Recap: Christian Teachers Academy 2018

By Justin Cook  |  September 9th

Now in its sixth year, the Christian Teacher Academy gathered again this past August at Hamilton District Christian High School. Over 70 Christian educators attended.

Built on the evidence that project based learning (PBL) is a pedagogically effective method for empowering both students and teachers to find their God-given place and purpose in life, the Academy supports educators to deepen their implementation of PBL in several different streams ranging from introduction to leadership.

The Academy also uses a project based structure for the week to learn PBL and design our projects. At the launch of the week on Monday, all attendees participated in different entry events out in the community that helped us experience first hand our driving question: “how can the learning in our classroom help to shape our city?” On Tuesday to Thursday, attendees developed mastery in PBL and iterated their own projects with support from coaches and critical friends groups. And, building on the idea that beautiful work needs to be shared, attendees prepared presentations to share with one another and honoured guests on the final day. The presentations shared concrete projects that will be implemented in the upcoming year as well as personal reflections on the learning journey.

Led by Executive Director Harry Blyleven, the Academy continues to pursue relevance and innovation. Consider the following “did you know?” list of accomplishments:

• In addition to the 101 introductory stream and the 201 digging deeper streams, this year launched a 203 cross-curricular projects stream and a 302 PBL coaching stream supporting local school PBL coaches
• Approximately 20 attendees this past August came from the Halton Catholic District School Board, marking an exciting new partnership for the Academy within the larger educational landscape of Ontario. (You can meet some of the Catholic attendees here.)
• The Academy has supported the start of sister Academies in both British Columbia and Seoul, South Korea, which ran its first design week this past July
• Many of the 2018 John Rozema Award shortlist and winners are past attendees or coaches at the Academy. Winners of the Rozema Awards are selected based on the criteria of purpose, rigour, and service, and are assessed blindly by a selection committee representing Cardus and the diverse landscape of Christian schools in Ontario.
• This August the Academy shared a new partnership with the Institute for Christian Studies (ICS) in a project based Masters of Arts degree (MA Phil.) with a focus in educational leadership. Click here to view the program poster.
• Students involved in projects designed by their teacher at the Academy can actually apply to the Academy for grants to help them accomplish their project hopes and dreams. You can learn about past grant applicants and the process here. 

Interested in learning more? Harry would welcome your feedback and questions at hblyleven@hdch.org.