Claim OwnershipThe Creative Classroom with John Spencer
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John Spencer is passionate about seeing schools embrace creativity and design thinking. In this podcast, he explores the intersection of creative thinking and student learning.
106 Episodes
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In my latest episode, Brett Fischer talks about how AI is transforming teacher creativity. I loved his practical insights and depth of knowledge on this subject. Listen to the Podcast If you enjoy this blog but you’d like to listen to it on the go,...
The post Brett Fischer on AI and Teacher Creativity appeared first on Spencer Education.
Socratic seminars are a democratic, student-centered, approach to class discussions. They can be used at any grade level with any subject area. In a Socratic Seminar, members meet in a circle (or more likely an oval, because, let’s be real, circles are really hard to...
The post Designing Socratic Seminars to Ensure That All Students Can Participate appeared first on Spencer Education.
As AI becomes becomes more pervasive in our daily work, we often wrestle with a big question: what should we automate and what should we protect as deeply human? We experience this profoundly in creative work. We are drawn to the speed and efficiency of...
The post How Will AI Transform Creative Thinking? appeared first on Spencer Education.
AI represents both a dream and a warning for education. On one hand, it offers personalized feedback, instant support, and creative possibilities that can make learning more dynamic than ever. On the other, it tempts us toward speed over depth, efficiency over understanding, and convenience...
The post Using AI to Spark Deeper Learning appeared first on Spencer Education.
1When I was a new teacher, I had a goal of differentiating instruction for every student. I would provide additional directions, project sheets, tutorials, and small group instruction for any student who needed help. I kept a list of specific strategies I would use in...
The post Empowering Students to Self-Select the Scaffolds appeared first on Spencer Education.
In 2014, Microsoft launched a hugely successful AI bot named Xiaoice in China. With over forty million conversations, users often described feeling as though they were interacting with a real human. Microsoft founder Bill Gates described it this way, “’Xiaoice has attracted 45 million followers...
The post Students Need to Explore the Nature of AI appeared first on Spencer Education.
We keep talking about AI in schools like it is either a miracle or a menace, and that either-or mindset steers us into two dead ends. One path hands the wheel to the tool and mistakes novelty for real learning. The other path locks everything...
The post Rethinking How We Use AI for Writing appeared first on Spencer Education.
Collaboration is one of the most powerful forces in learning. Yet it can also be one of the hardest things to cultivate. Too often, students struggle to share ideas, listen to one another, or take creative risks. At the center of this struggle is something...
The post The Surprising Element for Empowering Your Students in Collaboration appeared first on Spencer Education.
As the year begins, we are all thinking about the idea of building a classroom community. Although I am no longer at the K-12 level, I am reminded of the power of community as I think about the cohort I lead that’s now in their...
The post 10 Creative Risks to Take With Your Students This Year appeared first on Spencer Education.
Every year, we hear news reports about the “summer slide,” or the summer learning loss. Students arrive to school behind where they left off in May or June. This is a real challenge. But there’s more to the story. So, in this week’s article, I...
The post How Deeper Learning Can Address Summer Learning Loss appeared first on Spencer Education.
Throughout this summer, I’ve had the opportunity to lead professional development on ethical AI integration throughout the United States. In some cases, it’s been a keynote and customized sessions. In other cases, it’s been a deep dive 1-3 day workshop. The audience has ranged from...
The post Back to School in the Age of AI appeared first on Spencer Education.
When AJ Juliani and I co-wrote the book Empower, we focused on the ways that students could own the learning process. It’s the core idea of shifting from being teacher-centered toward being more student-centered. We often talk about what it means to move from compliance...
The post Six Ways to Empower Students to Own the Classroom Community appeared first on Spencer Education.
When I was a student, I thought I was a top tier reader. My teacher didn’t do numbers for our reading groups. She chose large cats. But I knew that it was better to be a Lion than an Ocelot. I knew my reading level....
The post The Slow Work of Great Teaching – Why Speed Can’t Be the Only Metric for Student Success appeared first on Spencer Education.
Teaching has always been challenging, but right now it feels heavier. In this piece, I share a conversation with Mike, a fifth-grade teacher who’s feeling the weight of tech distractions, AI-written essays, student apathy, and the pressure to do it all. The usual quick fixes...
The post Deeper Learning is a Better Path Forward appeared first on Spencer Education.
As an educator, you are a community builder. From day one, you getting to know your students on a relational level. It’s often in the little things, like sending an email the first time they miss a class period or sending a positive note home...
The post 5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students at the Start of the School Year appeared first on John Spencer.
If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I love to share sharing practical ways that we can empower our students to own the learning from day one. This is the core idea that AJ Juliani and I wrote about in our book Empower....
The post Taking a Gradual Release (GRR) Approach to Student Choice appeared first on John Spencer.
When AJ Juliani and I co-wrote the book Empower, we focused on the ways that students could own the learning process. It’s the core idea of shifting from being teacher-centered toward being more student-centered. We often talk about what it means to move from compliance...
The post Three Ways to Empower Students to Own the Classroom Culture appeared first on John Spencer.
In my latest podcast episode, we get into the intersection of neuroscience and student learning with renowned expert Kieran O’Mahony. He is Founding Principal of the Institute for Connecting Neuroscience with Teaching and Learning, Chief Learning Officer of HUE Learn, and Emeritus Research Scientist at...
The post Kieran O’Mahony on Neuroscience in Education appeared first on John Spencer.
We often use the word AI to describe the newest generation of chatbots. However, computers can’t think. They process information. Humans think. Human cognition is affective and emotional. It’s unpredictable and messy. It’s inherently social and relational. We use the term “intelligence” to describe A.I....
The post 7 Ways to Integrate Curiosity into the Classroom appeared first on John Spencer.
This would be the year. I would be a fully project-based social studies teacher. After reading every PBL book I could read and attending PBL sessions at a few summer conferences, I had a vision for a new way of teaching my subject. My third...
The post Sprints, Mini-Projects, and Project-Based Learning appeared first on John Spencer.
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great talk! can u give me example of show and tell, creative projects, wonder day, etc for college age students or university Freshers?
the background music is annoying, i don't understand what you are saying
Inspiring 👌
hang t to creddt
This podcast is a very nice place for ideas in teaching and learning. I have Spencer's book, which I definitely recommend, and I'm glad I found this podcast to keep exploring interesting possibilities.
really will help me justify direct instruction if and when i use it during PBL
This is awesome. If you PBL, you need to listen