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December 2007 - Posts

learning to write

Posted Saturday, December 29, 2007 5:18 PM by jtspencer
Ever since I was little, I had an easy time writing. For some reason, the words came to me quickly, with little need to learn an organizational structure. A vocabulary was like a candy store, where two things that were virtually identical had slightly Read More...
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10 Helpful Sites for Tech-Integrated Classroom

Posted Thursday, December 27, 2007 3:27 AM by jtspencer
I've written before about my current classroom configuration. Using old (and I mean old!) computers, I was able to speed them up really fast using the xubuntu operating system. ( xubuntu.org) I am not a techno-geek by any stretch of the imagination. I Read More...
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outsourcing my job

Posted Tuesday, December 25, 2007 6:35 AM by jtspencer
The term "outsourcing" has such a negative connotation, but it is the best word I can use to describe what I do to save time. There are many jobs that I either hate to do or am not well-qualified to do that are a part of the regular teaching profession. Read More...
8 Comments

gift giving tips

Posted Saturday, December 22, 2007 9:41 PM from John Spencer's Blog
I have no particular reason to be an expert on gift-giving, but here are some thoughts: 1. Gifts are not a social contract. There is no rule that says that a person who recieves a gift owes something in return. Nor is there a rule stating that you must Read More...
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looking back at the quarter

Posted Saturday, December 22, 2007 7:49 AM by jtspencer
A comment by Joel Heffner made me consider the fact that I can get a type of tunnel vision in my blogs. I assume that people know me, that they know how much I love my job and that they know that I am usually pretty optimistic . . . okay, with a slight Read More...
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a fictional superhero

Posted Friday, December 21, 2007 4:07 PM by jtspencer
I have a blog that I write where I am a fictional superhero. It started last year with a class project where we created a mocumentary about a guy named Moco Loco. If you are interested in reading it, the link is http://mocolocoreturns.blogspot.com/ Share Read More...
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Jesus at Jefferson High

Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 4:24 PM by jtspencer
I’m sitting at my computer reading an editorial for grad school. The man is trying to justify why teaching is a science and not an art. I find it insulting, but I am engaged. I can tell that he wants to believe that, if teachers received the perfect training Read More...
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learning is unpredictable

Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 6:28 AM by jtspencer
My students are designing their own Civil Rights / Human Rights museum and memorial. For those who do not draw well, I offered the opportunity to create a collage instead. There is a writing component, a poster board and a website that they design. Before Read More...
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too tired to teach?

Posted Monday, December 17, 2007 6:11 PM by jtspencer
Fueled by two consecutive cups of stale coffee, I jump into the car and head for work. The cold air jolts me into a minor hypothermic schock. People have this misconception that Phoenix does not get cold, because it's not an icy wasteland that you would Read More...
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a reflection

Posted Saturday, December 15, 2007 8:36 PM from John Spencer's Blog
For some reason this struck me as profound. It's a reflection written by a student in one of my classes. I think it's an example of how a kid can be special ed, but still be smart. If you're interested in reading it, here is the link: http://socialvoice.blogspot.com/2007/12/border.html Read More...
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teachers and myspace

Posted Saturday, December 15, 2007 6:11 AM by jtspencer
Recently, a local news channel ran a "gotcha" segment about Phoenix teachers and their myspace pages, so I checked it out on Youtube. Combining scary-movie-music (some kind of a minor chord) and images of blurred out flesh, the newscasters announced that Read More...
16 Comments

in ten words or less

Posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 5:43 PM by jtspencer
Educational Philosophy in Less Than Ten Words: Someone challenged me to define my educational philosophy in ten words or less. While I initially scoffed at the excercise (considering it as a sound-byte creation) I found it to be challenging and interesting. Read More...
7 Comments

why teacher books are a bad idea

Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2007 7:38 AM from John Spencer's Blog
I have a vague, totally unfounded, undocumented and perhaps unwarranted theory about how teachers read teacher books. Some read them for ideas. They pick apart each book (often using the word "gleaning" which I think has something to do with farming) Read More...
0 Comments

an apology rejected

Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2007 4:57 AM by jtspencer
Rewind a few months to a staff leadership meeting. The counselors and administration explain to a team of seventh grade teachers that they will have a class of eighth-graders and that their seventh graders will be condensed into four classes. At the time, Read More...
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Professional Learning Communities

Posted Sunday, December 09, 2007 2:04 PM by jtspencer
"What do you do as far as collaboration?" asks the lady, holding her scripted questions on the clipboard. "We follow the PLC model," I begin. "Do you do PLC at your school?" interupts the lady from the State Department. "Oh, not since my college days," Read More...
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new school

Posted Friday, December 07, 2007 6:33 AM from John Spencer's Blog
Our school is going through restructuring so they asked for a proposal from different teams. To my surprise, they are actually taking this idea and making it into a separate school. The link is thesocialvoice.com/idea I still haven't fleshed out all the Read More...
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an unintended present

Posted Friday, December 07, 2007 4:28 AM by jtspencer
Yesterday, staff development was actually very relevant. However, it was painful. The question at hand was, "Why did our school fail to make AYP?" Looking back, I failed to differentiate between AYP and "Why is our school a failing school?" They used Read More...
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I guess politics do matter

Posted Wednesday, December 05, 2007 5:54 AM by jtspencer
Every time I teach about government, students instantly ask, "Why does this matter?" I used to offer a pat answer about civic duty. "If your school lunch is free, you at least owe it to your country to go to the polls when you're older." Yet, there was Read More...
2 Comments

framing or the real reason minorities aren't passing standardized tests

Posted Sunday, December 02, 2007 4:37 AM by jtspencer
Words are powerful. Sticks and stones might lead to a scuffle, but a few words have launched wars. A simple semantic shift from "Jew" to "dirty Jew" to "rat" can justify a Holocaust. Likewise, the creation of the nuclear bomb can be named something as Read More...
12 Comments

a lesson from a student

Posted Saturday, December 01, 2007 4:31 AM by jtspencer
The educational community loves acronyms - especially when they are hijkacked from the business community. After all, we get their other hand-me-downs: mission statements, vision statements, and now, more recently culture and climate surveys. The latest Read More...
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