Bird Droppings March 22, 2016 As a teacher we should always be near the edge I recall taking groups hiking in North Georgia and always there is that one person who has to be at the edge of a gorge or edge of the trail dropping two hundred feet down looking over and nearly falling.…

Bird Droppings March 21, 2016 The sacredness of finding Foxfire in the Kalahari Desert I have known about Foxfire for nearly fifty years since I bought my first copy of a Foxfire book in 1972 or so. Since that time coincidence as it may be I have taken courses in the Foxfire approach to teaching…

Bird Droppings March 18, 2016 Seeking perfection all the while mired in sterile mud It has been a few years since my students were nonverbal. Back in the day as my youngest son will say, I worked in private and residential programs. My students were considered severe and profoundly mentally impaired. Other words were used…

Bird Droppings March 17, 2016 Is there data in a data-less environment I read earlier this morning a dialogue of sorts from a young man who is currently serving in the military. He is trying to decide on his future as he pieces together in his dialogue options and possibilities not just in his immediate…

Bird Droppings March 16, 2016 Using pronouns as a cover up I have been off the computer for too many days. It was one of those days yesterday and a word caught my attention as I was listening to a friend talk. The word was them. I never realized the extent of prejudice till a…

Bird Droppings March 11, 2016 The journey starts here now “Who, then, shall conduct education so that humanity may improve?” John Dewey A very deep and broad question, I was thinking back to my own community and associations. We elect school board members who hire teachers and principals, they decide on schools to build and…

Bird Droppings March 10, 2016 Could it be neither wolf nor dog in education? In light of watching current news and political turmoil I recalled a trip to the Atlanta Zoo. I was approached as I walked up the hill at the Zoo by an elderly man. I had never met this man previously and…

Bird Droppings March 9, 2016 Teaching is making a difference each day “Dialogue, is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world” Paulo Freire A Brazilian educationalist and one of the most influential thinkers of the late twentieth century made famous the term dialogue in his writing. As I…

Bird Droppings March 8, 2016 Potential is only that unless it is acted upon “Love is a complex experience which seems to follow no rules but its own. Romantic love can have the power of a hurricane or the tenderness of a soft wet wind. I have known, too, a chance introduction which instantly and…

Bird Droppings March 7, 2016 Is there a difference between progressive and traditional teachers? In a ninth grade literature class that I happened to co-teach in, I was introduced to the book Freedom Writers Diary and the film based on the book. In some ways the story is similar to the story of Foxfire. Erin…