The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Education

  • Keeping the stories going, remembering a dear friend

    Bird Droppings May 29, 2025Keeping 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, hosted by Piedmont College for graduate students and teachers already in Mountain City, Georgia, classroom. This course was an elective graduate class in Piedmont…

  • Why should we do more?

    Bird Droppings May 28, 2025Why should we do more? “Choices are sacred to life’s journey. They lie along the path that all of us must follow for ourselves. An important Cherokee lesson is that if you involve yourself in any decision, you also experience the consequences of that decision.” Dr. J.T. Garrett, Meditations with the…

  • Is the curriculum sacred?

    Bird Droppings May 26, 2025Is the curriculum sacred? Today is Memorial Day, and we honor our fathers, grandfathers, mothers, and grandmothers who have served our country. As I drove around this morning, I pondered my dad and his stories of World War II. He was a medic on an LSM in the South Pacific and…

  • Bird Droppings May 19, 2025 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…

  • Filling cracks in leaky pots is not always the solution

    Bird Droppings May 18, 2015Filling cracks in leaky pots is not always the solution Many thousands of years ago Buddha compared people to four kinds of clay vessels. Borrowing these words today as I am thinking to several days lost traveling to see a new grand baby, from my normal routine of writing and doing…

  • Teaching can be successful, and it can happen at any time.

    Bird Droppings May 12, 2025 Teaching can be successful, and it can happen at any time. When I am home, I try to search for a sunrise almost every morning. When we go to the beach at Pawleys Island, I am always on the beach for sunrises. Even at the beach, strands of spider webbing…

  • Wondering is a powerful tool.

    Bird Droppings May 6, 2025Wondering is a powerful tool. Several years back, we started a school-wide vocabulary of the week during the school year. I was reminded of this as I looked through my various files for quotes. About eight years ago, as the day wound down, an email from the head of the English…

  • Is there such a thing as an unteachable child

    Bird Droppings May 2, 2025Is there such a thing as 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.…

  • Should we sharpen the machete or bring a really big shovel?

    Bird Droppings April 30, 2025Should we sharpen the machete or bring a really big shovel? I have been reflecting on the concept of critical pedagogy, and in that reflection, I recall an incident nearly fifty years ago that calls to mind my interpretation and understanding of what we as teachers are all about. I purchased…

  • I have found a spiritual side to teaching

    Bird Droppings April 29, 2025I have found 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 Dr. Parker…