The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Teaching

  • Translating and communicating

    Bird droppings November 13, 2024Translating and communicating “Scientific management is always on guard against people who don’t fit securely into boxes, whether because of too much competency, too much creativity, too much popularity, or what have you. Although often hired, it is with the understanding they must be kept on a short leash and regarded…

  • Do we teach, or are we taught

    Bird Droppings November 4, 2024 Do we teach, or are we taught I went up into the mountains of North Georgia Saturday to visit some of my favorite areas in Rabun County. Along the way, we stopped at our traditional Tallulah Gorge Lookout point. The old tourist store and location are closed, but it’s still…

  • The Power of Example goes beyond the curriculum and seeps into life.

    Bird Droppings October 30, 2024The Power of Example goes beyond the curriculum and seeps into life. “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…

  • Foxfire is a name for a fungus glowing in the dark until you wander up Black Rock Mountain in Rabun County, Georgia, and find it is so much more.

    Bird Droppings October 29, 2024Foxfire is a name for a fungus glowing in the dark until you wander up Black Rock Mountain in Rabun County, Georgia, and find it is so much more. A few weeks back, I was involved in another synchronous adventure, as I am daily. I have been thinking about it ever since.…

  • Education often draws from NOW.

    Bird Droppings October 21, 2024Education often draws from NOW. A few years ago, a teacher offered me a book on curriculum, or she said “Dumbing down of America” by Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld. It has been a few months since I picked this book off the shelf while reading various books at Barnes and Noble, as…

  • How we perceive is often the beginning of the discussion.

    Bird Droppings October 19, 2024How we perceive is often the beginning of the discussion. I had a thought this morning, and it’s depressing. We are basically training our new teachers in all the things that we, as older teachers, find wrong in education. It hit me as we are teaching all these new teachers how…

  • Birddroppings October 14, 2024 Listening to a five-note flute and pondering at a Honda dealer I arise relatively early, even in retirement, on my days off from my part-time teaching. Each morning, I run up to my corner store for conversation and to stock up. I need a couple of Smart water bottles, sometimes the…

  • Looking for synchronous moments

    Birddroppings October 9, 2024 Looking for synchronous moments My first profound encounter with the idea of synchronicity was possibly at Mercer in one of my psychology classes, but I had forgotten about it, in all honesty. The school of psychology at Mercer was more Jungian than Freudian, even though experimental psychology and Skinner’s ideas seeped…

  • Doing what you love is not work, even if you are tired at the end of the day.

    Bird Droppings September 8, 2024Doing what you love is not work, even if you are tired at the end of the day. “To love what you do and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun?” Katharine Graham I learn something daily as I wander the internet and read books I find along…

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

    Bird Droppings September 30, 2024 Quietly listening to Hot Tuna and pondering the word inspiration. Every once in a while, I throw on Hot Tuna, an acoustic blues duo made up of former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy. I highly recommend it when you get a moment to listen to them. A…