The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings November 6, 2018 I am still trying to figure out teaching   The names are withheld, to protect the innocent, except on my Facebook page. A few years back I received this note. “Good morning Mr. Bird , I would like to thank you for being a great teacher, my son John Doe…

Bird Droppings November 8, 2018 Teaching is always climbing up another rung   I had a great night sleep. I was planning on writing this morning. I have an IEP observation to write up for tomorrow and a preproscectus for my dissertation I would like to have competed by the end of the week. I…

Bird Droppings November 3, 2018 I still like the seagull book   Once upon a time, that line has started so many stories in my day that perhaps it would be a good way to start today. Many years ago as I drove my kids to school each morning I would spin yarns of various…

Bird Dropping November 1, 2018 Can we think about compassion in today’s world?   I am sitting here looking out my window next to my computer into a dark world. My dear friends and those of you not so dear please consider this thought. We are in a turbulent time. A hurricane of politics and…

Bird Droppings November 2, 2018 Education is turning an ugly face jug not pouring in a mold It has been a few years since the last time I talked with and watched the late Cleater Meadors turn a jug on the potter’s wheel at Mossy Creek Arts and Crafts fair in Perry Georgia. A simple…

Bird Droppings October 28, 2018 Can we change things?   “Therefore the shortage of effective teachers is not a problem that can be solved by a new structure. It is caused by how we train and manage teachers, and can only be solved by improving the way we do this, no matter what the structure…

Bird Droppings October 29, 2018 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 which point…

Bird Droppings October 25, 2018 Hearing an owl   “If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator.”…

Bird Droppings October 24, 2018 I am always finding where community exists   I am sitting listening to Allman Brother’s Fillmore East CD on a Tuesday morning a full moon hidden in our infrequent lately clouds outside. As I drove to school today I had several thoughts streaming through my head. How do two people…

Bird Droppings October 23, 2018 Have we sold our souls for a few trinkets?   Morning is a special time for me always a new beginning. That might be far too easy of a way to say what I am trying to say. Today I went out a bit early from the house to take…