Welcome back to a new episode of Rebel Teacher Alliance! This week we sit down with Dr. John Spencer, fresh off his keynote at the Learning and the Brain Conference in San Francisco. We talk about why slowing down is actually the move in a world that keeps telling us to go faster, how to use AI as a study tool without letting it do all the thinking, and what it even means to teach for depth when your students can generate a five-paragraph essay in 30 seconds. Also: Dr. Spencer once modified a game of Pit to teach how markets work and used a version of Risk to walk students through the whole lead-up to World War One, so you already know the Whatcha Been Playin' segment is going to go places.

If you want to keep the conversation going, subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts -- it genuinely helps people find us. Come hang out in our Discord at rebelteacheralliance.com. You can also find us on Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok all at @rebelteacheralliance. Find Fabian at @hofmannedu.bsky.social, Jamie at @jedijamie.bsky.social, and John at @meehanedu.bsky.social.

Things mentioned on the show:

• The Depth Advantage by Dr. John Spencer

• spencereducation.com

• Learning and the Brain Conference

• Pit card game

• Oregon Trail card game