“They’re incredible people, aren’t they?”
Dr. Phil Teeuwsen, Redeemer’s director of teacher education, was standing in the doorway of my office. I’d just finished interviewing three teacher education alumni, reflecting on this issue’s Education theme as I wrote the feature, “Worldview in the Classroom”. All are gifted teachers, equipped academically but also spiritually for the challenges of teaching.
“They really are,” I replied.
Each snapshot into the lives and callings of these three teachers showed me how faithful character shapes classrooms and learning communities. Rooted firmly in their faith, Adrian Vander Vaart ’12, Erica Mouton ’16 and Victoria Mulock ’16 are compassionate, creative and dedicated teachers. The ripple effects of God’s kingdom can be seen in each of their classrooms, whether running a restorative justice circle for broken friendships, making a habit of finding opportunities to encourage a challenging student or teaching math from a broader perspective to help students find in their curriculum an opportunity to worship our Creator.
Each snapshot into the lives and callings of these three teachers showed me how faithful character shapes classrooms and learning communities.
When I asked for names of alumni, the Education department was quick to respond. Stories abound here. Sometimes it’s a chat in the hallway, a new email on my phone, a newspaper clipping left in my employee mailbox or a tweet tagging @RedeemerUC.
“Can we feature them in Resound?”
I love this question. It’s an opportunity to get out my steno book and start a new Google doc, but it’s also a reminder of how much this community is a network of people committed to building one another up, whether in the pages of this magazine, in the lecture hall or in a one-on-one conversation. And there are many stories to tell. God is at work in our students, in our faculty and in our alumni, and their impact resounds in classrooms, communities, churches and in our culture.
I hope you will join us as we celebrate, through the pages of this magazine and through the year at www.redeemer.ca/resound, the work God is doing through Redeemer, its graduates and its students.