The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Life

  • Is the curriculum sacred or simply someone’s idea of what it should be?

    Bird Droppings April 15, 2025Is the curriculum sacred or simply someone’s idea of what it should be? My wife and I are talking about taking a few days’ hiatus to head to the South Carolina coast with no schedule and little baggage—just a spur-of-the-moment trip. I was thinking back to our last crazy trip, which…

  • Should we question our questions many times?

    Bird Droppings April9, 2025Should we question our questions many times? Yesterday, I was sitting in my computer area after a week or two of articles and innuendos about who and why Georgia students in high school and middle schools across the state do so poorly on certain mandatory tests. These are Georgia’s version of course-end…

  • My friend Trooper, I am pondering, remembering, and digesting the stories.

    Bird Droppings April 7, 2025My friend Trooper, I am pondering, remembering, and digesting the stories. Fifty-two years ago, I was a student at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, having moved south only a few months prior from Pennsylvania. Macon was new to me, and I must admit I was somewhat naive at the time. In…

  • Pondering early in the morning, in my search for wisdom, while looking for a sunrise on a cloudy day

    Bird Droppings April 2, 2025Pondering early in the morning, in my search for wisdom, while looking for a sunrise on a cloudy day I started my day by having some green tea and heading out to look for a sunrise. The sky was beautiful in a strange sort of way. Using overexposure, I got several…

  • Eating some leftover green beans, ham, and potatoes and thinking about the circle of life

    Bird Droppings March 31 – April 1, 2025 Eating some leftover green beans, ham, and potatoes and thinking about the circle of life I made a huge crock pot of green beans, ham, and potatoes last evening and had plenty of leftovers. One of my favorite childhood memories is of meals with the family. I’m…

  • Teaching and life are simply feeding wolves.

    Bird Droppings March 12, 2025Teaching and life are simply feeding wolves. When I opened my computer this morning, the news stories were depressing.  It has been about five years since numerous news stories and jokes addressed the college guidance company that was busted for getting wealthy kids into college for money. Today we are faced…

  • A morning meandering while the rain keeps coming down

    Bird Droppings March 10, 2025A morning meandering while the rain keeps coming down Almost ten years ago, after tutoring in an after-school program with a student who needs constant repetition of material to remember, I read through several old emails from my doctoral and graduate cohort friends as some are defending their dissertations in the…

  • Why should life be a difficult journey?

    Bird Droppings March 1, 2025Why should life be a difficult journey? “Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.” Henry Van Dyke It has been a few years since I visited with my mother, and I walked by my fathers and brothers’ grave…

  • To die a happy death:

    Bird Droppings February 12, 2025 To die a happy death: My mother’s spirit passed on four years ago. She went to sleep and moved on. As I pondered my thoughts for today, I always thought about education. I have been teaching public high school for nearly twenty years now, elementary school for two, and college…

  • Can we teach a love of learning again?

    Bird Droppings February 10, 2025Can we teach a love of learning again? This has been a perplexing time of my life out of the classroom, giving advice here and there to fellow teachers, parents, and students. I recall a car wreck in which a young man died, and his passenger, a good friend of my…