Bird Droppings February 24, 2010 Example “We taught our children by both example and instruction, but with an emphasis on example, because all learning is a dead language to one who gets it second hand.” Kent Nerburn, The Wisdom of the Native Americans I have over the years looked to the wisdom contained in Nerburn’s…

Bird Droppings February 23, 2010 Saying Goodbye or is it hello? It might have been the fact I had never pulled out my Eagle Scout card from 1967 in class before that got me thinking back. In today’s hurried and rushed society it seems fewer children are involved in Scouting. By chance two kids in…

Bird Droppings February 22, 2010 Routines Perhaps after a week or so of break I am ready to get back into my normal school routine. We are all creatures of habit and routines I am finding many times even totally predictable. I was thinking back a few years to a day my wife called to…

Bird Droppings February 21, 2010 REFLECTION: For many of us in graduate school and in our general course of doing things reflection is an integral part. It has been nearly ten years since I began putting my daily sojourns in life on the internet and sharing with others. “Collaborative reflection can have a greater impact…

Bird Droppings February 19, 2010 Pondering so many things on a Break Last night I read through numerous posts from an old graduate school online class site. We had a reading from a paper on a program that was developed in the mid 1980’s in California. The program with one teacher in one school was…

Bird Droppings February 17, 2010 Why do we have homework? For the past nine years I have avoided giving homework. Basically I did not like it when I was in high school and secondly if kids can not get it done in class it can wait till tomorrow. Far too often if it is not…

Bird Droppings February 15, 2010 How do we teach? I have been in graduate school now since 2002 and earned two degrees and a third on the way. I will admit an increase in salary was a significant factor although for my master’s degree it was for initial certification. As I started teaching and then…

Bird Droppings February 11, 2010 Greed could be our downfall “That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.” Henry David Thoreau We watch the news and heads of states and heads of companies fall midst the economic crisis. All the while wealth is disappearing I am told. I recall back in 2008 somewhere…

Bird Droppings February 8, 2010 Is it about content or context? “The devotion of democracy to education is a familiar fact. The superficial explanation is that a government resting upon popular suffrage cannot be successful unless those who elect and who obey their governors are educated. Since a democratic society repudiates the principle of external…

Bird Droppings February 5, 2010 The paradox of democracy “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead An interesting statement, from a great anthropologist, Mead observed mankind in both civilized and very primitive states. I find this statement striking…