The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Teachers

  • Bird Droppings January 31, 2026 Whenever I get around teachers, I end up pondering Dr. Carl G. Jung and “school reform.” 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…

  • Trying to understand giving thanks, war, and Teaching and heart

    Bird Droppings January 22, 2026Trying to understand giving thanks, war, and Teaching and heart I seldom have a difficult time sleeping. I crashed the other night after a long day of cleaning up after my grandkids and a long week getting stitches out and closure on my surgery, and trying to keep up with my…

  • Learning and teaching are not the same, yet they intertwine.

    Bird Droppings January 14, 2026Learning and teaching are not the same, yet they intertwine. “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.” Dr. Mortimer J. Adler Dr. Adler founded the Center for the Study of…

  • Our perceptions vary greatly about life

    Bird Droppings January 11, 2026 Our perceptions vary greatly about life “Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.” Irving Berlin Over twenty-five years ago, I was waiting to return to teaching after nearly twenty-three years in the publishing business. I was anxious. I had gone by the high…

  • Passion for learning: Can it be rekindled?

    Bird Droppings January 5, 2025Passion for learning: Can it be rekindled? April 4, 1968, I was a freshman at West Chester State, now University. I was not seriously politically active, and I would say naïve. I do recall the news stories and the tension that followed. I grew up in a town where the people…

  • Quietly listening to Hot Tuna and pondering the word inspiration.

    Bird Droppings July 15, 2025 Quietly listening to Hot Tuna and pondering the word inspiration. Over twenty years ago, at a county-wide teacher kick-off meeting, it was traditionally a packaged inspirational meeting and welcome before state and federal budget cuts. This was the startup for the new school year led by a brought-in speaker. They…

  • Finding a pathway even when one does not appear

    Bird Droppings December 17, 2025Finding a pathway even when one does not appear The past week has sort of run together, though each day was interesting in its own right. It may have been sitting and watching movies with the family, three hectic days shopping with Pat, our 47th anniversary, chasing sunrises every morning, trying…

  • Looking for synchronous moments

    Bird Droppings December 13, 2025 Looking for synchronous moments Every year for five or so years, I have had lunch during teacher preplanning with my oldest son and a good friend with whom I used to co-teach, and afterward, I walked around the school, visiting with an old friend from the high school where I…

  • Walking along the way in my journey

    Bird Droppings December 2, 2025Walking along the way in my journey I am building up my endurance by walking as much as I can each day. Pat and I are heading to see our North Carolina grandkids in the morning, and I hope to take some serious steps. As I think back on who I…

  • A morning meandering while the rain keeps coming down, and no sunrise

    Bird Droppings November 30, 2025 A morning meandering while the rain keeps coming down, and no sunrise Almost ten years ago, after tutoring in an after-school program with a student who needed constant repetition of material to remember, I read through several old emails from my doctoral and graduate cohort friends, as some are defending…