March 2019 Update

1. The 2019 CEA Convention will be held on October 24 and 25, 2019 at the Century Center in South Bend, IN.

2. Our Keynote Speaker on Thursday is David Smith, a Professor at Calvin College and the Director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning. Read his interview on what being a Christian has to do with how we teach and learn.

3. Our Capstone Speaker on Friday is John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and professor of worship, theology, & congregational and ministry studies at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary.

4. The CEA Book Club title for 2019 has been announced! Plan on reading “On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old” by Parker Palmer and then discussing it together at the 2019 CEA Convention.

5. Do you have a suggestion for a presenter at the 2019 CEA Convention? Would you like to present on a topic that you are passionate about? Contact Brenda VanderPloeg (cea@ceateachers.org) with your suggestion.

6. The invitation to serve as a 2019 CEA Chairperson is open! The role of the chairperson has changed slightly. We will no longer be asking you to introduce the speaker or to hand out evaluations. We will still need you to pick up the session envelope, help the speaker if necessary and record the attendance. The CEA Executive Board would like to offer all of our CEA Chairpersons a $5.00 appreciation gift for your involvement in the CEA. Please go to this link to sign up to be a 2019 CEA Chairperson.

7. Wow, are we exited to share with this tremendous professional development opportunity that is being provided at the 2019 CEA Convention! Kristyn Kamps (a former middle school teacher at Holland Christian School), now a national faculty member at PBL Works and Danae LeMoine, former principal at Doulos Discovery School (a Christian school in the Dominican Republic) are returning to CEA to provide teachers with high quality project based learning workshop. Both Kristyn and Danae are experienced presenters who are focused on empowering Christian educators with practical strategies for creating relevant learning experiences for students. Kristyn and Danae will be offering the introductory project based learning workshop. This training will meet during all four sessions on Thursday and both sessions on Friday. You must commit to all six sessions to be included in this workshop.


Introduction to PBL: In this workshop, we will learn about the basics of planning high quality projects that connect students to content in relevant ways while engaging their heads and hearts. There is NO ADDITIONAL COST for this workshop. Teachers simply pay their regular CEA dues and will be allowed to attend this PBL workshop with Kristyn and Danae. This is a great deal since attending comparable training can be very expensive.

I will need to know ahead of time who is taking advantage of the limited seating Introduction to PBL workshop which requires a commitment of all six CEA sessions. Email Brenda VanderPloeg (cea@ceateachers.org) and let me know how many seats I can save for you in the PBL workshop at the 2019 CEA Convention.

9. The dues for the 2019 CEA convention will be $90.00 per person.

We look forward to seeing YOU on October 24 and 25 at the Century Center in South Bend, IN.