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Showing posts with label PARTNERING WITH PARENTS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PARTNERING WITH PARENTS. Show all posts

Friday, March 19, 2021

Teacher Tom: EdHeroes: What if Education Focused on the Needs of Children and Families?

Teacher Tom: EdHeroes: What if Education Focused on the Needs of Children and Families?
EdHeroes: What if Education Focused on the Needs of Children and Families?




I was recently honored to be asked to shoot a short video for the Rybakov Foundation's 2021 EdHeroes conference. Their mission is to support families around the world by providing them access to quality education that is align first and foremost with the interests of families. 

I can think of no better way to transform our educational ecosystem than to focus on the needs of children and families. We all want our children to grow up to be competent citizens who can create, love, and choose. Without that, the rest is meaningless.

Anyone who knows me, is aware than I find it difficult to keep my remarks (on pretty much any topic) to the 15-20 minute range. I decided to tell my own story of growing from parent to educator. (For the full-sized version of the video, click here.)


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It takes a village to raise a child. In this 6-part e-course I share my best practices to enable educators to make allies of the parents of the children they teach by bringing parents to the center of our work in the spirit of community, the kind of community every child needs. For more information and to register, click here. Act now to receive early bird pricing!

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Thursday, March 18, 2021

Teacher Tom: Partnering With Parents

Teacher Tom: Partnering With Parents
Partnering With Parents




By nature, I consider myself an introvert, so when our daughter was born, I happily stepped into the role of stay-at-home parent. Of course, I looked forward to the "parenting" part, but I equally, and a bit secretly, embraced the "stay-at-home" aspect of the job title. As I held my newborn, I imagined our cozy life, snuggling, puttering around the house, eating snacks, reading storybooks, and playing in the garden. My homebody self imagined a kind of utopia effectively walled-off from the rest of the world where my wife, the extravert, would go off into the world to slay the dragons, while the two of us nested, unmolested, at least for a time, by the stresses of being out in the world.

And it was something like that at first, but among her first sentences were, "Let's go somewhere" and "Let's do something," a clear indication that she was her mother's daughter. I took this to mean that she was asking me for preschool, but when I ran the idea by my wife, she said, "No. She has a stay-at-home parent. Why would we send her off to be raised by strangers if we don't have to?" She had a point, but just in case, I ran the idea of preschool by my mother, who said, "Why would you do that? She has you. Besides, once their gone they're gone. Keep her at home as long as you can." Another compelling argument, but I there CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Partnering With Parents