Do you ever feel like you’re pursuing engagement, not empowerment, in your classroom? Do you ever feel like you’re doing more work than your students? John Spencer used to too. But now he’s all about empowering students to pursue their passions and helping teachers make that happen. Whether he’s sharing “10 Creative Risks to Take with your Students this Year” via podcast, or adding video writing prompts and maker challenges to his youtube channel, you’re going to be amazed by what he puts out into the teaching stratosphere. Once a middle school teacher who carefully wove creative practices into his packed schedule wherever he could, John Spencer now teaches teachers. In his own words, “I want to see teachers unleash the creative potential in all their students so that kids can be makers, designers, artists, and engineers.” In his book, Empower, he talks about a mindset shift in the creative teaching world from engaging our students to empowering them to learn and do what they truly care about. I think you’ll recognize your own teaching journey in what he described. The incredible amount of work required to differentiate projects and outline details so that students would produce just what you hoped. The exhaustion of your teacher song and dance to be constantly introducing something new, something amazing, something your students can’t help but love doing under your careful supervision.

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028: Empower your Students, with John Spencer