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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...
8 Comments

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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the "F-word" that really does have power

Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 10:01 AM by jtspencer
Our school is like a prison. From the uniforms to the bland walls to the security cameras and the cafeteria food. The average student is told what to do at all times - when to eat, when to pee, when to play (but not too rough), what to say, when to speak, Read More...
5 Comments

one hundred blogs of solitude

Posted Monday, October 15, 2007 6:31 PM by jtspencer
Solitude is missing from current educational system. Students, while they are at school, must plough through book work, handouts and lectures in a ridiculous pace. Everything is disjointed and disconnected, often taught in subjects that are irrelevant Read More...
2 Comments

planning to plan for planning - or why the system is OCD

Posted Wednesday, September 19, 2007 4:53 AM by jtspencer
I sit in the library at 7:30. School does not start for another hour, but those in "leadership" must attend this biweekly meeting. I use quotation marks because, if you could see me right now, I actually stopped talking for a moment to use the hand signal Read More...
3 Comments

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

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...
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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...
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 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