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Category Archives: Teaching
A Sort Of Wizards Duel
This week some of my students will start to read C. S. Lewis’s “The Weight of Glory.” Every year I read it with my students, I seem to find something new or just askew enough to strike me deeply. The … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Commonplace Book, Faith, Teaching
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Start Again
It’s difficult to believe that I am already one month into my thirteenth year teaching high school. At this point, we’ve already gone through the first cycle of things: first tests and projects, first homerooms and assemblies. It has been … Continue reading
Posted in Caedmon's Calling, Faith, Teaching, The Long Story
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Timing is Everything
Every spring in my Old Testament class I look forward to getting to the book of Ecclesiastes. On some level, the book upends some of my students’ expectation that everything in the Bible is particularly cheery. But I also like … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, Teaching
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Where Joy Writes the Songs (and the innocent sing them)
It’s been a week since I said goodbye to my last class, but it feels like I’ve spent just as much time doing school stuff as ever. I’ve been meaning to get a few things posted that aren’t just comics … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, Internet, Music, Teaching
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The Professional Necessity of Others
From Matthew B. Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head: For experiences to become part of the secure, sedimented foundation of a skill, they must be criticized. Otherwise people (and the resources of language) are indispensable. Without them, your experiences are … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Commonplace Book, Teaching
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Always Remember the Big Picture
Every year I show this clip to my student. Every year I feel like they get it a little less while I get it just a little bit more. Breaks the heart but soothes the soul.
Posted in Faith, Internet, Movies, Teaching, The Long Story
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On Hoods under Hoods, Dip Sticks, and Idiot Lights
Yesterday I mentioned Matthew B. Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head, which is a fascinating read 90 pages in. Crawford released another book a number of years ago that attracted a lot of attention, Shop Class as Soulcraft. And while … Continue reading
Posted in Internet, Teaching
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79 Theses for a Virtual Door
Intelligent conversations can be hard to come by these days. Strong emotions and strong “party lines” are partly to blame. The near over-abundance of information and perspectives also makes it virtually impossible to create supposedly air-tight cases. What, then, is … Continue reading
In But Not Of, Teaching and Learning Edition
Reading Alan Jacobs’ biography of C. S. Lewis, I couldn’t help but imagine what it must have been like to listen to the man lecture. Then I couldn’t help but remember how far most academic institutions have moved from a … Continue reading
On Reading the Bible
C. S. Lewis started his lecture, “De Audiendis Poetis,” with the assertion that “there are more ways than one of reading old books.” What Lewis said to be true of many works of medieval literature is also and ultimately true … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Faith, Teaching
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Space Enough, and Time 