The Creative Classroom with John Spencer

If you think about your most powerful learning experiences, there’s a good chance at least one of these experiences involved a project. This is where you learned how to research, how to ideate, how to work with others, how to engage in productive struggle, and... The post How to Make PBL a Reality in a Distance Learning Environment appeared first on John Spencer.

The last week has proven to society something that we, in education, already know. Teachers care deeply about their students. I’ve seen so many examples of teachers making phone calls to families, having class Zoom meetings to just do a pulse check on each child,... The post There’s No Single Right Way to Do Distance Learning appeared first on John Spencer.

In education, we often use a metaphor  of content delivery. We use terms like “deliver a lesson.” We ask, “did the students get it?” But the last week and a half has proven that teachers are not merely content delivery machines. In my last post,... The post Taking Distance Learning Away from the Screen appeared first on John Spencer.

Before getting started, I just want to point out that teachers have been amazing over the last few weeks. I’ve watched entire districts mobilize to provide online and long-distance instruction while also providing a safe way for kids to get breakfast and lunch. Someone tweeted... The post I’m Releasing a Free Audio Book for Middle Grade Students appeared first on John Spencer.

I spent hours on Saturday putting together a 3,500 word blog post, an eBook, and a toolkit. Given the stress of the previous days, I knew that sitting down for six hours and doing creative work would allow me to do something I loved while... The post Providing Spaces of Permission in the Midst of Uncertainty appeared first on John Spencer.

A quick confession. I love birthdays. I am not great at wishing folks a happy birthday online. This is mostly because I don’t know what part of it is supposed to be capitalized (Happy Birthday, Happy birthday, happy birthday). However, I love birthdays because they... The post Reflections on Turning Forty Today appeared first on John Spencer.

I haven’t written a new article in nearly month. After getting back my data, I plugged away at writing Chapters 4 and 5 of my dissertation, followed by a few revisions. I will likely defend it next week or the week after. One of the... The post Seven Reasons to Geek Out on Educational Theory appeared first on John Spencer.

I have a bobble head of myself on the bookshelves in my office. It’s a bit of an Easter egg that you can find in some of my videos. On the surface, this item seems arrogant and excessive. And yet, I didn’t buy the bobble... The post Empowered Teachers Empower Students appeared first on John Spencer.

A decade ago, I watched a local school district purchase hundreds of interactive whiteboards. Hailed as the ultimate solution for student achievement, teachers attended flip chart trainings. The school district purchased packaged curriculum promising huge results. Specialists observed classrooms to see if teachers were implementing... The post 4 Myths About the Future of Education appeared first on John Spencer.

This is my latest article on the topic of Vintage Innovation. Look for the book to come out soon. When we imagine the future of learning, we often hear about STEM and STEAM and things like robotics or coding. But I’d argue that one of... The post Why Journalism Might Actually Be the Class of the Future appeared first on John Spencer.

So, it’s the beginning of the year and all around I’m hearing conversations about New Year’s Resolutions. One friend is going Paleo, another is doing Cross Fit, and still, another has decided she’s going to read 100 books in a year (which might be doable if you... The post The Power of a Mid-Year Reboot appeared first on John Spencer.

Originally written on December 18, 2015. Each year, I expand on this.  I still remember my first winter break in my first year of teaching. I scratched out Christmas Eve and Christmas as true “days off,” but then I worked the rest of the time.... The post Finding Renewal on Your Winter Break appeared first on John Spencer.

The future is unpredictable. We know that. So, when we try to design learning experiences that “prepare students for the future,” we have to recognize that we don’t always know what they’ll need. In this article, I explore the counterintuitive reality that the best way... The post The Best Way to Prepare Students for the Future Is By Empowering Them in the Present appeared first on John Spencer.

Don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom of this post to download the Creative Ways to End the Semester Resource Pack. This is a post I first wrote a decade ago, when I was teaching middle school. Each year, I have revised it and... The post Twelve Creative Alternatives to Showing Movies Before the Break appeared first on John Spencer.

This is my third article in the series on vintage innovation. Last week, I mentioned the Astrodome Effect and the idea of embracing both vintage tools and vintage designs in a mash-up with newer technology and new ideas. I mentioned Camden Yards as a place... The post Designing Innovative Projects Despite the Time Crunch, the Curriculum Map, and the Lack of Technology appeared first on John Spencer.