Bird Droppings June 24, 2012 History is what happened today tomorrow   “Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.”  Will Durant     At times I find a piece a bit of wisdom and or knowledge that has significance to me…

Bird Droppings June 23, 2012 Why we do what we do?   “Our task is to make our children into disciples of the good life, by our own actions toward them and toward other people. This is the only effective discipline in the long run. But it is more arduous, and takes longer, than simply…

Bird Droppings June 22, 2012 A new journey is begun   “School divides life into two segments, which are increasingly of comparable length. As much as anything else, schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them.” Ivan Illich, 1971…

Bird Droppings June 21, 2012 Sometimes we need to clean our ears   Kind of sort of gross to ponder ear wax and all, but I was thinking more symbolically. So often in life we hear within our own perception and really do not hear what is really being said we formulate and postulate the…

Bird Droppings June 20, 2012 Am I really thinking, sitting, pondering and recovering?               I drove to south east Georgia on about three years ago to take my oral exam for my doctorate which was basically a follow-up face to face with my committee of professors and in turn responding to my three written…

Bird Droppings June 19, 2012 Are we experiencing genocide of learning?   It gets difficult to finish my daily journals entries lately running back and forth to North Georgia, sitting in on Foxfire Teacher Classes, reading and discussing John Dewey and my writing of course. So here early in the morning today as I write…

Bird Droppings June 18, 2012 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 call to mind my own interpretation and understanding of what we as teachers are all about. I…

Bird Droppings June 16, 2012 Can we find attitude within pedagogy?   “If a university can’t have two out of five of their student-athletes graduate, I don’t know why they’re rewarded with post-season play” Arne Duncan               Over the past few days I have been looking at how I see teaching and instruction and…

Bird Droppings June 15, 2012 Critical Pedagogy is not a dirty word               This time of year I am traditionally back and forth to North Georgia the past four or five summers to a program taught by faculaty from Piedmont College and housed on the Foxfire Property in Mountain City Georgia. Teachers from literally…

Bird Droppings June 14, 2012 An evolving pedagogy as I learn   “We would do away with examinations. They measure the inconsequential type of learning. We would do away with grades and credits for the same reason. We would do away with degrees as a measure of competence partly for the same reason. Another reason…