Bird Droppings January 9, 2015 Caring is a very precious commodity in life As I am pondering my early hours today before heading to the local Super Walmart all night everything store I read an article dealing with charter schools and how they exclude many students. The air temperature is chilly outside and we are…

Bird Droppings January 8, 2015 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, to go…

Bird Droppings January 7, 2015 Intuitiveness and being there I have always thought that teachers need to be two things intuitive and empathetic. Both require an element of compassion and caring. I wonder often how people teach without these capabilities. Over the last week with several other teachers we have been discussing this in detail.…

Bird Droppings January 6, 2015 The fragility of life Early this morning I was awakened a bit early our dog and we both needed to take a potty break. Hearing what I thought was rain and a teenager I assume tearing out of our subdivision about two in the morning did not help my sleep…

Bird Droppings January 5, 2015 A chill in the air but not in the heart For several days the now we have been below freezing in the early mornings which totally silences the crickets and tree frogs who need an ambient temperature a bit more warm maybe high fifties low sixties. So for today my…

Bird Droppings January 4, 2015 Building Sandcastles drip by drip It was nearly fourteen years ago when I was physically attending classes in graduate school nearly every day and before switching to Internet classes and WebCT. This took some getting used to going to school and then going to teach school. I was teaching from…

Bird Droppings December 29, 2014 Can teachers use learning as their pallet? I wrote the basics of this article nearly ten years ago and at the time was thinking of an artist friend who was trying to define her art as well as searching for her own meaning in life. My friend often reflects her…

Bird Droppings December 27, 2014 Sometimes there is Risk It has been nearly a year since I drove my wife to work and while heading back caught sight of a glorious sunrise beginning. By the time I got to the house I had a few minutes to run in side and get a decent camera…

Bird Droppings December 26, 2014 Where is the passion? I was sitting facing a rising sun thankful for a new day earlier today. It was ironic as I was sitting on an overturned five gallon plastic bucket next to a small circle of smooth river rocks facing east, listening to mockingbird chattering away in the…