Podcast Archives - Page 16 of 25

Apr 28 2020

Empowering Students in Distance Learning Environments

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Podcast, Technology and Media Literacy 9 Comments

Student engagement can be a real challenge in this sudden shift toward distance learning. But one way to improve engagement is by empowering students. In this article, we explore how to improve equity and access and how to shift toward student ownership. Listen to the…

Apr 18 2020

5 Ways to Boost Attendance in Virtual Class Meetings

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Innovation, Podcast 33 Comments

I have a friend who is a phenomenal teacher. She has been making a positive impact on middle schoolers' lives for 20 years. I used to go into her classroom during my prep period and take detailed notes so I could refine my class. She…

Apr 14 2020

How to Make PBL a Reality in a Distance Learning Environment

By John Spencer Podcast, Project-Based Learning 5 Comments

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…

Mar 30 2020

There’s No Single Right Way to Do Distance Learning

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast No Comments

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,…

Mar 27 2020

Taking Distance Learning Away from the Screen

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast 19 Comments

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,…

Mar 23 2020

I’m Releasing a Free Audio Book for Middle Grade Students

By John Spencer Creativity, Literacy, Podcast 35 Comments

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…

Mar 17 2020

Providing Spaces of Permission in the Midst of Uncertainty

By John Spencer Podcast, Teacher Life 4 Comments

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…

Mar 10 2020

Reflections on Turning Forty Today

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast, Teacher Life 2 Comments

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…

Mar 02 2020

Seven Reasons to Geek Out on Educational Theory

By John Spencer Innovation, Podcast 3 Comments

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…

Feb 20 2020

What Our Adopted Greyhound Taught Me About Life, Learning, and Creativity

By John Spencer Creativity, Podcast 2 Comments

This year, I decided my mantra would be "Be More Greyhound." This was my reminder to rest and to play and to find joys in things like walks. It was a reminder that I have the permission to be an introvert. For the last month,…