Blog - Page 30 of 49 - Spencer Education

Jul 03 2018

What Can Video Games Teach Us About Instructional Design?

By John Spencer Empowering Students, Podcast 3 Comments

When I was a kid, I used to spend hours playing Tetris. I would zone out everything else and hit a state of hyperfocus. I was fully engaged. I could spend hours playing Tetris. Over the years, the trending games have changed. I may or…

Jun 26 2018

The Difference Between Being Busy and Being Productive

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast, Teacher Life 12 Comments

I recently wrote about the power of rest to increase productivity and creative thinking. For that reason, I also want to share a phenomenal resource from my friend, Angela Watson, that empowers teachers to make this a reality. She also has a summer planning guide you might want to…

Jun 18 2018

Three Reasons to Try Video Prompts in Your Classroom

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast 2 Comments

Last summer, my son started an online writer's workshop. Although it fizzled by the end of the summer, there was a period where they were all working on a collaborative story and writing their own editorials back and forth. This wasn't a school-sponsored activity. It…

May 25 2018

Seven Strategies for Improving Student Feedback

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast 39 Comments

We know feedback is important. But what happens when students ignore it? In this article and podcast, we explore how to integrate feedback into every part of the learning process so that students can increase in metacognition during their PBL and design thinking projects. …

May 19 2018

Using Design Thinking to Innovate in Your Own Practice

By John Spencer Creativity, Design Thinking, Podcast 5 Comments

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to deliver an opening keynote and closing talk for EdEx, a conference in Eindhoven (in the Netherlands). When Jochem first shared his idea of a weeklong design expedition, I imagined teachers working in a makerspace, designing a…

May 13 2018

5 Myths About Classroom Management in PBL

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast, Project-Based Learning 6 Comments

I want to make something clear before we dive into this topic. I made huge mistakes in classroom management as a teacher. I let certain disruptive behaviors go unchecked because I was tired and I didn't want to put out another fire. I had moments…

May 01 2018

Who Owns the Learning in Your Classroom?

By John Spencer Empowering Students, Student Choice 8 Comments

It took me years to transform my instruction toward a more student-centered approach. This is my story where I share my journey toward student ownership through student choice. Note that this is a revision of a post I wrote last year. I'm taking a few…

Apr 15 2018

Ten Vintage Ideas to Spark Innovation in Your Classroom

By John Spencer Innovation, Podcast 6 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.” (Wilson, 1965) This was the future. No more bad weather…

Apr 07 2018

Research Should Be Fun (Why Research and PBL Are a Great Combination)

By John Spencer Creativity, Project-Based Learning 3 Comments

I remember the first time we did a PBL unit and I asked students to fill out a survey on their favorite and least favorite parts. Overwhelmingly, students described dreading the research process. Similarly, when we first used design thinking, students asked me why we…

Mar 23 2018

What can food trucks teach us about project-based learning?

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast, Project-Based Learning 5 Comments

When we think of innovative companies, it's easy to imagine an open-air tech startup with ping pong tables and free drinks and huge windows and chairs so modern you're not sure how you're supposed to sit in them or look at them. Sometimes I look at…