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.

Right from the Heart - Bryant Wright - Book Review

Right from the Heart by Bryant Wright is a daily devotional that I got for review from Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze partner. I had never heard of the author before reading this book and found it of a pleasure to read. Bryant takes you on a journey of discovery where you spend a few minutes of every day reading and gathering inspiration. Instead of offering a long forward and introduction, the book is set up so that a new Christian will start in January, and learn about prayer, bible reading and other daily habits to better their walk with the Lord.

Reading this book I found myself wanting to keep reading, even though it is only meant to be read one day at a time. The book offers a devotional that focus on daily issues, and takes small questions into account. Instead of focusing on issues and answering them with theologically answers that a new believer would find difficult to understand, Bryant seems to be writing in a way that I find easy to understand. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and believe that it is a book that could be read over and over again.

Cure for the Common Life - Max Lucado - Book Review

Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado. I received this book from Booksneeze in exchange for a review. In this book Lucado starts off by giving a definition of a “sweet spot” as the place where a person finds themselves using the gifts and talents that God gave them for God. Living in the “sweet spot” also grants a person the ability to serve God in doing what one does best. At the end of the book there is a questionnaire one can fill out, and use their most memorable experiences to find out what their true “sweet spot” is.

One of the greatest things about this book I found to be the anecdotes and stories that Lucado uses to start each of the chapters. The stories keep one reading on and as Lucado refers back to them throughout the chapter one can easily relate. Once again, as with all of Lucado’s books this one makes the reader search himself for answers to the questions raised by Lucado. Reading this has offered a great thought-provoking experience.

Ian Cron - Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me

This is a book review of Ian Cron's, Jesus, My Father the CIA and me, that I got through Booksneeze.

In the book Jesus, My Father, the CIA and me; Ian Cron tells a remarkable story of how what it is like to live with an alcoholic father. He starts out the story while his family is doing well in England and ends it off where he is married an living in the United States with his own family. Ian tells of the struggles and trials that a person has to go through living with an alcoholic parent. He outlines the different approaches of trying to get close to his father by first being a good upright Catholic, then a party goer, and then a great student. This shifting of personalities helps him in no avail in getting close to his father. He starts living a life filled with parties as well, and becomes an alcoholic himself, while also addicted to drugs. When he finally finds religion through one of his friends he makes a slow recovery and ends up becoming a priest and gives up alcohol.

Even though the issue that Ian deals with in the story is alcoholism I found myself thinking of many different things that can create a rift between children and their parents. Many of the stages and struggles that Ian deals with can be found in many other situations as well. Ian’s coping methods, drugs and alcohol, can relate to many people and how they deal with their problems. Seeing how Ian struggled, Ian showed how even the largest struggles can be fought with a proper focus on the Lord. Written as memoir the book is truly enjoyable to read.

Elemental Journal

The Elemental Journal by Tammy Kushnir, is a beautiful step-by-step illustrated guide on making keepsake journals using items that many people would consider as “junk” and even toss aside. I got this book as a book-review blogger for Booksneeze. Taking the time to look for items, and using the inspiration from the book, you can use the guide to make wonderful little journal that will give cast-aside items a new life. The book details wonderfully how to make a variety of different journals from materials that can be found laying around the house or the back yard.

Even though I knew that this book wouldn’t have as much Christian content as many others I decided to review it as an art teacher and as an enthusiast. I found myself thinking of ways to reproduce the items mentioned in the book and also adaptations that I could make to the ideas as well as how to incorporate them into my art lessons. Often all one needs for inspiration is a few examples and ideas and this book does a great job of offering them.