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letting students make decisions

Posted Saturday, September 15, 2007 5:58 AM by jtspencer
Twenty students claim their favorite seats within minutes of the lunch bell ringing. The skeptic in me initially assumes that it is a first week rush, a desire to get out of the one-hundred and ten degree heat. The students will find out that our Student Read More...
1 Comments

why I don't do rewards

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2007 7:05 AM by jtspencer
Birthdays are important to me. Unlike other American holidays, they do not require reciprocity. There is no give-and-take, no social contract; nothing that says, "our gifts better be equal, because if they don't, I'll either feel gyped or guilty." Unlike Read More...
4 Comments

the real reason I teach middle school

Posted Wednesday, August 15, 2007 4:33 AM by jtspencer
She wasn’t the closest friend, just a girl that would sit and talk cartoons with us when we all knew we were too old to be watching cartoons. It was the last great chance to be a kid before high school. Our crowds were too far apart. She was popular and Read More...
3 Comments

School is ____________

Posted Wednesday, August 08, 2007 6:06 AM by jtspencer
On the first day of school, students completed a metaphor of school. School is a _______ and I am a _________. Many students chose prison, because, like prison, the school tells them what to wear, when to speak, when to pee, what to eat, what to study Read More...
3 Comments

Why I Love Teaching

Posted Friday, July 27, 2007 1:48 PM by jtspencer
I met with a group of young teachers. They remind me of people who are newly married, in the way they exude a certain idealism and passion. I love being around new teachers, because that energy is contagious. I know that the daily grind of paper work, Read More...
6 Comments

Why I Won't Shut Up and Teach

Posted Thursday, July 19, 2007 4:12 PM by jtspencer
After reading a recent blog, suggesting that teachers should self-censor and stay politically inactive, I feel compelled to write this blog. Telling teachers to shut up and focus on their classrooms is like telling Martin Luther King Jr to shut up and Read More...
5 Comments

recovering what we lost in standardized education

Posted Sunday, July 15, 2007 12:15 PM by jtspencer
After taking so many theory classes this summer, I am left with a mental overload. I enjoy the dialogue and debates, yet I can't help but feel that none of the "isms" really worked for me. Constructivism was great, but often unrealistic. Behaviorism seemed Read More...
0 Comments

My Goal Is Not to Make a Difference

Posted Saturday, July 07, 2007 8:43 PM by jtspencer
Whenever I ask most teachers why they teach, the number one answer is, "to make a difference." I think I once half-heartedly believed that, but not anymore. A few years ago, I spent time after school every day working with a student. I watched as he eagerly Read More...
3 Comments

Barry Bonds, the American Dream and Education

Posted Saturday, May 19, 2007 11:24 PM by jtspencer
Like many Americans, I am not looking foward to Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's home run record. There is something else beyond the steroid use that bothers people about Barry Bonds. After all, Americans could overlook the steroid use in Mark McGuire as he Read More...
1 Comments

faithfulness rather than effectiveness

Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:40 AM by jtspencer
The current buzzwords in the educational community are "effectiveness" and "data-driven," as if students are robots that can be programmed to crack codes. We quanitfy them and categorize them until they are androids who fill in bubbles on mindless tests. Read More...
1 Comments

my mixed feelings about the ghetto

Posted Sunday, April 22, 2007 7:39 AM by jtspencer
Over the last few weeks, we began drawing a mural that will span an entire building. Students stay after school, recieving no money, no extra credit; just the satisfaction of excercising their creativity. It's hard, at times, for me to step back and let Read More...
2 Comments

growing up with The Simpsons

Posted Friday, March 30, 2007 2:14 PM by jtspencer
Growing up, the show was controversial. Parents hated it. Groups boycotted it. Kids reveled in it, because it was real. Unlike the plastic, pollyana Cosby show or the TGIF line-up, The Simpsons spoke to a generation of youth who loved the satire on childhood. Read More...
1 Comments

in response to a venti Starbucks cup

Posted Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:04 PM by jtspencer
On a cynical day, I pick up my Starbucks cup and carefully maneuver the inside cup so I can read the "the way I see it" on the back. It's a well-written piece by a Teacher of the Year who teaches kindergarten. I can't recall it verbatim, but it has to Read More...
1 Comments