Bird Droppings August 30, 2012 Do we fail ourselves?   Many the times I have wondered why people stop learning. I see it in high school students, college and in graduate students. Almost as if a switch is thrown and poof no more learning I have reached my limit. Yesterday in a co-teaching class where…

Bird Droppings August 29, 2012 Why do we wish, wonder and wait?    “Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.” William Davenant   It has been nearly six years since we moved last and found ourselves in this house.   I wasn’t sure from where to start several ideas have…

Bird Droppings August 28, 2012 Is there a spiritual side to teaching?   “Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it’s never living apart from one’s self. Not about absence of other people – it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others.” Parker Palmer  …

    Bird Droppings August 27, 2012 How do you spell Essential Bird Pedagogy?   “If a university can’t have two out of five of their student-athletes graduate, I don’t know why they’re rewarded with post-season play” Arne Duncan               Over the past few years I have been looking at how I see teaching…

Bird Droppings August 26, 2012 Where can I find the ends of a bell shaped curve?   I have had several statistics and testing courses during my undergraduate and graduate school experiences and I recall about on page 3 or so “the bell shaped curve” was mentioned. I always find it amazing how in education…

Bird Droppings August 24, 2012 Are not compassion and passion spelled similar? When does the FIDO principle not seem appropriate? Frequency, Intensity, Duration and Over Again is the basis for how to teach a topic in many management courses. Perhaps in a debate when asked a question and you answer with the same politic rhetoric…

Bird Droppings August 23, 2012 Can we 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…

Bird Droppings August 22, 2012 I wonder what is really my favorite store?   Interesting two thoughts while similar struck me this morning as I started the day out.  One I heard on the radio going to get gas for my wife the other morning from a radio announcer recalling an old Bush quote, and…

Bird Droppings August 21, 2012 Can we make a beginning from an end?   “It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.” Albert Einstein  …

Bird Droppings August 20, 2012 Why should we listen more closely?               I was out in the back yard walking the dog, weeding and watering my herb garden when a commotion caught my attention last evening. Three crows were chasing a red tailed hawk. One on one the hawk would be able to dispatch…