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June 2007 - Posts

5 easy steps to classroom management

The following are five easy steps to managing a classroom: It's blank for a reason. I don't think there is that magical formula. There aren't five easy steps. We don't teach in Hogwarts and we don't have a magic wand to make it all better. Moreover, I Read More...
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2007 06 30

John Spencer

7 Comments

Feeling Like an Android

It's seven thirty thirty. I know this, not because of the sunlight or the heat. Rather, a box on the bottom right hand corner tells me the time. I trust the box more than my own mental perception of the sunlight. I count backwards in my head, proud that Read More...
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2007 06 30

John Spencer

6 Comments

the upside of studying "isms"

It is not uncommon to meet a psych student who has lost touch with human relationships, viewing each conversation, not as a chance to be with a person, but as a time to study and analyze and apply theory. Similarly, I have met people who go off to seminary Read More...
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2007 06 21

John Spencer

2 Comments

Six Things Schools Focus on That Don't Matter

#1 - Student Dress Code People say that it makes school safer, but I highly doubt it. If a kid is going to bring a weapon to school, they'll find a way. (Even in prison, people find ways to get weapons through.) Whether they store it in a car, in a shoe, Read More...
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2007 06 18

John Spencer

6 Comments

should we teach self-esteem?

I am torn between believing that students need to learn about self-esteem and that students need to get past the idea of it. On one hand, I see students who have been knocked down by life, told by parents that they are dumb and bullied by peers. Those Read More...
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2007 06 11

John Spencer

4 Comments

what teachers could learn from a west coast hamburgar joint

I often rail against standardized education, holding a fist out at the McGraw Hill Company, speaking out against No Child Left Behind and publicly blasting the AIMS test. For me, the best metaphor for standardized education is McDonalds. Students shuffle Read More...
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2007 06 8

John Spencer

4 Comments