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should we teach kids to be patriotic?


04 July 08 09:05 AM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
Sometime after 9-11, I lost all sense of patriotism. It might have been the way people used the American flag to sell beer (not unlike Jesus Breathmints and granola bars). Perhaps it was when I first heard a country singer telling me we should stick a 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...

the solution for tagging


31 August 07 04:45 AM | jtspencer | 3 Comments   
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...

well-intentioned low standards


10 August 07 04:32 AM | jtspencer | 0 Comments   
The first few weeks for me are always the hardest. After a rather sedentary summer, I find myself swept into motion. Energetically, I run from place to play, smile, give compliments, offer instruction. I fail to learn all the names and I know even fewer Read More...

white liberal guilt


28 July 07 09:22 AM | jtspencer | 9 Comments   
Like many Americans, I find myself drawn toward the story of Barack Obama. I find his appeal to hope to be refreshingly idealistic. He is young, articulate and charismatic. Besides, the fact that his initials are B.O. is a sign that he can bridge the Read More...
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Why I Won't Shut Up and Teach


19 July 07 04:12 PM | jtspencer | 5 Comments   
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...

Do ghetto kids need free school supplies?


18 July 07 10:02 AM | jtspencer | 4 Comments   
I teach in a ghetto. The term has a negative connatation, associated with hip hop music, gangsters and drug addiction. Yet, I use it here more in terms of its original intention. It is an isolated community, a barrio nestled in the shell of a suburb, Read More...
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Should kids have cell phones?


14 July 07 08:43 PM | jtspencer | 5 Comments   
I am a middle school teacher in a low-income district, yet the vast majority of my students carry cell phones. It can be a battle to fight off the text messaging, but it's no worse than passing notes. What concerns me are the deeper sociological issues Read More...

giving gadgets to underdeveloped countries


06 July 07 03:29 PM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
Lately, the One Laptop Per Child group has recieved a good deal of attention for their plan to give away two hundred dollar laptops to children in developing and underdeveloped countries. Proponents laude the MIT group who pioneered this, claiming that Read More...

my mixed feelings about the ghetto


22 April 07 07:39 AM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
Over the last few weeks, we began drawing a mural that will span an entire building. Students stay after school, recieving no money, no extra credit; just the satisfaction of excercising their creativity. It's hard, at times, for me to step back and let Read More...

the wizard of odd - standardized testing week


14 April 07 05:21 AM | jtspencer | 1 Comments   
Students are swept up into the whirlwind of the AIMS test - a grueling twelve hour marathon where they will be transformed from students into data on pretty graphs in Excel sheets. We're not in Kansas in more. (Honestly, we never were. We live in Phoenix, Read More...

What American Idol Taught Me About Assessment


02 April 07 09:07 PM | jtspencer | 0 Comments   
It is a show which lives up to its name, embodying nearly every form of America's idolatry. Yet, we scoop it up by the handful - the thirst for fame, the worship of celebrity, the cult of stardom, the sex, the lights, the music, the commercialism and Read More...

catch-22 and a staff development meeting


29 March 07 02:55 PM | jtspencer | 2 Comments   
I first read Catch 22 as a cynical high school student. Something about the wry humor, the absurdity of the system and the feeling that I was surrounded by insanity resonated well with Mountain Ridge High. I enjoyed the lively characters, though I never Read More...