The daily meanderings of a teacher

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…

Bird Droppings January 1, 2019 Caring is a very precious commodity in life/ A few good thoughts from Maxine Greene and Nel Noddings   As I was pondering in the early hours today, before getting my day started several articles caught my attention. Religion and education two f my favorites. The first was how Jesus…

Bird Droppings December 31, 2019 Finding a pathway even when one does not appear   The past week has all run sort of run together, although each was an interesting day in its own right. It may have been sitting and watching movies with the family after sharing gifts, eating all day long and then…

Bird Droppings December 30, 2019 Teaching is ninety nine percent example   I walked out a few minutes ago to get a bit of solitude. That has been hard over the holidays this year. So, it is coming in tiny increments a few moments here and there. I was watching a mass of clouds swirling…

Bird Droppings December 28, 2019 Where is the passion?   I was sitting facing a rising sun thankful for a new day yesterday a few days past, the first sunlight in many mornings. It was ironic as I was sitting on an overturned five-gallon plastic bucket next to a small circle of smooth river rocks…

Bird Droppings December 22, 2019 It is the small pieces that seriously matter “Until you can clearly see each piece of the puzzle you will never be able to understand the whole.” Frank Bird, grandfather, teacher and ponderer I am sitting here on the last Sunday before Christmas in Between Georgia a long way from…

Bird Droppings December 20, 2019 Longing for the simplicity   I was thinking back a few years around this time. My reading and writing was taking a beating with getting ready for the end of the semester, a trip to North Carolina for a new grandbaby, and driving my wife to and from work since…