The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • So hard to type 2012

    Bird Droppings January 2, 2012 It is so hard to type 2012               Sitting here coming to school in the dark alone thinking back after skipping a day of writing. I received a small book for Christmas about five years ago from my wife, “It isn’t easy being green” by Jim Henson Jr., the…

  • Risk ahead

    Bird Droppings December 31, 2011 Risk ahead               How more appropriate to end the year than to look at the idea of risk and what lies ahead. Risk is a driving force of who we are and why we are and what we do. How we take chances and avoid risk are defining pieces…

  • Determining what to learn

    Bird Droppings December 30, 2011 Determining what to learn   “Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know — and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know…

  • Naughty or Nice !!!!

    Bird Droppings December 29, 2011 Naughty or Nice   “The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.” William Wordsworth   One day when you look back and try and remember what was that act or when, you may not remember but the person to whom that…

  • Where is the passion?

    Bird Droppings December 28, 2011 Where is the passion?   “How do preschool children, full of natural inquisitiveness and a passion for learning, turn into apathetic or angry teens with a profound dislike of school?” Robert L. Fried, The passionate Learner   Every day I hear the simple phrase from at least one student of,…

  • Why do we WORK?

    Bird Droppings December 27, 2011 Why do we WORK? “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” Aristotle How many times do we all hear how difficult the job is or how “I hate my job” I am always confused when I hear this. I want to ask why are you doing this if…

  • A new day fille with questions and perhaps answers

    Bird Droppings December 26, 2011 A new day one filled with questions and perhaps answers   “No such thing as a man willing to be honest –that would be like a blind man willing to see.” F. Scott Fitzgerald   “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to…

  • Thorns really only hurt by surprise

    Bird Droppings October 21, 2011 Thorns really only hurt by surprise It has been an interesting week spending time with my granddaughter amazing how many different things she can find to get into. We recently had homecoming week and each day we the teachers and students could dress up according to various themes, 1980’s work…

  • Looking for the passion

    Bird Droppings August 18, 2011 Looking for the passion “All games have an important and probably decisive influence on the destinies of the players under ordinary social conditions; but some offer more opportunities than others for life long careers and are more likely to involve innocent bystanders.” Dr. Eric Berne, The games people play In…

  • Honesty as Policy

    Bird droppings August 5, 2011 Honesty as Policy I walked out to a very still and quiet morning around two thirty this morning. Being my official first day back to school (work) I looked for a smiling moon sort of a good luck charm to no avail. I would use this reference to a moon…