Dordt College Center For Educational Services: B.J. Haan Conference

About the Conference

Twenty five years ago the Board of Trustees established the BJ Haan Conference to honor BJ Haan, our first president. During his twenty three year tenure, President Haan worked tirelessly to promote and support Christian education and so it is fitting that Dordt would continue in that spirit. The purpose of the conference is "to develop and disseminate a covenantal-kingdom perspective into the nature, task, problems, and future course of Christian education in North America (Board minutes, April, 1982).

The conference has changed and reconfigured itself many times in the past twenty five years. The first conference was a set of evening lectures that discussed student learning styles. More recent conferences have become two days of lectures and workshops that have focused on a wide variety of education-related issued.

Most recently the conference has been focusing on special curricular concerns with our most recent conference in March, 2007 led by Robert Koole from the Society of Christian Schools in British Columbia. Bob, along with fellow educators in the area of social studies, challenged conferees to think about what it means to teach Christianly in the area of social studies. (Listen to the keynote address)

2008 Conference Postponed

The Dordt College Center for Educational Services has decided reluctantly to postpone the B. J. Haan Conference scheduled for this spring until March 12 and 13, 2009. Due to a variety of factors, registrations for the 2008 conference are low. While low registrations were the key reason, the hospitalization following a serious car accident of our colleague, Dr. Pam Adams, also played a role. Dr. Adams would have been a presenter in the elementary track at the conference.

We want to express our appreciation for your interest in the 2008 B. J. Haan Conference. We believe that it is important for Christian educators to come together to support each other in the teaching of reading and the study of literature at both the elementary and secondary levels. We also believe that we had gathered a group of presenters who could help us to do just that. As a result, we are asking these presenters to contribute in 2009 instead and we are hoping that you will be able to join us at that time as well.

Please mark March 12 and 13 on your 2009 calendar now. Additional 2009 Conference information will become available on this site by the end of this academic year.

--Lloyd Den Boer




	About the Conference Twenty five years ago the Board of Trustees established the BJ Haan Conference to honor BJ Haan, our first president. During his twenty three year tenure, President Haan worked tirelessly to promote and support Christian education and so it is fitting that Dordt would continue in that spirit. The purpose of the conference is "to develop and disseminate a covenantal-kingdom perspective into the nature, task, problems, and future course of Christian education in North America (Board minutes, April, 1982). The conference has changed and reconfigured itself many times in the past twenty five years. The first conference was a set of evening lectures that discussed student learning styles. More recent conferences have become two days of lectures and workshops that have focused on a wide variety of education-related issued. Most recently the conference has been focusing on special curricular concerns with our most recent conference in March, 2007 led by Robert Koole from the Society of Christian Schools in British Columbia. Bob, along with fellow educators in the area of social studies, challenged conferees to think about what it means to teach Christianly in the area of social studies. (Listen to the keynote address) 2008 Conference Postponed The Dordt College Center for Educational Services has decided reluctantly to postpone the B. J. Haan Conference scheduled for this spring until March 12 and 13, 2009. Due to a variety of factors, registrations for the 2008 conference are low. While low registrations were the key reason, the hospitalization following a serious car accident of our colleague, Dr. Pam Adams, also played a role. Dr. Adams would have been a presenter in the elementary track at the conference. We want to express our appreciation for your interest in the 2008 B. J. Haan Conference. We believe that it is important for Christian educators to come together to support each other in the teaching of reading and the study of literature at both the elementary and secondary levels. We also believe that we had gathered a group of presenters who could help us to do just that. As a result, we are asking these presenters to contribute in 2009 instead and we are hoping that you will be able to join us at that time as well. Please mark March 12 and 13 on your 2009 calendar now. Additional 2009 Conference information will become available on this site by the end of this academic year. --Lloyd Den Boer