June - My friends Erik, Mitch and I decided to have an Innovation Retreat at Mitch's new school in California - it was three days of rich conversations with 40+ educators from around the globe. No agenda - just connecting with old and new friends, connecting friends with each other, and exchanging ideas. A birthday party for adults!
July - Showing what a great tool Curriculum Trak is to 900 + educators at the RenWeb conference in Dallas was a test of my voice and being in the right place to present at the right time! I was able to talk with many educators in 12 workshops over 2.5 days - whew! There is great need out in schools for teaching and learning leadership and I hope I was able to encourage those who have stepped forward to help their schools move forward.
Last week - It was a great joy to once again be able to teach ED 501, Issues in Education, the intro grad class at Dordt College. Dordt's grad program in education has been exploding in recent years and this course is the only required on-campus course. I had a record number of students (33!) and graded a record number of papers and projects. My students are evenly split from Christian schools in the US and Canada, public schools in Iowa, and Dordt's new Sport Leadership program. We were able to grow in community quickly over the five days and had incredible and in depth conversations around educational philosophy, teaching Christianly, faith development, faith integrated curriculum, faith enhancing teaching practices, developing school culture and community and more. Student projects dealt with a variety of issues of interest - it was great to learn from each other during this concentrated time!