Tag: List

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“I Couldn’t Put These Books Down!”

Yesterday, I finished Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake. It took me two days to read it, and in fact, I stayed up late last night to complete it because I wanted to finish it so badly.

Every time I have this experience, I’m grateful. It gives me a taste of the kind of passion I should, but don’t often, have for God’s word. It also gives me hope as I continue to teach literature for a living, and I would be a lousy teacher indeed if I wanted my students to have an experience with a book I never had (of only had in the past).

Continue reading ““I Couldn’t Put These Books Down!””
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What Do I Want to Accomplish This Academic Year? 2019-2020 Edition

It’s the first day of the 2019-2020 academic year. Being the inveterate list maker, I made a list of the following things I want to do this academic year:

  1. Lead a small group of students in a Bible study
  2. Attend at least two campus events each semester with my daughter and wife
  3. Collaborate with someone outside my discipline
  4. Have a scholarly article accepted for publication
  5. Put on a successful literary festival
  6. Play pickup hoops on T/Th with greater skills and no injuries
  7. Serve our support staff more consistently

Let it be so, Lord Jesus!

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What Does the New Testament Say About Thinking?

The book I’m using in my English comp class is called How to Think. Here’s a short list of scriptures from the New Testament that help me see why thinking is important.

Mark 12:30 – And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Luke 24:45 – Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…

Romans 8:6 – For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 14:20 – Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

2 Timothy 2:7 – Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

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Student Quotation Selection Prompts: List

The following lists are designed to help my students find key quotations in their reading assignments. I have one list for quotations that deal with content and one list for quotations that address style.

THEME: Find a quotation that reveals…

  1. …the deepest truth (God, biology, etc.) of the work’s world.
  2. …the most important character relationship in the work.
  3. …a key rule for how characters should, try to, or decide not to behave in the work.
  4. …the consequences for following or breaking the world’s rules.
  5. …how the characters have changed by the end of the work.

STYLE: Find a quotation that reveals…

  1. …the author’s view of language (e.g. can it convey truth or not?).
  2. …the way characters talk to each other.
  3. …the key rules of language the author follows or breaks in the work.
  4. …the consequences for following or breaking those language rules.
  5. …how the author uses figurative languages.
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Eighteen Questions to Spark Student Interest: List

  1. How can reading and writing help us love other people more?
  2. How would someone get you to change your mind?
  3. How can you persuade people to change their minds?
  4. How can we glorify God in our reading and writing?
  5. How do you know if someone is no longer sane?
  6. Can good people commit murder?
  7. Is an affair ever worth it?
  8. Are secular novels better or worse than Christian ones?
  9. What is a Christian novel anyway?
  10. Are sad novels better or worse than happy novels?
  11. What is a sad novel anyway?
  12. Do you want to know the future?
  13. Does it matter HOW you make an argument as long as your conclusion is right?
  14. What would you change or keep exactly the same from high school?
  15. What is something you wish people on campus would talk about more?
  16. What makes a good storyteller?
  17. Do you have good taste?
  18. What problems that face the people who do what you want to do for a living, and what are some possible solutions?