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I've made a lot of mistakes in my mind

Posted Thursday, May 15, 2008 6:26 AM by jtspencer
I'm listening to a soft, subdued version of "Chicago," but Sufjan Stevens. It's a life studio set taped on an indie station, KCRW, in Los Angeles. Somehow, with the lone guitar and trumpet, I can hear the words echoing the sentiments of this school year. Read More...
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why I'm glad I don't teach in the suburbs

Posted Sunday, May 11, 2008 7:14 AM by jtspencer
On Friday, during first hour, I yelled at the students. I mean, I really screamed at them. By the end of the period, I was calm and told them honestly, "I'm sorry for yelling. Anger has been a struggle for me my whole life. When I was your age, I was Read More...
8 Comments

thoughts on problem-based learning

Posted Friday, April 04, 2008 10:27 PM by jtspencer
For the last two weeks, students in my class have explored multiple facets of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. They have analyzed sources for bias, posed intelligent questions, created metaphors for the conflict and developed solutions. I admit that Read More...
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exploring metaphors

Posted Saturday, March 29, 2008 5:37 AM by jtspencer
"It's a sun," a girl explains without offering even a concise explanation for her metaphor of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. "I'm not sure I'm seeing the connection," I prod carefully, placing the blame on myself rather than suggesting that she might Read More...
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making meatloaf of a golden calf - part one

Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 6:24 PM by jtspencer
I walk down the hall with a large stack of test booklets and mentally rehearse the rules. I am an alter boy - a mere pawn who, if all goes well, can fly under the radar. Here in Arizona, AIMS testing is the Holy Week of Arizona’s education, where students Read More...
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why I want to quit

Posted Saturday, February 02, 2008 7:34 AM by jtspencer
I recieved an e-mail this morning telling me that I need to send a list of "bubble kids." (not in the John Travolta, Boy in the Bubble way, but rather the ones who are close to reaching a higher level on the standardized tests.) I don't mind offering Read More...
10 Comments

do you really want community?

Posted Thursday, January 31, 2008 4:01 AM by jtspencer
Our district is spending millions of dollars on PLC. It might sound like a drug (which might be nice, because we could turn it into a quick profit and actually spend more on things like books and technology) but it actually means Professional Learning Read More...
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why I like movie nights

Posted Saturday, January 26, 2008 5:22 AM by jtspencer
A small crowd of ten students gather in my classroom for our monthly movie night. The name is a bit of a misnomer. The movie actually runs from 4:45-5:15, but "Monthly Movie Late-Afternoon/Early Evening" sounds convoluted. I guess most lies are borne Read More...
3 Comments

feeling like the Wizard of Oz

Posted Saturday, January 19, 2008 6:33 PM by jtspencer
In the last year and a half, administration has been offering me new opportunities to develop programs that change how our school operates. At first this seems exciting. I worked with some students and teachers to create the IMPACT program. Then, this Read More...
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changing professional development

Posted Friday, January 18, 2008 5:04 AM by jtspencer
For me, the term "professional development" conjures up images of sitting in a stale library, watching PowerPoint slides as I perfect the art of cartoon-making. I hate spending an hour and a half every week listening to things that feel irrelevant to Read More...
3 Comments

don't tell me how to teach

Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 5:28 AM by jtspencer
"Teachers are usually just lazy. They get tons of vacation and don't even have to put in a full work day," remarks my brother's friend. He's an arrogant fire-fighter; the type of lazy jock who never had to do work in school because he had a hell of an Read More...
8 Comments

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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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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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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