Bird Droppings March 16, 2016 Using pronouns as a cover up I have been off the computer for too many days. It was one of those days yesterday and a word caught my attention as I was listening to a friend talk. The word was them. I never realized the extent of prejudice till a…

Bird Droppings March 11, 2016 The journey starts here now “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…

Bird Droppings March 10, 2016 Could it be neither wolf nor dog in education? In light of watching current news and political turmoil I recalled a trip to the Atlanta Zoo. I was approached as I walked up the hill at the Zoo by an elderly man. I had never met this man previously and…

Bird Droppings March 9, 2016 Teaching is making a difference each day “Dialogue, is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world” Paulo Freire A Brazilian educationalist and one of the most influential thinkers of the late twentieth century made famous the term dialogue in his writing. As I…

Bird Droppings March 8, 2016 Potential is only that unless it is acted upon “Love is a complex experience which seems to follow no rules but its own. Romantic love can have the power of a hurricane or the tenderness of a soft wet wind. I have known, too, a chance introduction which instantly and…

Bird Droppings March 7, 2016 Is there a difference between progressive and traditional teachers? In a ninth grade literature class that I happened to co-teach in, I was introduced to the book Freedom Writers Diary and the film based on the book. In some ways the story is similar to the story of Foxfire. Erin…

Bird Droppings March 5, 2016 Have we sold our souls for a few trinkets? Morning is a special time for me always a new beginning. That might be far too easy of a way to say what I am trying to say. Today I went out a bit early from the house to take out…

Bird Droppings March 4, 2016 Teaching and life are simply feeding wolves I have heard and seen this in many forms. “’One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a debate that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all. One is Evil. It is…

Bird Droppings March 4, 2015 Why is it when putting a puzzle together a piece is always left behind? “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another!” Gail Sheehy, American journalist,…

Bird Droppings March 2, 2016 I am pondering about Dr. Carl G. Jung and “school reform”. I find 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 ourselves.” Carl G.…