The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings October 20, 2023Listening to a five-note flute and pondering at a Honda dealer I arise relatively early, even in retirement, on my days off from my part-time teaching. Each morning, I run up to my corner store for conversation and to stock up. I need a couple of Smart water bottles, sometimes the…

Bird Droppings October 19, 2023Education is turning an ugly face jug, not pouring in a mold. I will be turning 74 soon. I will be getting my flu shot and COVID-19 vaccine. I was sitting on my back porch, eating a late breakfast and sipping a cup of tea, listening to the birds. I have…

Bird Droppings October 18, 2023I still like the Seagull book. As I get older, I feel seventy-three years and two days old today. Many years ago, as I drove my kids to school each morning, I would spin yarns of various Indian tribes and Great Grandpa Niper. Some were stories told to me by my…

Bird Droppings October 15, 2023Can 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 of the…

Bird Droppings October 12, 2023 Have we sold our souls for a few trinkets, or don’t want to die in Georgia? Morning is a special time for me, always a new beginning. Today, I left the house early to take out the garbage and stand silently for a moment. As I drove from the house…

Bird Droppings October 9, 2023An eclectic morning pondering mortality I walked out into a clear sky, and stars gleamed above me. The smiling moon had settled behind the pine trees to the east. My feet got cold, and I walked about in flip-flops. I walked my wife to her car; she was headed to work…

Bird Droppings October 1, 2023 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 I…

Bird Droppings September 30, 2023An epiphany of sorts on a chilly September morning  I spent the better part of yesterday avoiding any direction, so intent on the moment I was missing cues to the past and future. It was three years ago that our neighborhood changed. On top of everything, I was worn out from…

Bird Droppings September 30, 2023 Teach to where the learning will be, not to where it is I got a text from my middle son a couple of years ago that a package was coming from my granddaughter and was very fragile. My box came; I thought I should open it while videotaping. I carefully…

Bird Droppings September 28, 2023 Why are we deliberately wrong in education so often? 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 to play my numbers. I…