Schools are designed to be practical but this has a hidden drawback. Innovation is often impractical because it’s unpredictable. So, what if the push toward “practical skills” in school is actually making learning impractical? And what if impractical ideas and skills we ignore are actually…
My cohort graduates today. I feel so honored to be a part of their journey. So, here is my hope for them. My Cohort Is Graduating Last Wednesday, I sat at a table surrounded by members of my cohort. I listened to them share stories…
This post is inspired by Ross Cooper’s latest post on the mistakes he made in doing PBL. It’s a great post. In fact, you should stop reading this now and read his post instead. Go check out his book while you’re at it. I love…
It was about five years ago when a boy walked up to me and asked, “Hey Mr. Spencer, can you talk to the district and see if they’ll open up the library over the summer?” “I don’t think they can,” I answered. “But the city…
What happens when you give students exemplars? Do they simply copy the pre-existing examples? Do they fail to take creative risks? Do they internalize the idea that their work must fit a previous model? Does it implicitly tell students “this is what it should look…
I’ve been exploring this idea of “vintage learning” all month. It’s a simple idea. Sometimes the best way to look forward is to look back. Some of our most innovative lessons are actually low-tech. Two students in my social studies pedagogy class chose an area that…
A few days ago, I met Manuel Herrera at MORENet. He has an amazing maker space where students engage in creative thinking on a daily basis. It’s a bastion of creativity and wonder and his passion for it is contagious. However, as we talked about…
I recently listened to a 99% Invisible podcast where they mentioned an excavation of a ship deep underground in the San Francisco business district. I paused the podcast and pondered how a ship would end up buried deep within the city. Who put it there?…
We believe . . . We believe that all children are naturally creative and that every classroom should be filled with creativity and wonder. We want to see teachers unleash the creative potential in all of their students so that kids can be makers, designers,…
Imagine you are building a self-driving car. Chances are you’ll look for a team of engineers who can figure out how to make each part work fluidly in an interconnected manner. You’d look for software engineers and mechanical engineers and experts in user interface (UI) and…
