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letting students make decisions


15 September 07 05:58 AM | jtspencer | 1 Comments   
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...

Can learning be measured?


06 September 07 04:49 PM | jtspencer | 4 Comments   
Sitting in a staff meeting, I pull out the agenda and begin drawing cartoons. Instead of reading PowerPoint presentations, we work collaboratively (read "group think") on a school wide mission statement. "Make sure it is attainable, measurable and . . Read More...

the solution for tagging


31 August 07 04:45 AM | jtspencer | 3 Comments   
I ride past a freshly plowed empty field and see a large corrugated fence that advertises the latest neophyte tagging crew in sloppy, choppy letters. I don’t know what is the worst of these aesthetic crimes – the graffiti on the walls or the fact that Read More...

the good life


11 August 07 06:46 AM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
I'm breaking the rules of blogging ettique, by creating a long post. Yet, I don't think I can explain the story in a shorter format. Maybe it's just not meant for a blog. It's the first week of school and I have a class of forty-one students for a scripted, Read More...

School is ____________


08 August 07 06:06 AM | jtspencer | 3 Comments   
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...

What makes learning meaningful?


29 July 07 08:17 PM | jtspencer | 1 Comments   
After watching the latest Harry Potter movie, I was struck accuracy of what happened at Hogwarts. In a motive of fear, the school shifted from meaningful learning to standardized curriculum. A beauracrat from the State Department of Magic began instituting Read More...

Why I Love Teaching


27 July 07 01:48 PM | jtspencer | 6 Comments   
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...

the classroom as a record album


22 July 07 05:49 AM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
I sit at my desk with a fat stack of papers. The solitary electric guitar quietly introduces notes to the song "Round Here" by Counting Crows– a lonely track that never should have been a hit, because it really wasn't all that radio-friendly anyway. After Read More...

Why I Won't Shut Up and Teach


19 July 07 04:12 PM | jtspencer | 5 Comments   
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...

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