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Should we be anonymous?

A student ran to me this morning and explained, "Mr. Johnson, someone wrote something really mean on our plog." I looked at the margins and read the long, convoluted, well-educated rhetoric against immigrants. "Cheaters, border hopers, criminals," next Read More...

2010 03 20

John Spencer

5 Comments

a sad reality about my friends

I have way too many friends who are Dodgers fans. I forgive them. Read More...
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2010 03 20

John Spencer

1 Comments

the middle school paradox

Sometimes I wonder if the reason Joel and Micah love the back yard is the sense of perspective they get. Much of their world requires looking up, feeling lower and undersized in a world of towering adults. The backyard has tiny bugs - little manageable Read More...
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2010 03 20

John Spencer

2 Comments

two cures for democracy inaction

It's no secret that democracy has jumped the shark in America. Voter turnout remains low and millions of Americans remain dissaffected and disenchanted. So what's the solution? How do we bring back civic participation? I have two options: Option #1 - Read More...
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2010 03 19

John Spencer

2 Comments

measuring the twigs while the tree dies

While sitting in a PLC Audit meeting, a teacher sits their quietly for forty minutes. It's common in a group of mostly white males to unintentionally censor and African-American woman. Call it white noise. Sometimes a screaming injustice just sounds like Read More...
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2010 03 18

John Spencer

2 Comments

musings on spring

I made the mistake this evening of asking Joel if he was making dirt. "I'm making dust," he tells me. "Dirt is made from things that die and from poop and from rocks when they die." I was struck by the efortlessness of dirt and flowers and orange trees. Read More...
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2010 03 17

John Spencer

1 Comments

ice and dogma

Christy and I visited Sonic the other night (the fastfood joint and not the hedgehog) and I ordered a forty four ounce of soda. I thought it would be soda, but instead it was a large bucket of ice with just enough soda in between the cracks. There sips Read More...
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2010 03 17

John Spencer

1 Comments

homonyms

As the kids work on their budgets, a boy calls me over, "Mr. Spencer, cell can mean a prison cell and it can mean a cell on a spreadsheet and it can mean a cell phone, right?" "Right." "So, is that a homonym or a homophone? I think it's a homophone and Read More...
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2010 03 17

John Spencer

2 Comments

who should be part of the plan?

Minutes after the grant guy leaves, Ms. Jackson pulls me aside in the hallway. "Hey, I took a look at your proposal and I'm impressed." "Thanks," I answer awkwardly. "I corrected the grammar and punctuation - and with a pencil nonetheless." "I'm impressed. Read More...

2010 03 16

John Spencer

2 Comments

I'm still the teacher

Teaching is one of the few professions left without an Orwellian euphemism. We aren't Cognitive Development Specialists or Core Curricular Instructional Achievement Specialists. Alan, a guy I know in that cyber-vapor kind of way tells me that some people Read More...
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2010 03 16

John Spencer

7 Comments

miscommunication on the idea of story

Sometimes people say, "tell your story," and that's not what they want to hear. What they want is, "tell us a bulleted point list of your accomplishments." What they mean is more "tell us your resume" than "tell us your narrative, rife with conflict, Read More...

2010 03 15

John Spencer

2 Comments

from differentiating to empowering

Someone recently asked me about a section in my book Teaching Unmasked where I argue that less instruction is sometimes better. I mentioned that the goal should be to move from differentiation to empowerment. Today's lesson demonstrates a little bit of Read More...
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2010 03 15

John Spencer

1 Comments

yes origami is cool, but it's not why I have paper

Awhile back, I attended the PIE Conference (Pencils Integrated Education) for the second year in a row. I'm not against conferences. They provide a platform for connecting and motivating - though not necessarily for training (which is how they market Read More...

2010 03 15

John Spencer

0 Comments

a few more conversations with my sons

Joel says, "I want my compass to talk." "It's impossible." "But you said it tells you where to go, daddy." "What I meant is that you can read it." "But I need it to talk to me in case I'm lost in the forest." "Joel, if you're ever in the forest, you know Read More...
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2010 03 14

John Spencer

6 Comments

my new book is available

Order on Amazon.com: $4.99 My new book Teaching Unmasked is available in the following formats right now: As a free eBook (you can download the PDF file) On Kindle for $1.00 In Print for $4.99 On a blog (within the next few days) As a free audio book Read More...
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2010 03 13

John Spencer

14 Comments

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