Bird Droppings April 18, 2025 Watching a hawk fly by I recall a favorite memory of mine: from five years ago, for the first time in my teaching in public school, nearly twenty years, I was not required to teach to the test, which got me thinking back. Over the years, I have attended numerous…

Bird Droppings April 17, 2025Trying to teach an unteachable child “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” John F. Kennedy As I…

Bird Droppings April 12, 2025In the pursuit of excellence I was listening to crickets and tree frogs as morning sounds surrounded me with the rustling of leaves in the steady breeze as I sojourned out in the wee hours with a cup of tea. It is a great day to walk in this reality and…

Bird Droppings March 7, 2025Quietly listening to Bob Dylan and pondering the word inspiration. My mind wandered back fifteen years or more to a county-wide teacher kick-off meeting. I thought back to 2020 and many teachers still monitoring lessons from computers but not in the classroom. Many communities banned gatherings of fifty or more. With…

Bird Droppings February 25, 2025 I ponder educational genocide as this administration tries to gut education and or NCLB, norming children, only leaves the best I was huddled in my Carhart vest as I went outside to chase a sunrise this morning. I stopped along the way to think a bit about the up-and-coming defense…

Bird Droppings February 22, 2025Are we going in the right direction? I reviewed my student’s online work status four years ago. There were a couple of surprises and some that were not. I thought that when the virus finally moved on and the smoke cleared, some grades would go up, and some would drop. We…

Bird Droppings February 21, 2025The Power of Example goes beyond the curriculum. “We taught our children by both example and instruction, but with an emphasis on example, because all learning is a dead language to one who gets it second hand.” Kent Nerburn, The Wisdom of the Native Americans For nearly twenty-five years, I have…

Bird Droppings February 20, 2025Do we have a desire for freedom? “Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom and dignity. It is not enough, as communist systems have assumed, merely to provide people with food, shelter, and clothing. Human nature needs to breathe the precious air…

Bird Droppings February 8, 2025I am pondering about Dr. Carl G. Jung and “school reform.”I find the answer is simple: CARING. “If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.” Carl G. Jung Over…

Bird Droppings February 2, 2025Our example is how children learn. “We taught our children by both example and instruction, but with an emphasis on example, because all learning is a dead language to one who gets it second hand.” Kent Nerburn, The Wisdom of the Native Americans For nearly fifteen years, I have looked to…