The daily meanderings of a teacher

Category: The Art of Learning: Using the Foxfire Core Practices as a pallette

  • Some will see a tapestry as a spider spins others a cobweb

    Bird Droppings November 28, 2012 Some will see a tapestry as a spider spins others a cobweb   “For certain fortunate people there is something that transcends all classifications of behavior, and that is awareness, something which rises from the programming of the past, and that is spontaneity; and something that is more rewarding than…

  • “Teach to where the learning will be not to where it is.”

    Bird Droppings November 27, 2012 “Teach to where the learning will be not to where it is”   I took a relaxing week with family and sort of got my thoughts together as the days went by. Somewhere as the rain dissipated we had a few hours of sunshine even though the temperatures were below…

  • Why are we deliberately trying to be wrong?

    Bird Droppings November 26, 2012 Why are we deliberately trying to be wrong?   I will admit that on Saturday night with a Powerball jackpot of over three hundred million dollars I was pondering retiring if I won. I think I would be if I won retiring to devote time to education in a more…

  • Can we really see while looking?

    Bird Droppings November 25, 2012 Can we really see while looking?   “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” William Arthur Ward, college administrator, writer (1921-1994)   It has been several weeks now that I have been fighting a tough cold and this week bronchitis so I…

  • Should children be left behind?

    Bird Droppings November 24, 2012 Should children be left behind?   “I believe that our own experience instructs us that the secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained, and he only holds the key…

  • Families and Friends

    Bird Droppings November 23, 2012 Families and Friends   The holidays are getting here soon and this semester is drawing to an end or perhaps a beginning as we get closer to the start of a new semester at school. We were one of a few schools that have a week off for Thanksgiving and…

  • Determining what it is we need to know

    Bird Droppings November 21, 2012 Determining what it is we need to learn   “Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know — and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It…

  • Can we listen through our heart?

    Bird Droppings November 20, 2012 Can we listen through our heart?   It has been several years since found on my many excursions to Barnes and Nobles a small book that I would like to share some passages from. I found many of the thoughts and passages to be of significance and enjoy sharing words…

  • Adversity is a bridge not a stop sign

    Bird Droppings November 19, 2012 Adversity is a bridge not a stop sign   “If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem.  Everything else is inconvenience.”Robert Fulghum   It was perhaps two days ago two years ago one of the teachers…

  • why do we not pursue Silence?

    Bird Droppings November 16, 2012 Why not quietly pursue Silence?   I was standing in my back yard listening. There was silence. As I stood how easy is it to find fear and or solace in silence. Many horror movies over the years and of course books for those of us who still read feature…