The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings October 10, 2019 How do you feed the wolves?   I walked outside very early this morning to a sky filled with clouds leaving and a brisk wind. Crickets were almost silent chirping slowly in the unusually cool weather. My morning started long before sunrise today and the sounds as I went on…

Bird Droppings October 9, 2019 An epiphany of sorts on a chilly October morning     I spent the better part of yesterday avoiding my direction so intent on the moment I was missing cues to the past and future. In the past several months many things sat me back emotionally and spiritually. We went…

Bird Droppings October 8, 2019 What is that piece you cannot teach teachers?   “Studies suggest that instructional and management processes are key to effectiveness, but many interview and survey responses about effective teaching emphasize the teacher’s affective characteristics, or social and emotional behaviors, more than pedagogical practice.” James H. Stronge, Qualities of Effective Teachers…

Bird Droppings October 7, 2019 Teach to where the learning will be not to where it is   It seems lately the pressure of old age has been weighing on my mind. Today is the first day in some time I felt pretty good it could be it is fall break and later today my…

Bird Droppings October 4, 2019 An eclectic morning and more than one thought about Thoreau   I was talking with the cashier at a local convenience store yesterday morning. We began discussing, The Davinci Code and other philosophical diversions and fearing death as a basis for religion came up. The older you get and more…

Bird Droppings October 3, 2019 Seeing puzzle pieces by being patient   A few mornings back before a subdivision moved in I decided to walk out to my quiet spot along an old stream bed by the house. As I ventured back a feather lay upon the path way. I picked up the feather and…

Bird Droppings October 2, 2019 Why are we deliberately wrong?   I stopped playing the lottery many nearly three years ago but I will admit that on a previous Saturday night with a Powerball jackpot of only about one hundred fifty million dollars I was pondering retiring if I bought a ticket and won. I…

Bird Droppings October 1, 2019 Is the seat of the soul in the heart or mind?   I believe I was prepared from childhood to discuss this topic. It has been many years since my first introduction to Native Peoples. I was three or four years old when I first remember my father’s stories of…

Bird Droppings September 30, 2019 Searching for integrity midst the fogginess of reality   “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do…

Bird Droppings September 29, 2019 What’s it take for that light bulb to go on?   It has been nearly twelve years since my doctorial cohort ended and we began the journey on our own. Most of us will have had a few classes or two together here and there and are into and are…