One Catholic Life Blog
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 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?
#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...
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...
Countdown to NCCE 2016
Packed for NCCE 2016. Plane flight this evening, Google Summit all day tomorrow.
Henry V and the Transfiguration: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent
One of the greatest speeches in all of literature is the St. Crispin’s Day Speech by William Shakespeare from his play, Henry V. It’s October 25, in the year 1415, and King Henry of England and his men are about to fight the French in what will come to be known as the Battle of Agincourt. Henry’s men are exhausted and sick. They’ve been fighting for months, and they’ve just finished a long and grueling siege of Harfleur castle. As they move across the French countryside trying to...
Catholic Schools Week Fun
It’s Catholic Schools Week, and the Student Tech Committee helped set up a Wii system so the 5th-8th grade classes could compete against each other in Mario Cart at recess:
One of Our Catholic Parish Churches Rendered in MinecraftEdu
The eighth graders are continuing to build their Catholic landmarks in MinecraftEdu. Peyton and Dylan in particular have done an amazing job recreating Our Lady of Fatima church. Our Lady of Fatima is one of the three parishes that our school serves, so they’re both very familiar with it. While most groups began by working on the outside of their buildings, Peyton and Dylan began constructing from the inside and worked their way out. The video below shows how much detail they have put into their work. But...
The Force Awakens – Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
I’m sure you’ve heard about the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. It’s breaking all box office records, and I’ve seen it myself a couple of times. One of the things I find interesting about this new Star Wars trilogy is that it begins in the same way as the original trilogy with Luke Skywalker. If you haven’t seen it yet, I’m not giving much away by saying that the main character starts the story on a desert planet feeling forsaken, feeling abandoned, just like Luke Skywalker...
Catholic Landmarks in MinecraftEdu
One of the most enjoyable projects I’ve watched the students work on this year is the Catholic Landmarks Project in MinecraftEdu. Working in groups of two or three, eighth grade students have chosen a Catholic landmark and are constructing it in MinecraftEdu. Some of the landmarks are famous, like St. Peter’s Basilica, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, or the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio. Some of the landmarks are of local interest, like their parish church. Once the building is completed, students will construct information kiosks...
My Favorite Reads of 2015
2015 was a down year for me in terms of number of books read. I had some academic responsibilities in the summer and early fall that took up time I would usually have spent reading. Because of that I missed hitting my reading goal of 40 books. Still, I read 23 books, and these are my top 5: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas – This was a great re-read, and I hope at some point to read the sequels. In His Spirit by Richard Hauser, SJ – A spiritual...
