The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings August 20, 2024It takes more than one strand to make a rope. I opened a Matthew Fox daily meditation, which was based on the late Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk. Merton’s words were of his Celtic heritage and his grandmother’s family name, Bird. I found it interesting as I know my grandmother’s family…

Bird Droppings August 15, 2024 Ponderingerest, is that even a word? Coming up are some exciting days. One is an interesting yet solemn day marked by dark memories; twenty-three years ago, I started teaching again after a twenty-three-year layoff; thirty-six years ago, we brought a new baby home. So many memories are coming up in…

Bird Droppings August 14, 2024Keeping the stories going, remembering a dear friend For years, I would visit, take photos, and offer my two cents at the Foxfire Approach to Teaching Course taught through Piedmont College for graduate students and teachers. Classes would be held in the Mountain City Foxfire Museum classroom. This course had been…

Bird Droppings August 13, 2024 A spiritual side to teaching A Rainy Morning in Georgia that may be a song title. We have gone almost twenty days with little or no rain, and many areas were in drought conditions and a hundred miles east and recovering from floods from the last hurricane. After an exceptionally…

Bird Droppings August 12, 2024 Why are we deliberately wrong in education so often and continue to be wrong? I stopped playing the lottery nearly five years ago unless Powerball is over 100 million. I will admit that I am pondering retiring with a Powerball jackpot of nearly nine hundred million dollars. I might need…

Bird Droppings August 9. 2024A beginning from an end searching for our value in life “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Victor Frankl I have been struggling to find a part-time position so far this year. I have interviewed, and granted, I can overwhelm some…

Bird Droppings August 6, 2024Where is the passion? About seven years ago, I was sitting facing a rising sun, thankful for a new day. A few days passed, and the first sunlight appeared on many mornings. It was ironic as I was sitting on an overturned five-gallon plastic bucket next to a small circle of…

Bird Droppings August 5, 2024Who would have thought of a buffalo snort in the dark? “Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to…

Bird Droppings August 1, 2024What do teachers really know? “Teachers are one of the most important resources a nation has for providing the skills, values, and knowledge that prepare young people for productive citizenship – but more than this, to give sanctuary to their dreams and aspirations for a future of hope, dignity, and justice.…

Bird Droppings July 30, 2024Why would someone rather send a photo than write? “Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” Aldus Huxley 1965, I was introduced to this author in a tenth-grade English Class. The book we were reading was Brave New World,…