Case for Christ - Movie Review

This following week I had the opportunity to watch a screener of the soon-to-be released movie called "The Case for Christ".

The first thing that really intrigued me was how throughout the whole movie the scene stayed family-friendly. With modern film and video being as unfriendly toward family viewing, this was a refreshing change.

The movie does a good job of weaving the search for answers about Christ with the storyline of a working journalist. This story-line helps to give the movie some "action" or "story" to follow rather than focusing solely on the dialogue that is used to build the "Case for Christ".

All in all, I would recommend this movie based on the questions that arise and how one who watches cannot help but want to know the deeper answers to the questions that are posed.

Max Lucado - Great Day Every Day - Book Review

For the past few months I have been reading a book called "Great Day, Every Day." by Max Lucado. I received this book from Booksneeze in exchange for a review be it positive or otherwise. The book is written in true Max Lucado format with real life stories meshed with biblical examples. The approach for the book is to show that each day can be a great day, even with its challenges. Each section in the book starts with a “compass” to guide your thinking as you read. This offers a guide for what to look for when reading about how to make each day the best that it can be. Max leads the reader on a journey to discover how to forget about yesterday and to approach each day for what it is, brand new.

Before reading this book I tried to approach each day as a new adventure, but I found myself reverting back to the same old rut and having each day turn out pretty much the same as the day before. Letting myself try to focus more on the new day and following God’s direction I found that each day can be great. Max Lucado does an awesome job of keeping the reader enthused and wanting to read more. This book offers a way of getting over the bumps and hills that you encounter and keep focused on God and what truly matters, and coming out at the end of the day saying “today was a great day.”

Max Lucado - No Wonder They Call Him The Saviour

Max Lucado’s book, No Wonder They Call Him the Saviour is the latest gift that I received as part of the Booksneeze Bloggers. Max takes the reader on a journey to better understanding the purpose of the cross and the reason for salvation. The book starts off with someone posing the question “What really matters?” and Max walks through all aspects of the crucifixion and the story of Salvation. Every chapter it seems is written in a different style to keep the reader engrossed in the story. Every viewpoint of every person that played a part and was present at the crucifixion is explored.

Nothing about this book is ordinary, except for the possibility of the language that is used. I enjoyed reading the story in a plain English sense, using plain words to tell an extraordinary story. I found myself imagining myself as one of the characters of the chapter. Even though I had heard the story of the journey to the cross, and the reason for the crucifixion this story made me think time and again of all the “ordinary” moments that occurred at the crucifixion that we often take for granted. Overall this book was a pleasure to read and I can see myself rereading it time and again.

Take your pick!

Today, I decided to expand the students thinking a little more. Teaching Power Mechanics to 4 boys and 2 girls can prove to be challenging. Especially when each of the students comes to class with a different level of understanding of topics we are to learn about.

Today and yesterday we learned about the rotary engine. I decided instead of looking for youtube videos to show the whole class, and have them read a section in the textbook and answer some questions, to have them take control and learn about the rotary engine using their own ideas. I did provide them with the textbook so that they could look through it and find their information on their own. Part of the assignment is to see how the students cope with finding their own resources so that they can build an understanding for themselves. Many of the students chose to use youtube videos to see who the engine is built an dhow it works.

What I found interesting is how the students decided on which videos to watch. The students chose a video that had no narration, (a video I would not have picked for them to see) and used it to get most of their information from that video. (clearly shows how their learning style is different from my teaching style)


Students had to use their own words, and could pick any format to show/tell me what they understand about a rotary engine. I'm hoping that they will choose a variety of different ways, (this will also tell me what their learning preference is) and that I can learn something about them, while correcting what they know about rotary engines.

As for the Fractions lesson we started yesterday. While circulating through the groups today I made sure that each member in each of the groups was able to use the protractor, and also able to figure out how to find the angle of each piece in the different fractions. Still; the quote pertains, so far, so good.

Taking the Plunge! For the Better, hopefully.

Since the beginning of my teaching career, 3+ years ago, I have heard and thought a lot about an inquiry based approach to learning. I'm saying learning because I have found that anyone can try teach, but it is the learning that is taking place that is the key to success. Working with a small number of students may sound easy, but there are still many different ways that each of the children learn best, and the hard part of teaching has been seeing that the way that I "teach" best is not always the way that the students "learn" best. 

So I decided to be daring and try incorporating a discovery based approach where the students help each other and work towards an understanding of a topic. Preparing for a class on fractions I decided to formulate a question and then give students just the basic information and let students build an understanding of the topic for themselves. The question I gave the students was: 

Since the measurement of degrees in a circle is 360, at which degree would you have to cut the circle so that you can show, halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths, ninths, tenths, elevenths, and twelfths? 

The students were then paired and given a piece of chart paper, a calculator, protractor, and compass as tools to help them display that they understood the concept being "discovered".

Like I had thought, the initial reaction was "unwillingness to try", however, this soon passed and at the end of 40 minutes each of the groups was well established in their pursuit of understanding.

Throughout the lesson, I circulated amount the groups asking questions and observing the progress, all while trying to keep myself from assisting them too much and interrupting the learning process. I find that with the teaching style I have been utilizing, I have been doing most of the critical thinking and "spoon feeding" the student instead of letting them think and make the connections for themselves. 

My goal as an educator is to wean students off of my lectures and dictations and letting them choose their own paths, and to stand by and act more as a guide than as a driver.

Tomorrow, we shall see how well students remember what they discovered today and how well it set in for them as opposed to previous lectures and lessons.

As the saying goes, so far, so good.

100 Read and Sing Devotions - Stephen Elkins, Illustrated by Tim O'Conner

Today’s book review is for a book called 100 Read and Sing Devotions, which was created by Stephen Elkins and illustrated by Tim O’Connor. The book is a beautifully illustrated devotional that parents can share with their children. The padded cover gives the book a feeling of quality and the music CD’s that accompany the book add to the appeal. The songs on the CD are sung by kids, and the little voices give the songs a better with the book and devotional. Each devotion is set to start with a song, then a short story which is accompanied by a prayer and bible verse.

When I first open the package with the book I was expecting to see a book of bible stories, but when I read through the entries I found myself really liking the layout. The book has the perfect length of reading that keeps a young child interested. When I listened to the CD my one-year-old daughter stopped playing and listened to the songs being played. I find that using children to sing the songs is an added touch that made the Book and CD combination complete. A great book to read to your children or to gift to parents for sharing with their children.

Book sneeze review for "Smack dab in the Middle of God's Love"

Smack dab in the Middle of God's Love by Brennan Manning and John Blase, received for review from Boooksneeze.

This is a wonderfully brightly illustrated children's book with a wonderfully simple, and loving message. The book reads almost like a collection of short stories of experiences that the characters have. The whole story ties together with the message that no matter what you do you can always find yourself smack dab in the middle of God's love. The story is set in Mexico and gives the reader A small glimpse of what it is like being a child in Mexico. The story also tells of how the elderly couple love the village children and how Ana treats them to a sweet snack of sopapillas with honey (which is smack dab in the middle).

This is the first book that I ordered as an ebook. The experience of reading it on iPad was wonderful however I found that it would be a book that would be better to be owned in print so that it could more easily be shared and read among friends and family. The illustrations showed up beautifully and reading through it made me hungry for the taste of sopapillas. This book with its cultural focus on Mexico is a great way of showing that everyone can find themselves s,ack dab in the middle of God's Love no matter where you live.