My dear Freshmen,
I am so very excited to spend second semester with you! What a joy it is to re-enter your world. Last year I was blessed by teaching two sections of English 9. I missed teaching this class first semester; I am eager to get going with you. I love that we get to read each day in class together. I will read alongside you guys and share often in class about the books I am reading. I look forward to seeing and reading your "READING BLOGS."
Blessings on a new semester,
Mr. Koeman
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Getting there...
Life with kiddos....boy does it get hard to find the time to read. I am half way through Go Set a Watchman and I am really enjoying the read. Honestly, I feel like I need to reread Mockingbird to grasp the complete picture. Harper Lee is an amazing author and i am excited to finish the book here over the weekend.
Blessings Friends,
Blessings Friends,
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Go Set A Watchman
I am so very excited to start reading Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. Mockingbird was one of my favorites books not only to read, but also to teach. I have read numerous reviews of Lee's new book and am very intrigued by what I have been seeing. I am eager to meet up with Atticus once again. I hear that Scout is the moral center of the novel. I wonder if Jem is still the crazy excited spirited person that he always was.
Hopefully, I will be finished by Monday and will be able to give you all an update. Enjoy reading.
Blessings,
Hopefully, I will be finished by Monday and will be able to give you all an update. Enjoy reading.
Blessings,
Friday, February 27, 2015
The Giver
Thanks for spending the last few days in class watching The Giver with me. What a powerful Dystopian film. I have always enjoyed the book, but as this was my first time watching the film, it took my enjoyment to a new level.
What struck me the most was the line near the end when the Head Elder says, "When humans are given choice, they will always choose wrong." The giver responds to this by saying that "We need to teach them to choose better."
That is why I teach. I teach because want to try and help you to choose better. Our theme this year is "Love Does." Bob Goff gives us so many examples from his life where he takes the opportunity that God gives him to make a choice that is actively doing His love.
It is so easy to make selfish choices. It is so easy to exclude. It is so easy to hate. It is so easy to be passive. The devil works very hard at being the great deceiver and has perfected his craft. If we don't choose better maybe we do need the "sameness" of Jonas' community.
I want to choose LOVE! In doing so I need to choose the hard path of following Jesus. He gave us the example of His life to follow. I readily choose that path. I want to feel, dance, sing, all of Him.
What struck me the most was the line near the end when the Head Elder says, "When humans are given choice, they will always choose wrong." The giver responds to this by saying that "We need to teach them to choose better."
That is why I teach. I teach because want to try and help you to choose better. Our theme this year is "Love Does." Bob Goff gives us so many examples from his life where he takes the opportunity that God gives him to make a choice that is actively doing His love.
It is so easy to make selfish choices. It is so easy to exclude. It is so easy to hate. It is so easy to be passive. The devil works very hard at being the great deceiver and has perfected his craft. If we don't choose better maybe we do need the "sameness" of Jonas' community.
I want to choose LOVE! In doing so I need to choose the hard path of following Jesus. He gave us the example of His life to follow. I readily choose that path. I want to feel, dance, sing, all of Him.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Showdown
I am a Ted Dekker fan...Sorry if I am boring you with updates from his books, but I am in a phase where he is all I want to read.
I just finished Showdown, a beautiful story about 37 boys who grow up in a monastery, shielded from the evil of the outside world. Evil, however, is powerful and makes its way inside the monastery. It is only through great sacrifice that good comes out of the evil.
Ted, has an amazing way of telling story, but also telling the truth of the gospel. I love that. I love truth. Currently I am reading Sinner, another book by Dekker that builds off Showdown.
Friends, this is the first time in my life I can honestly say that I have been so INTO one author. I feel like I am really getting to know him through his books. Let yourself go into a good author sometime - it is a really cool feeling.
Love you and keep reading!!
I just finished Showdown, a beautiful story about 37 boys who grow up in a monastery, shielded from the evil of the outside world. Evil, however, is powerful and makes its way inside the monastery. It is only through great sacrifice that good comes out of the evil.
Ted, has an amazing way of telling story, but also telling the truth of the gospel. I love that. I love truth. Currently I am reading Sinner, another book by Dekker that builds off Showdown.
Friends, this is the first time in my life I can honestly say that I have been so INTO one author. I feel like I am really getting to know him through his books. Let yourself go into a good author sometime - it is a really cool feeling.
Love you and keep reading!!
Friday, January 23, 2015
The Lost Books
I am excited for second semester! I hope that you are as well. Last semester I read 26 books - I hope to beat out that margin this semester.
To begin I have just finished reading The Lost Books, a six book series written by Ted Dekker, and have really enjoyed them. I started during exam week and am 3/4 of the way through book six. The books tell the behind the scenes story to the Circle Trilogy. In fact, the tell the story of the 15 years between book one and book two (black and red).
My hope this semester is that you can find a book or two (hopefully more) that you really can dive into and get lost in. I am always searching for the "next great read." Read great things this semester and share. Share with me, with your friends, with your parents. I got into Ted Dekker through Mr. Sportel and I am so very thankful.
Enjoy reading. God gave us incredibly creative and imaginative minds that He desires us to use.
Love ya,
To begin I have just finished reading The Lost Books, a six book series written by Ted Dekker, and have really enjoyed them. I started during exam week and am 3/4 of the way through book six. The books tell the behind the scenes story to the Circle Trilogy. In fact, the tell the story of the 15 years between book one and book two (black and red).
My hope this semester is that you can find a book or two (hopefully more) that you really can dive into and get lost in. I am always searching for the "next great read." Read great things this semester and share. Share with me, with your friends, with your parents. I got into Ted Dekker through Mr. Sportel and I am so very thankful.
Enjoy reading. God gave us incredibly creative and imaginative minds that He desires us to use.
Love ya,
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Circle Trilogy
I finished book three, WHITE, last night at 12:15 am. Sometimes trilogies can leave you disappointed in the sense they book one starts off so wonderful and they go downhill from there. I can honestly say that each book got better as the series went on. What a joy to read such an amazing author, Ted Dekker. I have just picked up GREEN, book 0 in this same trilogy and am excited to read what happened before before one.
A bit about the story...without giving away too much.
Thomas Hunter is a 24 year old kid who is living in the U.S. in 2010. Every time he falls asleep he wakes up in a separate reality, one where good and evil are visible and separated from one another. Early on in book one that separation is broken by the selfish actions of Tanis, the first man created. The rest of the series is the struggle of good verses evil both in Thomas's reality and in the 2010 reality where a deadly virus is released to the entire world.
Thomas uses information from each reality to help in the what he faces in the opposite reality. It sounds very confusing, but it is beautiful and incredibly biblical.
The way Dekker describes God's love in this series is beyond beautiful. I walk away feel in a profound love for God and a desire to love Him with all that I am. Any book that can evoke this in me, I will highly recommend.
Enjoy the series - it is amazing.
A bit about the story...without giving away too much.
Thomas Hunter is a 24 year old kid who is living in the U.S. in 2010. Every time he falls asleep he wakes up in a separate reality, one where good and evil are visible and separated from one another. Early on in book one that separation is broken by the selfish actions of Tanis, the first man created. The rest of the series is the struggle of good verses evil both in Thomas's reality and in the 2010 reality where a deadly virus is released to the entire world.
Thomas uses information from each reality to help in the what he faces in the opposite reality. It sounds very confusing, but it is beautiful and incredibly biblical.
The way Dekker describes God's love in this series is beyond beautiful. I walk away feel in a profound love for God and a desire to love Him with all that I am. Any book that can evoke this in me, I will highly recommend.
Enjoy the series - it is amazing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)