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a few crude metaphors

Our school is state-of-the art. Okay, it's more state-of-the-science in its layout and design. In order to run effeciently, the architects included a series of automated eco-friendly devices. While I am sure each device has helped reduce carbon emmisions, Read More...
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2010 01 18

John Spencer

10 Comments

why merit pay is the wrong way

I don't want these guys to be paid based upon how many people they shoot You can download it at Internet Archives or listen below photo credit Read More...
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2009 12 13

John Spencer

12 Comments

a cause without a rebel

No spray paint. No folk songs. No strikes or marches or iconoclastic test booklet burning. Just wearing black in solidarity with all the rest of us who lament the death of teacher autonomy, authentic learning and funding of public education. We have a Read More...
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2009 11 24

John Spencer

9 Comments

postmodern McDonald's

About six months ago, they razed an older McDonald's near our neighborhood. In Phoenix, the term "old" can be applied to any building over twenty years. My guess is they had built the plastic wonderland in the early eighties. A few weeks later, they posted Read More...
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2009 11 9

John Spencer

0 Comments

postmodern McDonalds

About six months ago, they razed an older McDonalds near our neighborhood. In Phoenix, the term "old" can be applied to any building over twenty years. My guess is they had built the plastic wonderland in the early eighties. A few weeks later, they posted Read More...
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2009 11 9

John Spencer

0 Comments

searching for what was lost

I'm a history geek. I admit it. Call me a member of AHEM (Arts, History, English, Music). Our initial public educational system was an extension of a civic institution where we would develop literate, educated, democratic citizens. True, there were awful Read More...
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2009 11 8

John Spencer

0 Comments

subversive elevator music

All Things Alliterated is back. Here's a Metaphor Monday Arne Duncan sets up an elevator for me. We cram as many students into our mechanical box in a systematic Race to the Top. I'm relegated to a button pusher. At one time an elevator man had a place. Read More...
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2009 11 2

John Spencer

0 Comments

a portrait of an artist as a young teacher

After talking to a teacher who is quitting before becoming a robot, I decided to sketch this. Incidentally, I just posted a bunch of older visual musings . One is "Dangerous Jobs" and the other is "The Day I Learned to Hate Science." Read More...
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2009 10 21

John Spencer

1 Comments

a great teacher is quitting before she becomes a cyborg

It's a subtle twist of language. Standardized isn't okay, so you start calling it "common" as if it is something shared. Teachers know it's a lie. Sharing is horizontal, while "common" assessments are typically a unilateral power move by the McGraw McEducation Read More...
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2009 10 21

John Spencer

7 Comments

the achievement gap

It's my first year of teaching and I have the task of analyzing ethnic demographic data in relation to achievement scores. Basically, it's stereotyping with good intentions (if one considers raising test scores to be good intentions. I'm not so sure) Read More...
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2009 10 10

John Spencer

9 Comments

why our standards-based grading sucks

Our school is shifting from traditional grades to standards-based grading. With this comes a major paradigm shift. We no longer assess a student's work ethic (it's impossible to lose points by not turning work in) but only pure academic achievement. At Read More...
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2009 09 18

John Spencer

4 Comments

multiple choice writing test?

Apparently, due to a state budget crisis, we will not have an eighth grade AIMS writing test. If I'm reading the e-mail correctly, our state will assess writing once every two years and in place of the writing exam will be a multiple-choice writing test. Read More...
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2009 09 15

John Spencer

4 Comments

sopa

My friend Dierdre wrote a quote on her Twitter: Robert Stakes "When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative ." I'll add my twist: When the politician steals the soup and sells the restaurant to a multinational Read More...
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2009 04 11

John Spencer

4 Comments

Political Cartoon

A kid wrote this idea out for me and asked me to draw the cartoon portion. Normally I have kids jumping to sketch political cartoons, but this year they've been a little shy. Anyway, I thought it was a cool concept: Read More...
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2009 03 26

John Spencer

3 Comments

Ten Reasons Standardization Happens

I posted the following as a comment on a teacher's blog. It's an off-the-top-of-my-head list of why people push toward standardization. I think the motives are so mixed for the people at the top. I'm not a list guy, but here is a list of reasons why the Read More...
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2009 03 8

John Spencer

0 Comments

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