The daily meanderings of a teacher

Bird Droppings January 18, 2022Can we say true heroism and humility are spelled the same? “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” Arthur Ashe Even though I am one of the worst spellers in…

Bird Droppings January 17, 2022 I saw a Red-Tailed Hawk It isn’t significant for many as I look at that statement; a red-tailed hawk crossed my path as I traveled nearly ten years ago, flying across the road and landing in a tree. Behind our house, a pair of hawks has hunted the fields and…

Bird Droppings January 16, 2022Passion: Can it be rekindled? Stirring up Foxfire: Rekindling Personal Passion for Teaching through Storytelling is the title for my paper. It has been an interesting weekend pondering my dissertation and the impacts I am finding, granted I am perhaps stretching the idea a bit. Friday, I found a passage by…

Bird Droppings January 15, 2022 We have to try and care So far, for this year and the tail end of last year, all the snow, sleet, and ice predicted have never shown up, just cold, fog, wet and nasty. It has been unseasonably colder than usual, with scatterings of warm weather still only a…

Bird Droppings January 14, 2022 All in words, we find “The farmer channels water to his land. The fletcher whittles his arrows. And the carpenter turns his wood. So the wise direct their mind.” Dhammapada Many years ago, there was a folk song entitled, If I were a carpenter. As I read this passage this…

Bird Droppings January 13, 2022We are neither wolf nor dog It has been some time since I first read a book by this name written by one of my favorite authors Kent Nerburn. In much of his writing, Kent Nerburn addresses the spiritual significance and depth of life of our Native Peoples. While this is…

doing what we want, and that is considered normal. Bird Droppings January 13, 2019 Is it counting knuckles, or is it no child will be left behind, doing what we want, and that is considered normal. One of my students asked a few years back what day of the month the following Friday would be,…

Bird Droppings January 11, 2022 Sailing off the edge and or thinking out of a box I was thinking back nearly seventeen years when history was made as a new president was sworn in and as one of my students came into class and asked to start working on his assignments. I did not beg…

Bird Droppings January 10, 2022 Horses and Trains and learning It has been many years since I last rode on a train. I mean a serious train going more than the distance between concourses at an airport. Years ago, when I lived in the Philadelphia area, we all used mass transit to commute, go “downtown,”…

Bird Droppings January 7, 2022Can we define our success, or does it take another? Recently teachable moments have been rare as I have been very monastic between retirement and Covid and cautious. Yesterday while grocery shopping, I ran into a former student of sorts. I think she was in a class with me when I…