The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings June 6, 2022Keeping 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 classroom in Mountain City, Georgia. This course had been an elective graduate class…

Bird Droppings June 3, 2022Trying 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…

Bird Droppings June 1, 2022Searching for a flower, the butterfly pea (Clitoria marina), or is it gone now Interestingly, I had two thoughts earlier in the week as I started the day. One I heard on the radio going to get some gas in my wife’s car from a satellite radio announcer recalling an old…

Bird Droppings May 27, 2022 Innocence is more than a definition “Look at children. Of course, they may quarrel, but generally speaking they do not harbor ill feelings as much or as long as adults do. Most adults have the advantage of education over children, but what is the use of an education if they…

Bird Droppings May 24, 2022 Being reborn is listening with the heart So often in life, we hear words and rationalize those utterances, develop an opinion and then logically state a response. I got thinking back to a conversation sitting discussing existentialism with my granddaughter one night nearly eleven years ago as she cooed and…

Bird Droppings May 23, 2022Can we even compare ethics and politics? I picked up a copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this morning about five years ago. The front page had various articles, but one caught my attention. Having been a student in psychology at Mercer University in Macon and required to go on a field…

Bird Droppings May 22, 2022 Is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Abraham Lincoln Perhaps some people are inherently grouchy in the scheme of things, and or by Lincoln’s view, they want to be grouchy. Sitting…

Bird Droppings May 18, 2022 Innocence is more than a definition. “Look at children. Of course, they may quarrel, but generally speaking, they do not harbor ill feelings as much or as long as adults do. Most adults have the advantage of education over children, but what is the use of an education if they…

Bird Droppings May 16, 2022Is curriculum sacred? My wife and I are talking about taking a few days’ hiatus to head to the South Carolina coast with no schedule and little baggage. Just a spur-of-the-moment trip. I was thinking back to our last crazy trip, which included a nursery or two, tourist traps, museums, and…

Bird Droppings May 13, 2022In the pursuit of excellence I was listening to crickets and tree frogs as morning sounds surrounded me with the rustling of leaves in the steady breeze as I sojourned out in the wee hours with a cup of tea. It is a great day to walk this reality and say…