One Catholic Life Blog

Rick and Ilsa

Homily

The Greatest Love Story of All Time – Homily for Holy Thursday 2016

The world is full of great love stories. We see them in literature and film and in history: stories like Casablanca, Pride and Prejudice, and Titanic. Lovers like Romeo and Juliet, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, even Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary. We all relate to a good love story. What makes them so powerful are the obstacles that the lovers try to overcome. Sometimes they’re successful and their story ends in joy; and sometimes they’re not and the story ends in tragedy. But they remain great stories...

Minecraft Education

Travel

Snapshots of NCCE 2016

A video of collage of some of the highlights of NCCE 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6213CIYMZU

Kevin Honeycutt playing steampunk guitar

Travel

Journey of Delight: Reflections on Kevin Honeycutt at NCCE 2016

He spoke from his own custom podium (the Godium) that sported a disco ball and a portable light show. He played a custom steampunk guitar and wore a headband that read his brain waves. Around his neck hung an Antikythera Mechanism pendant. He’s Kevin Honeycutt, and his keynote speech at NCCE 2016 was an inspiring, entertaining, and thought-provoking journey of delight. Wikipedia says that Kevin is “an international keynote speaker on technology, education and cyber-bullying prevention,” and for ninety minutes on Thursday, February 25, 2016, he held 1800 teachers...

Nick Senger trying Google Cardboard

Teaching / Technology / Travel

My First Experience with Google Cardboard

Today at NCCE 2016 I got to play with a cool new technology, Google Cardboard. They were on display at today’s Google Summit and again this evening at the GEG Washington meetup. These virtual reality glasses are made of cardboard and cost less than $20. Once you stick a smart phone inside and put them on, you are immersed in a 3D environment. They were on display through the Expeditions Pioneer Program, a team of people who bring Google Cardboard to schools so students can travel virtually to far distant...

Top 5 Skills Needed

Catholic Education / Teaching / Travel

Top 5 Skills Taught in Today’s Catholic Schools?

Today I was at a presentation by Richard Achée of Google, and one of his slides showed the top skills currently needed in today’s workplace according to The Economist: The top five are: Problem solving Team-working Communication Critical Thinking Creativity Are these are the top five skills we are teaching in Catholic schools today?

Google Summit

Technology / Training / Travel

#NCCE2016 First Report

It’s lunch time in Seattle at NCCE 2016 and I have a little time to share my experiences. So far I’ve attended three presentations and they have all been excellent. I’ve been participating in the Google Summit, which is almost like a conference within a conference. It began with a keynote by Holly Clark who spoke on the the topic “Disrupt Education.” She spoke of how Netflix disrupted the video rental world first with sending DVDs to homes with no late fees, then by streaming movies to homes, and...

Good Shepherd Exterior

Teaching / Technology

MinecraftEdu Rendition of the Church of the Good Shepherd Beverly Hills

As I wait to board the plane to NCCE 2016 in Seattle, I have some time to post screenshots of the great progress two 8th graders working under the name “AandL.” have done in MinecraftEdu. They chose to reproduce the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California. Here is what AandL have to say about the church: Welcome to the Church of the good shepherd in Beverly Hills, California. It was created on December 12, 1923 and designed by J.J. Donnellan. It has been around for...