The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Teachers

  • I am reading a friend’s book for the sixth time and each time find a new thought.

    Bird Droppings January 29, 2025I am reading a friend’s book for the sixth time and each time find a new thought. I was so tired when I laid down last night after dinner and a bit of TV. I had spent the day driving around doing errands, going to my grandson’s concert, and attempting to…

  • A series of paradoxes and bewilderment

    Bird Droppings January 27, 2025A series of paradoxes and bewilderment I received the following in an email several years ago. A friend of mine sent it out, and as I read it the first time, it was humorous. However, as I pondered then as a teacher, I read deeper into what was being said. I…

  • What is the freedom we desire?

    Bird Droppings January 25, 2025What is the freedom we desire? “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 of…

  • Learning is a journey strewn with boulders

    Bird Droppings January 21, 2025 Learning is a journey strewn with boulders “In a word, learning is decontextualized. We break ideas down into tiny pieces that bear no relation to the whole. We give students a brick of information, followed by another brick, followed by another brick, until they have graduated, at which point we…

  • It would be great if we could script great teachers or develop a package that truly provided teachers with student learning.

    Bird Droppings January 14, 2025 It would be great if we could script great teachers or develop a package that truly provided teachers with student learning. I have watched several movies about teachers over the years. It hit me as I thought it would be great if we could provide a package for new teachers…

  • Finding a pathway even when one does not appear

    Bird Droppings December 30, 2024Finding a pathway even when one does not appear The past week has sort of run together, although each was an interesting day in its own right. It may have been sitting and watching movies with the family after sharing gifts, eating all day long, and then getting ready to head…

  • Reading your view sometimes offers a clue

    Bird Droppings December 26, 2024Reading your view sometimes offers a clue After forty-six years of marriage, it seems almost like day one. Every day and each day keeps getting better. Periodically, over the past years, I received at some odd hour of the night and or morning a paper to review for my youngest son…

  • Is there a difference between progressive and traditional teachers?

    Bird Droppings December 23, 2024 Is there a difference between progressive and traditional teachers? A few years back, in a ninth-grade literature class that I happened to be co-teaching, I was introduced to the book Freedom Writers Diary. We also watched the film based on the book. In some ways, the story is similar to…

  • Determining what to learn

    Bird Droppings December 19, 2024 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 —…

  • Where have all the teachers gone?

    Bird Droppings December 15, 2024 Where have all the teachers gone? I first wrote a variation of this essay nearly seventeen years ago. Over the past few days, I have been talking with a few new college seniors who are student-teaching. As I head out to get my odds and ends done for the week,…