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Night and Day {New Music Monday, Plus A Couple Extras}
This year at school, I had the honor and joy of leading a select choir for the first time. We met for a few months leading up to our school’s fundraising Gala, and then performed three songs at the Gala. They had us sequestered in a room away from the main event, so I spent the evening accompanying the students, eating pizza and desserts, and playing a card game or two. Overall, it was an incredibly fun evening and I’m looking forward to doing it all again next year. One of the select choir ensembles learned a song that I wrote called “Night and Day”. A couple of my creative…
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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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The King of Love My Shepherd Is {New Music Monday}
This is going to be a quick New Music Monday introduction! Today is our last day before school starts, and I’m enjoying my last few moments with the kids, just us together. Brian and I are helping lead the hymns at school this year. We made this video to help the other teachers lead as well, and for families to use to practice at home. This is Brian’s video debut here at Teacher by Nature. How exciting! I hope you enjoy our recording of The King of Love My Shepherd Is, based on Psalm 23.
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Listening to Myself Sing
This week, I have two posts set to publish on Wednesday and Saturday. How exciting–two posts in one week! Both posts are on the same topic, but one is an essay and one is a poem. I hope they both encourage you to take your thoughts captive to Christ and to worship God in a way that honors him. Today’s post is an essay. *** One of the first lessons you learn when you join a choir is to listen to the people around you sing instead of listening to yourself. In fact, I teach my students the very same thing. When I notice one student singing louder than the…
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A Small Book with Big Ideas: Does It Matter What I Believe? by Samuel James
For this month’s book, I chose Does It Matter What I Believe? by Samuel James. I chose this particular book for two reasons: one, I think Samuel James is an excellent writer. I’ve been reading his articles online for a few years and find them to be insightful and helpful in navigating our current cultural trends. I admire how he engages with modern-day issues from a biblical worldview and expresses his ideas in a way that’s easy to understand; I don’t do this well at all, and I’m thankful for writers who can and do. And two, I was hoping this small book would distill the big ideas of Christianity…