The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings April 16, 2024Can we find Truth in an untruthful world? For the third or fourth time, I reread a book titled Every Day is a good day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women by the late Wilma Mankiller. Mankiller was the past Chief of The Cherokee Nation and a Native American Activist, author, lecturer,…

Bird Droppings April 12, 2024 Making a difference each day “Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world” Paulo Freire A Brazilian educationalist and one of the most influential thinkers of the late twentieth century used the term dialogue in his writing. As I read a bit…

Bird Droppings April 11, 2024I’m not too fond of shopping, but I like Kroger. About ten years back, I spent nearly a week using ice packs as heat extractors for my computer until getting the fan fixed. It was interesting. Two similar thoughts came to me this morning as I started the day out. One…

Bird Droppings April 7, 2024Ethics and Politics: I think they are antonyms So many things are happening in our world that are often whims of a politician we voted for or, sometimes, even against. Industry is being remade, wars are being fought, jobs are appearing and disappearing, and health care reform is possibly off and…

Bird Droppings April 5, 2024Wind in the trees can be peaceful and or bring fear. Over the past weeks, several storms have come through the area. Three nights back, just before I went to bed, according to the weather, we would get another storm during the night. My granddaughter was staying with us, and during…

Bird Droppings April 4, 2024Getting ready “In the government schools, which are referred to as public schools, Indian policy has been instituted there, and it’s a policy where they do not encourage, in fact, discourage, critical thinking and the creation of ideas and public education.” Russell Means I walked outside early this morning before sunrise,…

Bird Droppings April 3, 2024I truly believe there is a spiritual side to teaching. I just came in after an hour of sitting, listening, and photographing birds in my backyard. I periodically checked my Apple watch to see my heart rate, and it was consistently at 61, right where it should be. I was relaxed…

Bird Droppings March 28, 2024My pedagogy is evolving as I learn, see, and listen more. “We would do away with examinations. They measure the inconsequential type of learning. We would do away with grades and credits for the same reason. We would do away with degrees as a measure of competence partly for the same…

Bird Droppings March 23, 2024Why should life be a difficult journey? “Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.” Henry Van Dyke About six years ago, I visited with my mother, and I walked by my father’s and brother’s gravesites and stood by…

Bird Droppings March 22, 2024Can we find answers? Several years ago, I would have said there were answers to almost any question that could be asked. Today, sitting here, I wonder, granted; first, you have to ask what the question or questions are, but now I have a different attitude that allows for an unanswerable…