Bird Droppings October 22, 2015 What is that piece you cannot teach teachers? “Studies suggest that instructional and management processes are key to effectiveness, but many interview and survey responses about effective teaching emphasize the teacher’s affective characteristics, or social and emotional behaviors, more than pedagogical practice.” James H. Stronge, Qualities of Effective Teachers I…

Bird Droppings October 21, 2015 Within the circle of life a new life coming I have wandered many miles the past few days. After being down under the weather for nearly two weeks my adrenalin seriously kicked in. My wife and I shared Monday with her mother and sister in the North Georgia Mountains and…

Bird Droppings October 19, 2015 “Teach to where the learning will be not to where it is” For ten days I have been recovering from a virus. Today is the first day in some time I felt pretty good. Originally my wife and I were going to go to the beach but my illness has…

Bird Droppings October 16, 2015 Looking at a cloud in the darkness As I do most everyday first thing is look at my phone for new posts and memories on Facebook. One of my memories from three years back was a video of my oldest granddaughter playing with some plastic animals. I watched it a…

Bird Droppings October 15, 2015 Teaching today is tying a knot with only one end It was a Saturday morning a few weeks back and no one else up but me and I was about to go out and wander in the darkness for a bit. I have over the years enjoyed greeting the morning.…

Bird Droppings October 14, 2015 Seeing puzzle pieces by being patient For nearly a week I have been dealing with a viral infection and basically sleeping or resting much of the day. Walking upstairs has even been a burden on some days. I have been poked and prodded to a point of bruises on both…

Bird Droppings October 11, 2015 Why are we deliberately trying to be wrong? I will admit that on Saturday night with a Powerball jackpot of only about one hundred fifty million dollars I was pondering retiring if I won. I think I would be if I won retiring to devote time to education in a…

Bird Droppings October 7, 2015 Can we decide on our own? “I do not write from mythology when I reflect upon Native American spirituality in this book. In my own opinion, mythology leads to superstition; and superstition has proved fatally destruction to many millions down through time. It is ironic, then that Dominant Society accuses…

Bird Droppings October 6, 2015 Trying to find where community exists It was several months back in my doctorial course work I was in a class on educational communities which featured all total in the two courses fifteen texts. All of the texts have an under lying theme of caring and relationships as a key…

Bird Droppings October 6, 2015 Is the seat of the soul in the heart or mind? I believe I was prepared from childhood to discuss this topic. It has been many years since my first introduction to Native Peoples. I was three or four years old when I first remember my father’s stories of Little…