The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: WIlliam Pinar

  • Trying to understand friendship

    Bird Droppings January 16, 2012 Trying to understand friendship   Today I get to sit home although I will probably shortly run by the school and catch up on various things. Being out of synch on a Monday holiday getting up a bit later than I usually do, I generally start each morning with writing,…

  • Testing testing testing is it needed

    Bird Droppings January 15, 2012 Testing testing testing is it really needed   I was reading in some older National Educators newsletters several key articles both of which dealt with assessment. I have for many years tried to reflect on my own progression in terms of assessment. During the past ten years at two different…

  • A tapestry woven as a spider spins a web

    Bird Droppings January 14, 2012 A tapestry woven as the spider spins “For certain fortunate people there is something that transcends all classifications of behavior, and that is awareness, something which rises from the programming of the past, and that is spontaneity; and something that is more rewarding than games and that is intimacy. But…

  • Whose job is it to find the door?

    Bird Droppings January 13, 2012 Whose job is it to find the door?   I enjoy arriving at school while the stars are still shining overhead providing me with significant quiet time to ponder my day ahead and previous. I was thinking back a few years to when my son would ride to school with…

  • Passing along knowledge

    Bird Droppings January 12, 2012 Passing along Knowledge   It has been nearly nine years since my wife and I attended a turning and burning, near Gillsville, Georgia. It was a gathering of potter’s, getting together to sell their wares and turn a few pots and of course fire up the kiln. All of the…

  • Building sandcastles drip by drip

    Bird Droppings January 11, 2012 Building Sand castles drip by drip   Back when I was going to graduate school nearly every day and before switching to internet classes and WebCT it took some getting used to going to school and then going to school again. I was teaching from seven in the morning till…

  • Horses and Trains and Learning

    Bird Droppings January 10, 2012 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…

  • Seeing the fluidity of life

    Bird Droppings June 21, 2011 Seeing the fluidity of life “Adverse circumstances test our courage, our strength of mind, and the depth of our conviction in the natural law. There is nothing exceptional about practicing in a good environment and atmosphere. The true test is if we can maintain our practice in adverse conditions.” Geshe…

  • Education without learning is like a barn without walls

    Bird Droppings June 1, 2011 Education without learning is like a barn without walls. “A truly educational community that embodies both rigor and involvement will elude us until we establish a plumb line that measures teachers and students alike as great things can do.” Parker Palmer It has been many years since we as a…