The daily meanderings of a teacher

Category: The daily meanderings of a teacher

  • Pondering for me what a word?

    Bird Droppings September 11, 2011 Pondering for me what a word? Today is an interesting day; ten years ago I started teaching again after a twenty three year layoff. About six years ago today I started as a part – time Instructor for Piedmont College. “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”…

  • I am just sitting and thinking

    Bird Droppings September 10, 2011 I am just sitting and thinking I was outside very early today as a great horned owl was irritating my dog keeping her up. It seems it was more than one as around me several were calling back and forth in a eerie chorus. The hooting had my dog going…

  • Our perceptions vary greatly about life

    Bird Droppings September 9, 2011 Our perceptions vary greatly about life “Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.” Irving Berlin It was ten years ago I was waiting to go teach again after having spent nearly twenty three years in the publishing business. I was anxious to…

  • Can we trust really?

    Bird Droppings September 8, 2011 Can we trust really? “I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.” Henry David Thoreau I was asked why I was successful with the students I work with by a fellow teacher one day. Many of my students over the years are students that no…

  • Our wonderful world of paradox and confusion

    Bird Droppings September 7, 2011 Our wonderful world of paradox and confusion “What can we surmise about the likelihood of someone’s being caring and generous, loving and helpful, just from knowing that they are a believer? Virtually nothing, say psychologists, sociologists, and others who have studied that question for decades.” Alfie Kohn Yesterday in my…

  • In the pursuit of excellence

    Bird Droppings September 6, 2011 In the pursuit of excellence In a brief sojourn outside a few minutes ago the sky is a mass of swirling mixes of gray and black as remnants of Hurricane Irene cross our area. We received much needed rain and the breeze has dropped our ninety plus high temperatures to…

  • Direction

    Bird Droppings September 5, 2011 Direction Over the past long weekend I worked on several papers, sat in the recliner and dabbled in my yard but I got thinking back to a party in Pennsylvania that was held nearly two years ago as I pondered and walked about. Two years ago on a Saturday night…

  • Developing a community requires contributions of self

    Bird Droppings September 4, 2011 Developing a community requires contributions of self We have become a world of self centered egotists which I know is a generalization of perhaps a bit too much. In education building an educational school community has consistently been shown to improve schools effectiveness yet we always seem to turn in…

  • Teaching can be successful

    Bird Droppings September 3, 2011 Teaching can be successful So as I do on many mornings when I can, I walked out to a quiet corner of my back yard nestled in a patch of weeds and brush and looked toward the east. In the morning with the sunrise the threads of life as I…

  • Culture is more than just a word

    Bird Droppings September 2, 2011 Culture is far more than just a word “Silence was meaningful with the , and granting a space of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regardful of the rule that thought comes before speech. In the midst of sorrow, sickness, death or misfortune of…