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July 2009 - Posts

Sages and Lunatics - Nine Days Away

My target date for publishing is 09-08-09. It will be available as an eBook and I'm not sure if I set the price or if Amazon will. I'm thinking I'll set the price fairly cheap, though. It will be available as a regular book for $9.00. I'm setting the Read More...

2009 07 30

John Spencer

6 Comments

grounded

Musings from my trip to rural Colorado It's a common misconception that rural people are simpler. Slower, perhaps. More measured, maybe. But simple, no. The horse whisperer a few miles from my father-in-law's farm used seven different words for dirt, Read More...

2009 07 30

John Spencer

0 Comments

book cover

I realize that most of the blog feedback suggested Sages and Lunatics, but most of my e-mail feedback suggested a better title would be either The Vinyl Paradox or Under Industrial Carpet. So, I'm down to three. I'll be releasing these as ebooks (as a Read More...
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2009 07 28

John Spencer

9 Comments

Book Title

After much research and a ton of thought, I decided I'll self-publish the book that I wrote. It's been a two and a half year process and I just can't imagine any publisher that I've looked into choosing it. I also decided to make fewer changes to it than Read More...
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2009 07 27

John Spencer

3 Comments

on the same page

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2009 07 19

John Spencer

1 Comments

cynical Sunday morning

This morning I post on Facebook: I find it interesting that there is more freedom of thought, movement and expression in children's Sunday school than in big church. I'm not busting on Sunday mornings here, but sometimes I wish we would play together, Read More...
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2009 07 19

John Spencer

4 Comments

four year old logic

As I leave to take out the recycling, Joel asks to walk with me. "Joel, it's one hundred and fifteen degrees outside," I explain. He stares at me confused. That's right, four year olds don't have an accurate view of the farenheit system (or for the matter Read More...
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2009 07 19

John Spencer

4 Comments

cathedrals

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2009 07 18

John Spencer

0 Comments

celebrating the chains

Sometimes I come across as anti-chain in my mentality. I love the local flavor of Grimaldi's or Lenny's Burger or Chino Bandito . I think My Nana's tortilla chips beat anything Frito-Lay tries to offer. Despite my penchant for glorifying all things parochial, Read More...
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2009 07 18

John Spencer

2 Comments

a trend in teacher books

In going back and re-editing my book, I'm realizing that there were moments when it suffered from something I see in a lot of teacher books. It's a sort-of smug view of the rest of the staff. For example, Rafe Esquieth is a phenomenal teacher, but he Read More...
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2009 07 17

John Spencer

6 Comments

What happened?

A few people have e-mailed me about what happened with my short, random musings. I'm actually going to take some of those and try them in a new medium, most likely a political cartoon / sketch or perhaps a short video or podcast. I've added a few more Read More...

2009 07 15

John Spencer

0 Comments

new musings - cartoons, videos and podcasts

Hey, if you normally read this blog and you are curious about my other rants on education, check out my Visual Musings Blog . No one has commented on anything yet and I have only two subscribers. I've also been adding a ton of practical ideas to the Practical Read More...

2009 07 15

John Spencer

8 Comments

five things that don't make me a good teacher

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2009 07 13

John Spencer

0 Comments

a topic that should be taught in school

My grandpa is dying right now and I feel almost nothing about. I know a lot about him, but I don't really know him at all. I know that he likes rocky road and that he won a lot of metals in World War II that he keeps inside of a shoebox while he withers Read More...
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2009 07 13

John Spencer

5 Comments

stolen dance moves

My son thinks the Wiggles stole all their dance moves from The Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I think he's onto something here. Read More...
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2009 07 12

John Spencer

22 Comments

Should schools ban homework?

Photo Credit Flickr Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/gollygeedamn/54335576/ Read More...
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2009 07 10

John Spencer

2 Comments

blogs that never became blogs

I'm doing a sort-of Cliffs Notes on blogs that I wanted to write but never wrote because I either couldn't articulate them or they might have come across as too offensive. This is the first year that I realized camping isn't about rest or recreation, Read More...
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2009 07 9

John Spencer

7 Comments

Culture and Imperialism and Rethinking My Own School

I realize that anything Edward Said writes has a tendency to lean toward the polemic. I've read blogs blasting him for lying about his heritage, for engaging in liberal indoctrination and for using sloppy research methods. It's not my place to defend Read More...
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2009 07 9

John Spencer

0 Comments

Jesus and Twitter -- or, why one should be careful with metaphors

The following is based upon an actual experience yesterday. Read More...
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2009 07 7

John Spencer

2 Comments

Does parenting make people happy?

Micah calls me outside to look at the moon. It's been ages since I looked at it, I mean really looked at the moon. I stare for awhile, but the beauty isn't up there. It's in his face, lit by the lunar rays (or the solar rays reflected off the moon or Read More...
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2009 07 4

John Spencer

5 Comments

another hidden cost to moving to the cloud

It took me approximately one hour to retool my new computer. I added iTunes, Chrome, PhotoFiltre, NVU, CMaps and a few open source programs. I cleared out the annoying programs that have no place in my Windows Vista (yes, I have a PC and I'll tell you Read More...
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2009 07 3

John Spencer

0 Comments

Ways to Subscribe

The first way you can subscribe (and the way that is most fun for me) is to become a friend/follower on the side of each blog. This lets your profile show up and it therefore gives me a chance to read your blogs. This will then show up in your Google Read More...

2009 07 3

John Spencer

2 Comments

Graven Images: A Post About Arne

I love to sketch things when I'm bored. I draw during staff meetings all the time. I've always been real self-concious about it, because I can draw and paint, but I'm not so great with doodles. Despite this, I'm going to start posting my "graven images" Read More...
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2009 07 1

John Spencer

2 Comments

if you normally read this blog in a reader . . .

. . . check out the actual site today and click on the different rollover links at the top. I added pictures from a student named Itzel. She new what I wanted this blog to become and so the last week of school she made some sketches for me and for our Read More...
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2009 07 1

John Spencer

4 Comments