The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings June 19, 2023 Learning and teaching are not the same and yet intertwine.   “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.” Dr. Mortimer J. Adler   Dr. Adler founded the Center for…

Bird Droppings June 16, 2023In a world of data, can we still use intuition? A year ago, I spent the better part of the last week either sitting on or walking on the beach at Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Whenever my wife and I go, we ensure we see the sunrise every morning. It was…

Bird Droppings June 15, 2023Teaching can be successful. When I am home, I try to walk out to a quiet corner of my backyard; I walked two miles on the beach at Pawleys Island a year ago. Even at the beach, strands of spider webbing are still hanging, connecting everything. The scientist, part of me,…

Bird Droppings June 14, 2023Today should always be the first day. “I have seen that in any great undertaking, it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself.” Lone Man (Isna-la-wica)Teton Sioux So often in life, we think we are the one and can do it all on our own with no…

Bird Droppings June 13, 2023Life is making a quilt. Nearly sixteen years ago, my wife told me that my mother said this would be a joyous time as we celebrated my father’s life on a Sunday. She said we even have a snow cone machine, and I thought it gets hot in Georgia on an…

Bird Droppings June 9, 2023Teaching in a spiritual sense “Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it’s never living apart from oneself. Not about the absence of other people – it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others.” Parker Palmer Dr. Parker Palmer is an…

Bird Droppings June 8, 2023Wondering is a powerful tool. Several years back, we started a school-wide vocabulary of the week during the school year. I was reminded of this as I looked through my various files for quotes. About six years ago, as the day wound down, an email from the head of the English…

Bird Droppings June 7, 2023Can you be dreaming, imagining, thinking, ponderingand reflecting all in a few minutes? I drove to southeast Georgia nearly thirteen years ago to take my oral exams for my doctorate. This was a face-to-face follow-up with my committee of professors and, in turn, responding to my three written questions which were…

Bird Droppings June 5, 2023Keeping 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 by Piedmont College for graduate students and teachers already in the Mountain City, Georgia classroom. This course had been an elective graduate class of…

Bird Droppings June 3, 2023Trying to teach an unteachable child “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” John F. Kennedy As I…