Blog - Page 23 of 49 - Spencer Education

Jan 08 2020

4 Myths About the Future of Education

By John Spencer Podcast, Vintage Innovation One Comment

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…

Jan 06 2020

Get Your Vintage Innovation Toolkit

By John Spencer Vintage Innovation 9 Comments

The Vintage Innovation Toolkit is here! You can access it by filling out the form at the bottom of this page. This toolkit includes the eBook The Epic Guide to Vintage Innovation. There are also eleven resources that correspond to different chapters in my new…

Jan 03 2020

Pre-Order Vintage Innovation and Get the Course for Free

By John Spencer Creativity No Comments

I have some great news! My newest book Vintage Innovation is officially open to pre-order! I'm offering a free course for anyone who pre-orders it. Scroll to the bottom for more details. This has been a labor of love over the last two years. I…

Dec 30 2019

Why Journalism Might Actually Be the Class of the Future

By John Spencer Creativity Deconstructed, Future of Learning, Podcast 4 Comments

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…

Dec 27 2019

The Power of a Mid-Year Reboot

By John Spencer Creativity, Empowering Students, Podcast No Comments

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…

Dec 19 2019

Finding Renewal on Your Winter Break

By John Spencer Podcast, Teacher Life 7 Comments

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.…

Dec 16 2019

The Best Way to Prepare Students for the Future Is By Empowering Them in the Present

By John Spencer Podcast, Vintage Innovation No Comments

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…

Dec 10 2019

Twelve Creative Alternatives to Showing Movies Before the Break

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast 31 Comments

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…

Dec 03 2019

Designing Innovative Projects Despite the Time Crunch, the Curriculum Map, and the Lack of Technology

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast, Vintage Innovation 4 Comments

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…

Nov 26 2019

Nine Vintage Ideas to Spark Innovation in Your Classroom

By John Spencer Innovation, Podcast 2 Comments

The Astrodome was a modern miracle, a Space Age wonder, with a glass dome, high-tech air-conditioning, and the world’s biggest scoreboard. When it opened in 1965, reporters dubbed it the “8th Wonder of the World.” This was the future. No more bad weather or quirky…