Spark Learning
Great lessons engage students for the same reason great stories do. They open a gap, create purpose, and send the learner home changed. Spark Learning is my name for teaching that way, and it lives in three places: the talk that named it, the book that maps it, and the studio that puts it in your hands.
The arc
01 · The Talk · 2013
A brush with mortality sent me back to the classroom with a different question: not what students need to know, but what they want to know. The talk named three rules. Curiosity comes first. Embrace the mess. Practice reflection.
Watch the talk →
02 · The Book · 2017
The talk was six minutes. The book is the method: the research on curiosity, stories from my classroom, and templates for lessons that begin with a question.
Read the book →
03 · The Studio · 2026
A method only matters if a teacher can run it on a Tuesday. The studio turns the book into working tools: design inquiry lessons, watch how they land, and study what works.
Open the studio →The thread
Each rule from the talk became a studio.
Inquiry Studio
Design lessons that open with a question students actually want answered, and build the cycle that follows it.
Open Inquiry Studio ↗Rule 2Reflection Studio
Watch your own teaching on video, with student faces blurred, and sit with the moments where learning got messy.
Open Reflection Studio ↗Rule 3Research Studio
Turn a wondering about your classroom into evidence, and evidence into a write-up you can share.
Open Research Studio ↗