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art isn't meant to last


22 November 08 08:41 AM | John Spencer | 0 Comments   
A few minutes before class, two gruff, oil stained men saunter into my room. The first man scratches himself and then pulls out a sketch on a sheet of graph paper. "I don't think there's adequate plumbing. Looks like they'll have to knock out the wall." Read More...

good and bad news


18 November 08 05:45 AM | John Spencer | 1 Comments   
The superintendent announced that Borman Middle School will shut down at the close of this school year and re-open as a K-8 school. Whether we will have the same name is uncertain. Personally, I will not feel hurt if we lose the name. Somehow both Frank Read More...

seven reasons why committees fail


28 August 08 06:35 AM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
Often, the best words in life are the easiest to spell. Freedom, chocolate, barbecue, love, peace. The worst words are difficult to spell: racism, xenophobia, beuracracy, committee. I know I am oversimplifying here. Beauty is an exception to this rule. Read More...

what happens in Vegas . . .


19 June 08 05:07 AM | jtspencer | 0 Comments   
I wrote this while I was at a PLC Conference last week. They charged fourteen bucks for internet access (the equivalent of twenty-four tacos at Jack in the Box) so I waited until now to post it: In every era of American history, there is an archetypal Read More...

the placebo effect


26 May 08 07:00 PM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
I read recently about a research study, where they created fake marketing for a painkiller. Researchers at MIT wanted to see how people responded to the placebo being offered. Surprisingly, participants reported a higher level of success when the retail Read More...

yearning for community


21 May 08 07:50 AM | John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude | 0 Comments   
Many of my colleagues have enormous desk calendars where they mark each passing day with a large red oversized Sharpie. I don't have a desk calendar. (Sometimes I think there must have been a teaching class I missed; perhaps when I was ditching the lesson Read More...

5 things you won't see in my classroom


03 May 08 01:12 PM | jtspencer | 6 Comments   
Sometimes I feel like an outcaste as a teacher. There is a certain sense that I relish in this status. I have a few close friends whom I trust. It's just that my personality doesn't fit the "teacher personality." It's not that the "teacher personality" Read More...
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Second Video Blog: Lego


25 April 08 08:52 AM | John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude | 0 Comments   
This is my second video blog. Read More...
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