CDL Digest - 3.17.23
A Canadian Celebration of Christian Deeper Learning!
Jet lag and a time change (springing forward and losing an hour of sleep) couldn’t dampen my joy after CDL6! It was a truly wonderful time together in Vancouver - some unexpectedly sunny days, the beautiful mountains as a constant backdrop, warm and welcoming Canadian hosts, and seeing many friends in person again! On top of that, lots of great learning happened through leadership by 80+ presenters, including the first ever EMT’s, or Eleven Minute Talks.
We packed 473 folks into Surrey Christian Secondary campus for the conference on Thursday the 9th and 10th. 150 attended the pre-conference day on Wednesday the 8th and reported very positive and enlightening experiences at Surrey, Abbotsford, White Rock, and in the Spiritual Renewal groups.
Over 160 attendees enjoyed a special night out together for dinner on Thursday courtesy of World Vision and CDL. On Friday we celebrated with Richmond Christian students as they gave their presentation of learning more about and exploring indigenous culture through wood carving projects.
How do we know people enjoyed each other? One measure was the event management app we used - in a follow-up conversation today with the company, the representative pointed out the way above normal averages of the app being downloaded, the number of messages sent, profiles viewed, announcements read, documents viewed and sponsor impressions given. I simply said in response - “I am not surprised - I tell everyone - I believe this is the highest quality group of educators working today in Christian education!”
This post can’t begin to capture the joy but if you weren’t there you can perhaps see it oozing from the pictures! More reports about this gathering to come - stay tuned.
And in closing, thanks to a great team to help pull this off!
All photo credits above: SCS Photography - many thanks for your invisible but omnipresent documentation of CDL6!
If you missed CDL6 but would like some high-quality, intensive PD on Christian Deeper Learning, then please consider attending Steven and Joanna's week-long Summer Institute!
REGISTRATION OPEN for the CDL Summer Institute!
Live it!
Knowing about God is quite different from walking day to day with God.
Knowing about Christian Deeper Learning (CDL) is quite different from being able to engage your students in CDL.
The purpose of this institute is:
To immerse you in a CDL experience that will equip you to provide a CDL experience for your students. It’s very hard to teach something with an authenticity that you haven’t experienced yourself.
To explore what it means to teach “Christianly” in all subjects and grade levels. Biblical integration sometimes happens in what we teach and sometimes in the way we learn together.
To engage you with the curriculum, instructional practices, and assessment strategies that support CDL for all your students.
To create a culture that encourages Christ-like character and invites the learner into God’s story.
To refresh and renew your spirit in a pastoral setting – a mansion on a lake with outstanding hospitality and cuisine.
We are limited to 35 participants. Last year we had a waiting list. If you are interested, please register soon. Register here.
Editor's note about the Digest: We hope to share with you each week articles of interest that you may have missed. This will include current information as well as previous blog posts from CDL that perhaps you didn’t have time to read the first time around. If you have items you think may be of interest, please feel free to get in touch with me at danbeerens@gmail.com. We are also seeking blog writers for our blog posts which are published each week on Monday and Wednesday. For more info, see our guidelines.