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Ten Things I Learned During My First Semester as an Art Teacher
Have you ever been an art teacher before? Me, either! Well, up until this year, that is. I taught art for a few months at the end of the last school year, but really began teaching in earnest this fall. Over the summer, one of my very talented students gave me drawing lessons and I also read both of Mona Brookes’s excellent “Drawing…” books. Here’s what I’ve learned during my first official semester of being an art teacher. Some of these lessons come directly from the classroom, and some of them come as a combination of classwork, drawing lessons, and Mona Brookes’s guidance. (Note: Illustrations to follow.) First, art is…
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Book Review: “True Life: Practical Wisdom from the Book of Ecclesiastes” by Carolyn Mahaney & Nicole Whiteacre
Introduction Have you ever felt like no matter how much you try to organize things, they never turn out quite how you’d like them to? Do you spend your life trying to make special moments happen, only to watch them slip through your grasp? Do you feel like life is an endless cycle of repetitive activities that you must do over, and over, and over again? How can you find joy when things go terribly wrong? True Life: Practical Wisdom from the Book of Ecclesiastes provides you with answers and encouragement from King Solomon himself, who had every earthly pleasure and found no satisfaction in any of it. “Vanity of…
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Teacher by Nature: A Year in Review
Happy New Year, dear readers! I’m so happy you decided to stick with me for another year. I hope my (and Brian’s) writing blessed you and encouraged you to grow in faith in Jesus and to fight the good fight of faith with all of your might. Usually about this time of year, I post a list of my New Year’s resolutions. I’m not clear about what I’d like them to be yet. I know I’d like to keeping losing weight (15 lbs. and counting!) and eating a mostly whole foods, plant-based diet. I’d also like to continue to improve my martial arts skills and physical conditioning as I take…