The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Teaching

  • Do we teach or are we taught

    Bird Droppings November 23, 2011 Do we teach or are we taught “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” Albert Einstein So many times when discussing students who are having difficult times a individual teachers perspective is all that matters. Recently I was about to thump another teacher in the head…

  • Trying to watch a smiling moon

    Bird Droppings November 22, 2011 Trying to watch the smiling moon “Most of us become parents long before we have stopped being children.” Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966 Over the past few weeks I have been told about, read about and actually met with parents to be and new parents who are still…

  • Teaching is far more than wanting to

    Bird Droppings November 21, 2011 Teaching is far more than just wanting to “I want to say one other challenge that we face is simply that we must find an alternative to war and bloodshed. Anyone who feels, and there are still a lot of people who feel that way, that war can solve the…

  • Quietly pursuing silence

    Bird Droppings November 15, 2011 Quietly pursuing Silence I was standing in my back yard listening. There was silence. As I stood how easy is it to find fear and or solace in silence. Many horror movies over the years and of course books for those of us who still read feature silence in all…

  • Empathy; Do we have it?

    Droppings May 15, 2011 Empathy; do we all have it? “The capacity for consciousness of ourselves gives us the ability to see ourselves as others see us and to have empathy with others. It underlies our remarkable capacity to transport ourselves into someone else’s parlor where we will be in reality next week, and then…

  • Getting the passion back

    Bird Droppings May 11, 2011 Getting the passion back When I walked in to work this morning the air was calm almost peaceful as I walked our dog down the driveway and through the yard. In the distance a great horned owl called several times and a bullfrog bellowed from the bottom land across the…

  • The Journey

    Bird Droppings January 24, 2011 The journey “Who, then, shall conduct education so that humanity may improve?” John Dewey A very deep and broad question, I was thinking back to my own community and associations. We elect school board members who hire teachers and principals, they decide on schools to build and a place to…

  • Caring is a very precious commodity in teaching

    Bird Droppings January 9, 2011 Caring is a very precious commodity in teaching As I am pondering my last hours before the holiday is over. The air temperature is nineteen outside and we are under a winter storm watch tonight through Tuesday morning. The anticipation of several inches of snow and up to a half…

  • Naughty or nice

    Bird Droppings December 28, 2010 Naughty or Nice “The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.” William Wordsworth One day when you look back and try and remember what was that act or when, you may not remember but the person to whom that small act…

  • Teaching can be successful

    Bird Droppings September 7, 2010 Teaching can be successful “The first object of any act of learning, over and beyond the pleasure it may give, is that it should serve us in the future. Learning should not only take us somewhere; it should allow us later to go further more easily.” Ted Sizer I received…