Laura Spencer, Ed.D.

Yea, it's still completely demoralizing to know you're on the bottom of the "keep" list, regardless of the outcome.

What You Only Get to Do Once My parents were in town this weekend, so we went to the Wild Animal Park.

I've been thinking about relationships.. and how some mistakes are really hard to move past.

What percentage of staff is that? The number sounds huge (and it is for those impacted) but i'm curious what that means as compared to a small neighborhood district.

back to writing!
open.substack.com/pub/lauraksp...

Laura (@laurakspencer74) Silence from leadership gets interpreted as mistrust faster than leaders expect. Even when the silence wasn’t intentional.

Who is on Substack? I'm dipping my toes in that water.
substack.com/profile/4462...

Moving Too Fast to Notice Your Life Sandstone Canyon is easy to miss if you’re moving too fast. It branches off Fish Creek Wash without much announcement. A sign. A turn. If you weren’t already in the mood to slow down, you’d keep going. Once you’re inside, the walls come up quickly. Fifty, maybe seventy feet. The wash is still sand and crushed dirt, still not what anyone would call technical, but there isn’t much extra space.

Moving Too Fast to Notice Your Life

Sandstone Canyon is easy to miss if you’re moving too fast. It branches off Fish Creek Wash without much announcement. A sign. A turn. If you weren’t already in the mood to slow down, you’d keep going. Once you’re inside, the walls come up quickly. Fifty, maybe…

Adoption Isn’t Impact: The Quiet Failure of Learning Innovation Learning tools are improving faster than learning systems. As AI, XR, and new platforms promise transformation, many organizations are discovering that adoption alone doesn’t translate into impact. This reflection explores why learning innovation often stalls and what it takes to design systems that actually develop human capability.

Adoption Isn’t Impact: The Quiet Failure of Learning Innovation

Learning tools are improving faster than learning systems. As AI, XR, and new platforms promise transformation, many organizations are discovering that adoption alone doesn’t translate into impact. This reflection explores why…

How AI Helps Leaders Uncover Blind Spots and Build a Culture of Thinking Leaders often miss the subtle signals in meetings. This post explains how AI can help challenge first interpretations and reveal blind spots that impact decision-making.

How AI Helps Leaders Uncover Blind Spots and Build a Culture of Thinking

How a Simple Thinking Routine and AI Help Leaders Get Clarity After Tough Meetings This post breaks down how leaders can use the See Think Wonder routine with AI to slow down, separate facts from assumptions, and get clarity after meetings that feel off. Simple, practical, and built for busy people who want to think more clearly.

How a Simple Thinking Routine and AI Help Leaders Get Clarity After Tough Meetings

Finding Clarity Again: How AI Helps Leaders Breathe, Pause, and Think When the pace of work takes over, leaders stop thinking and start reacting. This post explores how a simple pause, supported by AI, can help leaders reconnect with their values, check their assumptions, and rebuild a true culture of thinking.

Finding Clarity Again: How AI Helps Leaders Breathe, Pause, and Think

When the pace of work takes over, leaders stop thinking and start reacting. This post explores how a simple pause, supported by AI, can help leaders reconnect with their values, check their assumptions, and rebuild a true…

What AI Revealed About My Biggest Leadership Weak Spot Stop spreading yourself too thin: learn to say no to tasks that don't move you closer to your goals. It's the first step to intentional success.

What AI Revealed About My Biggest Leadership Weak Spot

Stop spreading yourself too thin: learn to say no to tasks that don't move you closer to your goals. It's the first step to intentional success.

When the Waiting Room Becomes an Echo Chamber Before the Thanksgiving travel rush, I ended up in a packed car dealership waiting room: a perfect example of what happens when everyone follows the same idea without questioning it. This real-life echo chamber reminded me how often leaders fall into the same trap. When everyone thinks alike, critical thinking disappears. In this post, I explore why strategic divergence matters, how consensus can work against innovation, and what leaders can learn from a crowded pre-holiday service appointment.

When the Waiting Room Becomes an Echo Chamber

#EDUSky #AIEDU
come see me speak 👍🏼

VR for EDU 2025: Hands-On Classroom Innovation at Meta Boomerang, LA Experience the future of learning at VR for EDU: Inside the Classroom with Elite Academy — a one-day, in-person event at Meta Boomerang LA. Join Meta, Knoxlabs, Elite Academy, ENGAGE XR, and Illuminat...

interested in VR/XR and live near Los Angeles? Come hear me speak at Meta LA next week.
www.knoxlabs.com/pages/event-...

one of my fave writings recently. Would love your input.

Trusting Reality: The Impact of AI-Generated Deception Plato never heard of a deepfake, but he understood the prison it could build for the human mind. I remember reading his Allegory of the Cave my first semester of community college. In the allegory, prisoners are chained to a wall, forced to watch shadows dance across the stone. They have never known anything else, so they believe the shadows are the world.

Trusting Reality: The Impact of AI-Generated Deception

Plato never heard of a deepfake, but he understood the prison it could build for the human mind. I remember reading his Allegory of the Cave my first semester of community college. In the allegory, prisoners are chained to a wall, forced to…

Unlocking Innovation Through Curiosity and Risk It's been a few months, but I’m still processing the lessons I’m taking away after sitting in on the d.school book club chat with Sarah Stein Greenberg about her fantastic book, Creative Acts for Curious People. The entire conversation was a masterclass in leading creative teams, and it completely reshaped how I think about my own role as a leader.

Unlocking Innovation Through Curiosity and Risk

It's been a few months, but I’m still processing the lessons I’m taking away after sitting in on the d.school book club chat with Sarah Stein Greenberg about her fantastic book, Creative Acts for Curious People. The entire conversation was a…

🤔🤔

Elite Academic Academy Releases Groundbreaking White Paper: From Teaching to Empowering - Revolutionizing Education in the Age of AI /PRNewswire/ -- Elite Academic Academy has unveiled its 2025 white paper, From Teaching to Empowering: Revolutionizing Education in the Age of AI, a bold call...

Thrilled to release our white paper: "From Teaching to Empowering."

It’s a bold call to action for reimagining public edu & the blueprint for our innovative EliteX Fellowship program. A must-read for any educator or school leader.
www.prnewswire.com/news-release...
#AIinEducation #Leadership

Why Leaders Need Trail Markers When I’m off-roading, there’s a moment every adventurer knows well. You’re deep on the trail, the terrain is uneven, and suddenly, you realize you haven’t seen a trail marker in a while. That’s when doubt creeps in. Am I still on the right path, or am I about to waste daylight backtracking? One time, I missed the markers completely because I was chatting with a friend who had joined me.

Why Leaders Need Trail Markers

When I’m off-roading, there’s a moment every adventurer knows well. You’re deep on the trail, the terrain is uneven, and suddenly, you realize you haven’t seen a trail marker in a while. That’s when doubt creeps in. Am I still on the right path, or am I about to…

Thrive by Lisa M. Lawson: Rethinking How We Support Adolescents in Education Lisa M. Lawson’s book Thrive explores how adolescent brain science can reshape education, support systems, and how we help teens truly thrive.

Thrive by Lisa M. Lawson: Rethinking How We Support Adolescents in Education

Lisa M. Lawson’s book Thrive explores how adolescent brain science can reshape education, support systems, and how we help teens truly thrive.

Designing Belonging: What a Pizza Box Taught Me About Connection I’ve written before about the time I ordered a pizza to reconnect my ex-husband to the outside world. No car. No phone. No internet. A disconnection, both literal and emotional. We used Domino’s delivery notes as our 21st-century carrier pigeon. It worked, but only because someone made the effort to reach out, to bridge the gap, to make belonging possible when the system failed.

Designing Belonging: What a Pizza Box Taught Me About Connection

I’ve written before about the time I ordered a pizza to reconnect my ex-husband to the outside world. No car. No phone. No internet. A disconnection, both literal and emotional. We used Domino’s delivery notes as our 21st-century…

More Than Content: Why the Future of School Must Be Human Everywhere I turn, people seem exhausted. Not just by the pace of change, but by the growing sense that our systems, especially in education, are still answering the wrong questions. We’re designing for efficiency when what we need is empathy. We’re measuring content mastery when what’s slipping through the cracks is human development. I keep coming back to a question I shared recently with educators at our Elite kickoff:

More Than Content: Why the Future of School Must Be Human

Everywhere I turn, people seem exhausted. Not just by the pace of change, but by the growing sense that our systems, especially in education, are still answering the wrong questions. We’re designing for efficiency when what we need is…

Creativity, Failure, and Starting Late There’s a bit of irony in the title of the first book I picked up from the d.school book club: Make Possibilities Happen. Because I joined the club months ago, full of energy and good intentions, and promptly… fell behind. Haven’t made it to a single Zoom meet. Still playing catch-up on the reading. So maybe this is my version of possibility-making.

Creativity, Failure, and Starting Late

There’s a bit of irony in the title of the first book I picked up from the d.school book club: Make Possibilities Happen. Because I joined the club months ago, full of energy and good intentions, and promptly… fell behind. Haven’t made it to a single Zoom…

Spotting the Cracks A Reflection on Systems Change and Personal Resistance I just listened to The Conversation Factory podcast episode called "The Seven Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems" with Adam Kahane, and I felt like he was talking just to me. “A crack in a system is a sign that, at least for some people, it is not working. A crack offers a not-yet-realized opportunity to transform the system… it presents hope, but also disruption, confusion, conflict, and danger.”

A crack in a system is a sign that, at least for some people, it is not working. A crack offers a not-yet-realized opportunity to transform the system...

A full work-from-home desk setup featuring a mounted desk with dual monitors, a laptop on a riser, a pink microphone, Stream Deck, candle, crocheted eagle, and a walking pad underneath. Text overlay: “10 Favorites - Desk Must Haves”.

Because I like to buy tech stuff, I’m often asked what’s on my desk so here’s my current WFH setup.

#WFHsetup #Techaesthetic #digitalworkspace

www.instagram.com/p/DN68i7sCWO...

Gratitude Reimagined: Spotlighting Authentic Appreciation If your thank-you centers you, it’s not gratitude. It’s PR. Let’s rethink how we show appreciation and put the spotlight where it belongs.

If your thank-you centers you, it’s not gratitude. It’s PR. Let’s rethink how we show appreciation and put the spotlight where it belongs.

This Week, I Get to Do What I Love Leading three days of in-person professional learning with our virtual staff is pure joy. We’re focusing on relationships, community, and culture—because tech is only as powerful as the people behind it. Months of planning lead to that first hallway hug, and suddenly, it all makes sense. This is why I love this work.

This Week, I Get to Do What I Love

Leading three days of in-person professional learning with our virtual staff is pure joy. We’re focusing on relationships, community, and culture—because tech is only as powerful as the people behind it. Months of planning lead to that first hallway hug, and…

Forgotten Dreams and Quiet Reminders The author reflects on their unroadworthy 1973 Land Rover, recognizing it as a symbol of dreams for others while they overlook its significance. A comment on social media prompts a deeper appreciation for their own life and the joys often taken for granted. They commit to embracing the ordinary and cherishing life's beauty.

Forgotten Dreams and Quiet Reminders

The author reflects on their unroadworthy 1973 Land Rover, recognizing it as a symbol of dreams for others while they overlook its significance. A comment on social media prompts a deeper appreciation for their own life and the joys often taken for granted.…