Additional Assignment 5

Exploring the Adventures of Tom Johnson

After looking at John Spencer's blog a little more, I now see that his writings are a lot like a puzzle. One has to read between the lines quite often. The meanings are often a little tough for me to figure out. I think I might be on to something, and then I think "...but what if it means this instead of that?" All in all, a real brain teaser. I'm glad that Mr. Spencer has such interesting and talented writing skills as to keep our brains "ON" this way.

In The Medium Shapes the Learning, Mr. Spencer writes about how his class visited one of Edison's film studios. The kids were mesmerized by the tour and commented that having such a studio at the school would be fun. Who knew learning could be fun? There are innumerable technological innovations that can satisfy the youth's desire for excitement in their educational journey.

In the blog post He Just Likes Class for the Pencils, Mr. Spencer writes about a specific student in his class. This post really spoke to me. A teacher's students aren't just children with occasional behavior "problems" who are dropped off at your door in the morning. They are looking to you for kindness, compassion, understanding, patience, care, guidance, knowledge, and respect. Who in the world would respect someone who yells at and humiliates them regularly? Who wants that? For the children in our classes, we need to remember that they are counting on us to be the best we can be every day. I hope I can be as understanding, patient, kind, and respectful as Mr. Spencer, when I am an educator.

The post Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils also said a lot to me. I remember being full of sassy attitude and insecure confusion at the same time as a young adolescent. These co-existing, yet opposite, emotions can be quite overwhelming for a young person. At this age, I can understand feeling very gray...not defined. Life from that point on is often a sort of quest for oneself. People begin to hang out with different friends, adopt different hobbies, and change their interests. This is mostly an attempt to see what's out there and have some experiences. Some would say this is the beauty of being young because you haven't seen the world, really, and your eyes are "new" to many things. I'm glad that Mr. Spencer is able to connect with his students, so that he can better understand them (and himself).

In Just Teach Them To Solve for X, Mr. Spencer responds to "Gertrude"'s confusion with a theory I very much agree with. Gertrude wants Mr. Spencer to simply teach the student's to solve for x in their math class. She wonders why Mr. Spencer doesn't do just this, while -instead- he allows them to creatively think of new ways to define and explain x. He wants them to use metaphors. Well, Gertrude thinks that metaphors are messy and dangerous, and she wants the students to have a clear-cut path to knowledge. Mr. Spencer argues that when learning is messy, it can often lead to clarity. The confusion that is caused by different learning techniques or a higher process of understanding is oftentimes the best way to truly learn something. Even though Gertrude is still unsure of all this "metaphor" business, Mr. Spencer leaves her with a final comment: "That's exactly why we need them. Life is dangerous. Learning is dangerous. A bad metaphor can launch a war. I want my students to know this. I want them to see that language shapes our perceptions of reality." This is one of my favorite posts on Mr. Spencer's blog.