Bird Droppings June 19, 2015 The head of education in the US should not be an idiot It was five years ago I was reading an article actually an interview with Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education. I selected a few choice quotes from his interview to savor and ponder for a few days. As…

Bird Droppings June 18, 2015 Could there be such a thing as Essential Education? It has been almost two years since I was discussing various educational philosophies and pedagogies with my son. One happened to be essential education which per his text is only a slight step from perennial education that is reading, writing and…

Bird Droppings June 17, 2015 Trying 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…

Bird Droppings June 16, 2015 What is the Sixteen Hour Syndrome and should embrace it or find a cure? I was teaching last night a college class and in the process played with a word that I saw online in a Martin Luther King Jr. quote a friend had posted. “A nation that will keep…

Bird Droppings June 15, 2015 I am always thinking about where I am going “Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path… this is what I must do; this is what I’ve got to have. This is who I am. It’s important to ask yourself, how am I useful to others?…

Bird Droppings June 13, 2015 I wonder what my favorite store is; Then again is it even important? Interesting two thoughts while similar struck me this morning as I started the day out. One I heard on the radio going to get some air in my wife’s tire in her car from a radio announcer…

Bird Droppings June 12, 2015 Teaching and or 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu I will be having my fifteenth first day of school at this high school. I will just assume it will not be as tense and hectic as my first on September 11, 2001. I began the day thinking back…

Bird Droppings June 11, 2015 A quick reflection this beautiful day, thinking of others and a dear friend “I think that empathy is important not only as a means of enhancing compassion, but I think that generally speaking when dealing with others on any level, if you are having difficulties, it’s extremely helpful to be…

Bird Droppings June 10, 2015 I am always searching for the ends of a bell-shaped curve I was reminded as former students came by at our last Open House of how we as teacher’s impact lives. Students are so much more than test scores and grades. So much more than content we teach. I was joking…

Bird Droppings June 9, 2015 Wondering is a powerful tool Several years back during the school year we started sort of a school-wide vocabulary of the week I was reminded of this as I was looking through my various files for quotes and such. About three years ago as the day wound down an email…