CCSA boards, and regularly attends Kent Reading Council and CEA. In the past she has served her church through Women’s Bible Studies, Conferences and other committees. She currently has become very involved with an African Refugee family.

Kevin Witte: B.A. – Calvin College
Kevin has been at Kalamazoo Chr. Middle School for 5 years and currently teaches eighth graders the subject of Bible and social studies and serves in the Academic Support Dept. Kevin has been a member of the CEA for the past five years. He serves as a youth leader along with his wife at their church, as a worship leader and as a part of the experiential worship team.

Vice Treasurer (vote for 1)

Lynn Hekman: M.A.T - LD – Calvin College
Lynn taught at Sheboygan Chr. School for 11 years and for the past 19 years has been a Resource Room teacher at Hudsonville Chr. School. In the past she was membership chair and treasurer for MALDE and served on the Committee for Professional Development for the State of MI. Lynn participates at Calvary CRC on the prayer team, in choir and with VBS.

Patricia Scheeringa: M.A. – Purdue University
Patricia teaches second grade at Highland Christian School in Highland, Indiana and has been there for 10 years. She has been on the CSI Wage and Compensation Committee, the School Improvement Committee, and is a Certified Mentoring Teacher for the state of IN. Patricia had held various teaching positions at 1st CRC Church in Highland, IN.

Marc VerKaik: M.A. – University of Colorado at Denver
Marc was at Denver Chr. School for 8 years and now is Principal of Kalamazoo Chr. West Elementary. He has been a member of ASCD and NAESP and KANS (Kalamazoo Area Non-Public Schools) Marc has served as a deacon, young life leader, Sunday school teacher, small group leader and at Bible Study Fellowship.

www.ceateachers.org

SECTIONAL PRE-REGISTRATION (Page 1)

1. Wooly Works: Planning an Exploratory Unit About Sheep and Wool by Margaret Jager
Thursday – 11:15 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. (General)

People have used wool since ancient times to provide shelter and clothing for themselves. Teachers often teach units – Colonial life, pioneer life, etc. – in which an exploratory unit using wool is educational and exciting for both students and teachers. It is not hard to find information about sheep or wool, but it is sometimes difficult to actually play with the wool fibers themselves. In this hands-on worship we will wash, dye, card, spin, and felt wool. Participants will leave with instructions and samples for developing their own units. There is a limit of 20 people for this sectional. Please assume you are registered for this sectional unless you are notified otherwise.