Quantcast

Browse by Tags

All Tags » story   (RSS)

Student Blogs


10 October 08 08:44 AM | John Spencer | 1 Comments   
This year, I have had the students set their individual blogs to private (out of a heightened sense of security on behalf of parents). However, I have expanded some of the blogs my class is participating in this year. They helped with the design aspects Read More...

kids these days


29 August 08 08:24 AM | John Spencer | 5 Comments   
I have heard that the current generation is selfish and shallow, that they are the iGeneration, that they focus on MySpace, but rarely think about OurSpace. Students meet together, but they do not entirely connect. It seems that share a physical proximity, Read More...

cubicles and classrooms


19 August 08 10:06 PM | John Spencer | 5 Comments   
I was talking to a friend the other day who works an office job. He described life in a cubicle as being basically boring. Despite this, he is grateful for what he has. "They decided to get rid of the cubes for a few months. Actually, it was about half Read More...

a short dialogue


12 August 08 09:57 PM | John Spencer | 2 Comments   
Me: Why do you tag? Raul: I want to be known. I want to have my name painted in big letters somewhere in the city. I want people to notice what I've done. Me: But nobody knows that it's you. Raul: I guess I want to be known without having to be known Read More...
Filed under:

,

lessons from a horse whisperer


12 August 08 06:53 PM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
On NPR today, I listened to a story about a horse whisperer. He described the way he began as a horse trainer. He used two-by-fours in order to "break the will" of the horse. Often, the success seemed immediate, but a few horses would refuse to conform. Read More...

should teachers be more confusing?


17 July 08 09:16 PM | jtspencer | 0 Comments   
I love how Socrates always ends his dialogues unanswered. The end seems to be a multifacted mystery rather than a three-point outline. Similarly, throughout the gospels, Jesus tells parables that confound and confuse his audience. It seems counterintuitive Read More...

it takes a village


01 June 08 08:57 PM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
Johnny passes by in his cap and gown as a flood of memories pass. I recall snippets of hard conversations, small arguments, difficult basketball games and the late nights where I was editing his papers. I thought of that first moment when he was a fourth 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...

on reading my twin brother's blog


10 May 08 07:16 AM | John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude | 0 Comments   
I read my brother's blog yesterday. The topic was real estate in Mexico, which is his line of work. As I read it, I could almost hear my own voice in it. He had a decent number of people who comment, because the style is so casual and personal; even introspective. Read More...
Filed under:

,

three lessons from students


20 April 08 06:43 PM | John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude | 0 Comments   
It's a false cliche to say that we learn more from students than they do from us. The reality is that teachers typically teach more than they learn. By the end of the year, I will have taught a student about history, economics geography, how to construct Read More...

thoughts on problem-based learning


04 April 08 10:27 PM | jtspencer | 6 Comments   
For the last two weeks, students in my class have explored multiple facets of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. They have analyzed sources for bias, posed intelligent questions, created metaphors for the conflict and developed solutions. I admit that Read More...

I ride past a sign


17 March 08 11:08 PM | John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude | 0 Comments   
While on my bike, I ride past a tagged-up sign. In the foreground is the latest freshest graffiti, supplanting the corporate letters advertising for an incumbent politician. (I can't think of the last time we had an election) It seems a poignant message Read More...

my ghetto home


03 March 08 05:26 AM | John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude | 0 Comments   
When we first arrive, no one stands at the door to greet us - at least not officially. The resident homeless man, however, offers his loud (perhaps socially unnacceptable) greeting. With his typical bluntness, he says, "I haven't seen you around here Read More...
Filed under:

,

,

too many voices


19 February 08 09:30 PM | John Spencer's Blog - A Billion Blogs of Solitude | 0 Comments   
I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens, partially because I enjoy the song "Transfiguration" but mostly because I can't take anything too manufactured right now. Sometimes I think I've got the soul of an anarchist and I just want freedom. The district and the Read More...
Filed under:

,

,