I'm proud to share that I was named as one of three honorees from the state of Minnesota for the 2023 Outstanding Educator Award from the Synergy & Leadership Exchange. I was humbled and honored by this lovely surprise. Life is funny, guys. Enjoy the good bits when they arrive.

Here's a promo video for my new music if you want to sample the wares. Four songs about the big, immovable parts of life we'll all have to walk through. https://t.co/Bw1Ittdr9T

I put some new music out today! This EP began with a song I wrote for my grandfather after he passed away, and from there we hit a vein of songs that were of a piece - bittersweet, hurt but hopeful, told with warm melodies and harmony. Give it a listen! https://t.co/PZ6Bi1PpJQ

I had the pleasure of leading a day of Teaching for Transformation PD at Coastal Christian HS in Wilmington, NC. Great crew here who showed up ready to lean into the big stuff. Afterwards, the Minnesotan in me appreciated being seated at the correct table for dinner. #grits

I just overheard my wife upstairs say to my kids, "Your father could do a TED Talk on cereal." I feel seen and loved.

My kid came home from school with a recorder and sheet music for Hot Cross Buns.

When that day arrives that I am laid to rest, I would like to be interred with a red pen and a stack of DBQ essays I never got around to grading.

But did it have good wifi?

It wasn't originally the plan, but by the time they graduate, my kids will have gotten to experience homeschool, public charter school, and Christian school. I'm grateful for all of these and the ways my kids will have been shaped by them.

"Human rights are just a fictional story...they are not a biological reality." While I actually give him credit for articulating an internally consistent implication of reductive materialism, it is clear that the speaker has not stopped to consider that his claim to an objective

Every middle school currently has $2,500 worth of Stanleys and other tumblers in lost and found.

Good news, bad news at my daughter's 6th grade basketball tournament today. Good news: she just scored the first bucket for her team after a scrappy rebound! Bad news: they're now losing 50-2, with two more games awaiting them.

The more I look at Twitter, the more I want to read a book instead.

I'm grateful for my 2023. I took my lumps and had to say some goodbyes, but also learned a lot and found joy in my work and friends. Add to that a lot of great family moments, good health, and an adventure or two, and that made for a pretty good year. Thankful to God. On to 2024!

My favorite reads of 2023.

Merry Christmas, folks. Get yourself some awesome siblings if you can. Makes things even better.

Christmas is a holiday that meets us in our messiness and struggles. It's an occasion to remember God's work and desire to be with us. Merry Christmas, folks.

I've been working on my reflexes and small space quickness for weeks to be ready for my Christmas morning dad duties of collecting discarded wrapping paper.

Beautiful thread. I've been able to show this to my students for most of my 19 years teaching American history, and it never fails to connect with teenagers. It's also still pretty good at making their teacher cry.

The Holdovers is a film so perfectly calibrated to my tastes that it's almost uncanny. A beautifully crusty, melancholy Christmas story.

Seems like there's been a whole lot of "critical thinking skills" being taught.