Education Department Newletter - April 2022

Welcome to our April issue of Trinity’s Education Department Newsletter.

I had to think long and hard about what to write for an opener for this newsletter.  For those of you that don’t know me, I’m a big fan of data and numbers.  For me, the use of numbers helps to tell our story- and our story in the Education Unit is a great one!  So, bear with me as I share a few numbers with you:

• 100%.  We have students in ALL three programs on campus (traditional, adult, and graduate)
• 34%.  The percentage of Trinity students that are Education students.
• 15%.  Out of all courses offered at Trinity in the fall, 15% are scheduled and staffed by Education Unit instructors.

We are so happy that the Education Unit is growing in our offerings too!  We have new graduate programs that just started in January!

Sara Baillie Gorman, EdD, BCBA

Director of Education Operations  | Associate Professor

The Education department is thrilled to welcome author, Ben Hatke, 10 partner schools, and over 230 aspiring young authors to campus for the Young Authors Festival – April 25 & 26.  We invite our Trinity Community  to the Young Authors Reception on Monday, April 25 at 6:30pm! 

Meet Tommy Horton, a current Student Teacher at Dwight D. Eisenhower High School. Tommy started Inclusive Brewing (coffee cart) as a work practice opportunity for adult transition students. The shop is open on Monday and Friday mornings for students, staff, and administration to purchase coffee and snacks. Inclusive Brewing is self sustaining and emphasizes practicing social, vocational, and math skills in a mock workplace setting. 

Judy Stellato, College Supervisor, had a chance to visit Tommy when his Inclusive Brewing Wagon was open for business. “Tommy’s energy and passion for helping his students combined with his experience working for Starbucks has resulted in a wonderful, unique opportunity for his students. His students are given the responsibility to take the orders, make and serve as well as managing the payments. Tommy allows the students to gradually take on more responsibility. He also uses every chance to include the rest of the students in the school when possible, such as having them decorate the individual cup holders.”

We love to see the amazing impact that Trinity students are having in their student teaching experiences! Please share your experience with education@trnty.edu.

Anyone who has been around campus a while knows about OPUS. We are so excited to have OPUS on campus and in person again on April 20th! Did you know about GRUMPUS though?

The Graduate Research Unveiling Masters Presentations Understandings and Scholarship (GRUMPUS) is the Graduate student extension to OPUS.

Please come walk through our poster session that evening to learn about our graduate research! Details will be available on the OPUS schedule.

Visit: https://www.trnty.edu/opus/

Dr. Bill Boerman-Cornell, Professor of Education, spent the three days of Spring Break at a Lilly-Grant funded workshop at Hope College that is looking at ways that colleges and universities can partner with community organizations more effectively to encourage reading and book groups.  “I am hoping to gain insights that can be helpful for Young Authors and other future department initiatives.”

The Education Department team at Trinity Christian College launched Project ECHO this academic year. The team meets virtually on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 3:30pm through the month of April. Our topic for this school year is Promoting Appropriate Behavior in the Classroom. Each session begins with a short didactic and then we review a deidentified case brought to us by one of our participants. This series is designed for all school personnel interested in learning more about how to support appropriate behavior in the classroom. If interested in participating (as a student or school personnel), please contact our Echo team at echo@trnty.edu.

Next Session: April 20 │ 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM

As our Professional Development Series continues, we were excited to welcome alumni, who attended our second workshop of the Spring 2022 Series. Dr. Karen O’Connor, Associate Professor of Special Education, presented Developing High Quality Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) (1 hour session) on March 14.

“I enjoyed having the opportunity to speak with our alumni and share resources that they can use in their classrooms.” – Dr. O’Connor

Next session: April 27 │3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Workshop III: Improving Class Discussion presented by Dr. Bill Boerman-Cornell, Professor of Education.

You are invited to nominate a Trinity faculty member as Professor of the Year. This award seeks to recognize the accomplishments of a distinguished professor. In the link below, please find a description of the award process and criteria.

Please submit nominations to the online form linked here by Tuesday, April 12th. 

Note: Collaborative nominations are especially encouraged (for instance, bringing together multiple students and/or staff members and/or faculty members to submit one nomination).

Full-time Teaching and Education related positions can be found on the Handshake system.

Part-time, full-time, internship and volunteer education related opportunities can be found on your Brightspace – Education Unit Home Site – Job Board.

Part-time Opportunity

A Palos Heights mom is looking for a few students to come help her 16-year-old daughter with down syndrome during the week. There are a few times per week help is needed, but hours are part-time and mostly flexible. Pay rate is flexible, depending on experience. Students with a special ed or psychology concentration are a plus, but not required. Students must have a car.

Please contact Maura at (708) 870-5077, or at mauraconnect@gmail.com, and let her know that you are interested.

If you have a story to tell or an opportunity to share, please email education@trnty.edu.

We’d love to hear from you.

April 20: ECHO: Promoting Appropriate Behavior in the Classroom

April 20: Criminal Background Checks with Accurate Biometrics (Molenhouse Lounge)

Apr 25 & 26: Young Authors Festival

May 2: Student Teacher Commissioning Reception