The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Learning

  • Should we sharpen the machete or bring a shovel?

    Bird Droppings April 17, 2017 Should we sharpen the machete or bring a shovel?   I have been reflecting over the concept of critical pedagogy and in that reflection I recall an incident nearly forty years ago that calls to mind my own interpretation and understanding of what we as teachers are all about. I…

  • We need both the Rock and the Smoke

    Bird Droppings April 12, 2017 We need both the Rock and the Smoke   “If people find no room in their lives to pray or to meditate, to reflect deeply on why they have been created and what they must do with their lives, and to listen with all of their being to the guidance…

  • It is said dreams do not stand alone

    Bird Droppings April 10, 2017 It is said dreams do not stand alone “You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.” Richard Bach It has been so many years since I first experienced the whimsical book Jonathan Livingston Seagull,…

  • What about adding to reality TV, The great teachers of America?

    Bird Droppings April 7, 2017 What about adding to reality TV, The great teachers of America?   I hope to get back to grad school here shortly and finish my twelve yearlong doctorate. I am set up to teach several new college classes when I get back on track which had me started on a…

  • Is there a difference between progressive and traditional teachers?

    Bird Droppings March 6, 2017 Is there a difference between progressive and traditional teachers?   This is perhaps a loaded question in lieu of today’s educational climate. Watching the news and the major effort under way to dismantle public schools through vouchers, “school choice” and other means we need to look at what we want…

  • Life, a journey only made difficult if there is no learning invloved

    Bird Droppings February 28, 2017 Life, a journey only made difficult if there is no learning invloved   “Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.” Henry Van Dyke   I was visiting with my mother yesterday and I walked by my fathers…

  • It is about random acts of kindness

    Bird Droppings February 21, 2017 It is about random acts of kindness   I was a bit later than I planned to get started this morning. I have a long day of writing for school and personally today. I got up this morning and my son’s faithful dog decided I did not need sleep late.…

  • Teaching is a journey it is not copy, paste or bubble.

    Bird Droppings February 8, 2017 Teaching is a journey it is not copy, paste or bubble.   “To project an image of what Public Education in the US might become in the 21st Century is more to move back and forth between the predictable and the possible.” Maxine Greene, Colombia University, res: Imagining futures: the…

  • Bird Droppings January 31, 2017 A chill in the air but not in the heart, thank you Maya Angelou   For several days the now we have been balancing between warm and cold weather in the early mornings which still is too cold for the crickets and tree frogs who need an ambient temperature a…

  • Should we be examining the threads of life?

    Bird Droppings January 30, 2017 Should we be examining the threads of life?   “Man did not weave the web of life he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” Chief Seattle, 1854   It has been a few years since I read a National Geographic…