The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings January 10, 2020 Our goal in teaching is for students to create new questions   Over the past year now back in active teaching again, I have been pondering. I have received advice through email and even a billboard or two driving home from Mount Yonah on a quick trip with my son…

Bird Droppings January 8, 2020 Examining the threads of life   “Man did not weave the web of life he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” Chief Seattle, 1854   It has been a few years since I read a National Geographic article where the…

Bird Droppings January 7, 2020 Is it counting knuckles, or is it no child will be left behind, doing what we want and that is considered totally normal.   One of my students asked a few years back what day of the month the following Friday would be and I responded January 30. Just as quick another said…

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…