The daily meanderings of a teacher

Category: The Foxfire Approach to Teaching

  • Can we find responsibility?

    Bird Droppings December 2, 2012 Can we find Responsibility?   As I begin my morning of writing and wondering and my first official second year as a grandfather the idea of responsibility sort of hit me. We live in a world of passing responsibility off to another generation be it natural resources, fiscal, educational, philosophical,…

  • Listening to a philosopher

    Bird Droppings November 30, 2012 Listening to a philosopher A beautiful sky this morning as I walked out and actually not too cold which is surprising as the sky while filled with clouds was clear. A moon reflecting across from the west is lighting up the sky and white billowing clouds presented a surreal picture…

  • Observation is a skill therefore observing is learned

    Bird Droppings November 29, 2012 Observation is a skill and therefore observing is learned   “I do not write from mythology when I reflect upon Native American spirituality in this book. In my own opinion, mythology leads to superstition; and superstition has proved fatally destruction to many millions down through time. It is ironic, then…

  • 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…