The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Frank Bird III

  • A few ramblings

    Bird Droppings September 15, 2011 A few ramblings “If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator.” W.…

  • Teaching the unteachable child

    Bird Droppings September 14, 2011 Teaching the un-teachable 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 I was working…

  • So much difference in perceptions

    Bird Droppings September 13, 2011 So much difference in perceptions “The delineation of the difference between modern (secular) society and traditional (Sacred) societies and their competing views of land and nature helps to explain the persistence of severe conflict between such societies. Unlike secular societies – where land signifies property, property signifies capital, and capital…

  • Checking the toes for mittens

    Bird Droppings September 12, 2011 Checking the toes for mittens Last evening my granddaughter was showing off her new hat and mittens so clad in a t-shirt diaper and mittens and ski cap that looked like a penguin she was showing off for us. Finally she realized crawling was a bit harder in mittens and…

  • I am just sitting and thinking

    Bird Droppings September 10, 2011 I am just sitting and thinking I was outside very early today as a great horned owl was irritating my dog keeping her up. It seems it was more than one as around me several were calling back and forth in a eerie chorus. The hooting had my dog going…

  • Our perceptions vary greatly about life

    Bird Droppings September 9, 2011 Our perceptions vary greatly about life “Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.” Irving Berlin It was ten years ago I was waiting to go teach again after having spent nearly twenty three years in the publishing business. I was anxious to…

  • Can we trust really?

    Bird Droppings September 8, 2011 Can we trust really? “I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.” Henry David Thoreau I was asked why I was successful with the students I work with by a fellow teacher one day. Many of my students over the years are students that no…

  • Our wonderful world of paradox and confusion

    Bird Droppings September 7, 2011 Our wonderful world of paradox and confusion “What can we surmise about the likelihood of someone’s being caring and generous, loving and helpful, just from knowing that they are a believer? Virtually nothing, say psychologists, sociologists, and others who have studied that question for decades.” Alfie Kohn Yesterday in my…

  • In the pursuit of excellence

    Bird Droppings September 6, 2011 In the pursuit of excellence In a brief sojourn outside a few minutes ago the sky is a mass of swirling mixes of gray and black as remnants of Hurricane Irene cross our area. We received much needed rain and the breeze has dropped our ninety plus high temperatures to…

  • Direction

    Bird Droppings September 5, 2011 Direction Over the past long weekend I worked on several papers, sat in the recliner and dabbled in my yard but I got thinking back to a party in Pennsylvania that was held nearly two years ago as I pondered and walked about. Two years ago on a Saturday night…