The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Learning

  • Quietly listening to Bob Dylan and pondering the word inspiration.

    Bird Droppings March 7, 2025Quietly listening to Bob Dylan and pondering the word inspiration. My mind wandered back fifteen years or more to a county-wide teacher kick-off meeting. I thought back to another time, 2020, when many teachers were still monitoring lessons from computers, not in the classroom. Many communities banned gatherings of fifty or…

  • Bird Droppings January 31, 2026 Whenever I get around teachers, I end up pondering Dr. Carl G. Jung and “school reform.” The answer is simple: CARING. “If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in…

  • Learning and teaching are not the same, yet they intertwine.

    Bird Droppings January 14, 2026Learning and teaching are not the same, yet they intertwine. “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.” Dr. Mortimer J. Adler Dr. Adler founded the Center for the Study of…

  • Passion for learning: Can it be rekindled?

    Bird Droppings January 5, 2025Passion for learning: Can it be rekindled? April 4, 1968, I was a freshman at West Chester State, now University. I was not seriously politically active, and I would say naïve. I do recall the news stories and the tension that followed. I grew up in a town where the people…

  • Quietly listening to Hot Tuna and pondering the word inspiration.

    Bird Droppings July 15, 2025 Quietly listening to Hot Tuna and pondering the word inspiration. Over twenty years ago, at a county-wide teacher kick-off meeting, it was traditionally a packaged inspirational meeting and welcome before state and federal budget cuts. This was the startup for the new school year led by a brought-in speaker. They…

  • Walking along the way in my journey

    Bird Droppings December 2, 2025Walking along the way in my journey I am building up my endurance by walking as much as I can each day. Pat and I are heading to see our North Carolina grandkids in the morning, and I hope to take some serious steps. As I think back on who I…

  • A morning meandering while the rain keeps coming down, and no sunrise

    Bird Droppings November 30, 2025 A morning meandering while the rain keeps coming down, and no sunrise Almost ten years ago, after tutoring in an after-school program with a student who needed constant repetition of material to remember, I read through several old emails from my doctoral and graduate cohort friends, as some are defending…

  • I was listening to the stillness of a morning, the sunrise, and sometimes we need a window and not a mirror.

    Bird Droppings November 21, 2025 I was listening to the stillness of a morning, the sunrise, and sometimes we need a window and not a mirror.  I was sitting alone this morning, as I often do, after running, trying to get a few photos of the sunrise. Today, it was mostly foggy and cloudy and…

  • I firmly believe that there is a spiritual aspect to teaching.

    Bird Droppings November 17, 2025I firmly believe that there is a spiritual aspect to teaching. I just arrived after an hour of driving around, chasing the sunrise. I got home, had some breakfast, and went outside to sit, listen, and photograph birds in my backyard. I periodically checked my Apple watch to see my heart…

  • Amazing how intertwined the strands of life really are

    Bird Droppings November 11, 2025Amazing how intertwined the strands of life really are I was asked at dinner one evening when I started teaching, and I responded that I was twelve. The group I was with was thinking I was being my typical sarcastic self. Then I explained that I started teaching swimming to beginners…