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reinventing the pretzel

Posted Sunday, July 20, 2008 12:37 PM by jtspencer
My friend Dan points out that there are over thirteen varieties of the same pretzel. This doesn't even include stadium soft pretzels. Rather, he is referring to the ways that manufactures create pretzels - mini twists, large (thin) twists, fat twists Read More...
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what we can learn from Camden Yards

Posted Sunday, July 13, 2008 6:48 AM by jtspencer
When I was a kid, I went through a phase of designing baseball stadiums. It was at the time that they built the new Comiskey Park and I felt like it was an injustice to the old. When other kids had idealistic dreams of playing first base for the Giants, Read More...
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12 things that need to change

Posted Thursday, March 06, 2008 7:32 PM by jtspencer
Sometimes I feel as if I don't fit into the system of education. I wonder if I am just crazy or if I am part of a silent minority (perhaps even majority) who feel the same way. So, I am making a list of paradigm shifts that I think many teachers, administrators Read More...
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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...
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Can learning be measured?

Posted Thursday, September 06, 2007 4:49 PM by jtspencer
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...
4 Comments

the solution for tagging

Posted Friday, August 31, 2007 4:45 AM by jtspencer
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...
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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...
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Learning Is Messy

Posted Thursday, August 02, 2007 7:54 PM by jtspencer
As I approach the driveway, Joel stands there with a hose, spraying the grass. I expect him to drop everything and run to his daddy. Instead, he waves and smiles, then returns to his duty of running up the water bill and increase the Phoenix drought. Read More...
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Is the U.S. Losing Ground in Education?

Posted Monday, July 23, 2007 6:02 AM by jtspencer
I flip through the newspaper and notice an article about a meeting between the CEOs and founders of huge technology firms and governors of various states. The goal was for these corporate leaders to instruct the politicians about how schools need to change. Read More...
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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...
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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...
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the death of why

Posted Friday, July 13, 2007 8:44 PM by jtspencer
When I ask students at summer school what topic they want, I present three choices. The class overwhelmingly chooses "financial planning," which, for me, is a fun unit to teach. When I ask a student why he chose financial planning over the Holocaust, Read More...
3 Comments

Six Things Schools Focus on That Don't Matter

Posted Monday, June 18, 2007 10:01 AM by jtspencer
#1 - Student Dress Code People say that it makes school safer, but I highly doubt it. If a kid is going to bring a weapon to school, they'll find a way. (Even in prison, people find ways to get weapons through.) Whether they store it in a car, in a shoe, Read More...
6 Comments

what teachers could learn from a west coast hamburgar joint

Posted Friday, June 08, 2007 8:34 PM by jtspencer
I often rail against standardized education, holding a fist out at the McGraw Hill Company, speaking out against No Child Left Behind and publicly blasting the AIMS test. For me, the best metaphor for standardized education is McDonalds. Students shuffle Read More...
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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...
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