Bird Droppings January 9, 2014 Caring is a very precious commodity in life As I am pondering my early hours today before heading to the local Super Walmart all night everything store I read an article dealing with charter schools and how they exclude many students. The air temperature is chilly outside and we are…

Bird Droppings January 8, 2014 Horses and Trains and learning It has been many years since I last rode on a train. I mean a serious train going more than the distance between concourses at an airport. Years ago when I lived in the Philadelphia area, we all used mass transit to commute, to go…

Bird Droppings January 7, 2014 Intuitiveness and being there I have always thought that teachers need to be two things intuitive and empathetic. Both require an element of compassion and caring. I wonder often how people teach without these capabilities. Over the last week with several other teachers we have been discussing this in detail.…

Bird Droppings January 5, 2014 A chill in the air For several days the now we have been below freezing in the early mornings which totally silences the crickets and tree frogs who need an ambient temperature a bit more warm maybe high fifties low sixties. So for today my orchestra was silent as a…

Bird Droppings January 3, 2014 Building Sandcastles drip by drip It was nearly fourteen years ago when I was physically attending classes in graduate school nearly every day and before switching to Internet classes and WebCT. This took some getting used to going to school and then going to teach school. I was teaching from…

Bird Droppings January 2, 2014 So often in finding answers we create new questions Over the past day or so many New Year’s resolutions and advice for next year posting, emailing and even a billboard or two driving home from North Carolina yesterday. With all of the football games being played I got thinking back…

Bird Droppings December 31, 2013 Can teachers use learning as their pallet? I wrote the basics of this article nearly ten years ago and at the time was thinking of an artist friend who was trying to define her art as well as searching for her own meaning in life. My friend often reflects her…

Bird Droppings December 30, 2013 Setting an example is such a simple lesson plan “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 I have over the…

Bird Droppings December 27, 2013 Where is the passion? I was sitting facing a rising sun thankful for a new day. It was ironic as I was sitting on an overturned five gallon plastic bucket next to a small circle of smooth river rocks facing east, listening to mockingbird chattering away in the dawn light…