The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings August 30, 2019 A beginning from an end   “It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.” Albert Einstein   I was thinking…

Bird Droppings August 29, 2019 Quietly listening to Hot Tuna and pondering the word inspiration Nearly sixteen years ago at a county wide teacher kick off meeting, before budget cuts there was traditionally a packaged inspirational meeting and welcome. This was designed to be a startup for the new school year lead by a brought…

Bird Droppings August 28, 2019 How do we know if we are still human?   Perhaps it is from growing up in a situation where we were daily aware of special needs children and adults from the birth of my younger brother till his passing almost eighteen years ago. Those in my family have had…

Bird Droppings August 26, 2019 Progressive versus traditional teachers   In a ninth-grade literature class that I happen to co-teach in several years back, I was introduced to the Freedom Writers Diary and the film based on the book. In some ways the story is similar to the story of Foxfire. Erin Gruell, a first…

Bird Droppings August 25, 2019 Teaching is making a difference each day , even if only for one student   I was leaving a fast food joint yesterday and my leg was bothering me. I have been in casts now since mid-July. As I was walking out a Viet Nam Vet walked in. I am…

Bird Droppings August 23, 2019 Could there be such a thing as Essential Education?   It has been almost seven years since I was discussing various educational philosophies and pedagogies with my son. One happened to be essential education which per his text is only a slight step from perennial education that is reading, writing…

Bird Droppings August 21, 2019 The synchronicity saga and or saga of synchronicity   I write often of coincidence it may seem boring to some. To me it is a never-ending saga of special moments one after the other. During a college graduate class, we discussed science and measuring of data. Intuition and coincidence, it…

Bird Droppings August 20, 2019 Can we find learning in the Kalahari Desert?   It has been a few days since I could walk about the yard and along the side of our nearby dirt road and take pictures of wildflowers and grasshoppers among other things that I find as ponder. I once spent several…

Bird Droppings August 19, 2019 Checking the toes for mittens   It has been some time since one of my granddaughters came over to me to show off her new hat and mittens. It was quite a sight clad in a t-shirt, diaper, mittens and ski cap that looked like a penguin she was showing…

Bird Droppings August 16, 2019 Getting over the speed bumps   “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Hannah More   Perhaps ahead of her time Ms. More wrote in abundance in the later 1700’s and early 1800’s. She was writing in a time when women were…