Bird Droppings January 14, 2020 Passion to learn/teach: Can it be rekindled?   Many days I wonder who I write for in the morning. Perhaps no one, maybe a teacher who needs just a thought but occasionally I write for me. I needed an uplift, an adrenaline shot so to say. Starting in a new…

Bird Droppings January 13, 2020 Quietly listening to Bob Dylan and pondering the word inspiration   I woke up a bit earlier than normal although I did not have a very good night’s sleep. I left the class room Friday frustrated. My day had been thrown off by an administrator’s discipline talk. As a result…

Bird Droppings January 9, 2020 A chill in the air but not in the heart, thank you Maya Angelou   For several weeks now, we have been balancing between warm and cold weather in the early mornings which still is too cold for the crickets and tree frogs who need an ambient temperature a bit…

Bird Droppings January 10, 2020 Our goal in teaching is for students to create new questions   Over the past year now back in active teaching again, I have been pondering. I have received advice through email and even a billboard or two driving home from Mount Yonah on a quick trip with my son…

Bird Droppings January 8, 2020 Examining the threads of life   “Man did not weave the web of life he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” Chief Seattle, 1854   It has been a few years since I read a National Geographic article where the…

Bird Droppings January 7, 2020 Is it counting knuckles, or is it no child will be left behind, doing what we want and that is considered totally normal.   One of my students asked a few years back what day of the month the following Friday would be and I responded January 30. Just as quick another said…

Bird Droppings January 6, 2020 Sitting thinking of a circle   I am looking through various providers of shows, movies and miniseries for a series I really enjoyed, Into the West. I will find it one of these days. The series starts and ends with a circle of stones with a line going east to…

Bird Droppings January 5, 2020 We are neither wolf nor dog   It has been some time since I first read a book by this name written by one of my favorite authors Kent Nerburn. In much of his writing Kent Nerburn addresses the spiritual significance and depth of life of our Native Peoples. While…

Bird Droppings January 3, 2020 Why should there be no teasing?   “Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, and is it true, does it improve on the silence?” Hindu proverb   So often I speak first and clean up afterwards many times simply walking away quiet generally leaving whoever I…

Bird Droppings January 2, 2020 Decontextualizing – Learning is a journey strewn with boulders   “In a word, learning is decontextualized. We break ideas down into tiny pieces that bear no relation to the whole. We give students a brick of information, followed by another brick, followed by another brick, until they are graduated, at…