Ask any successful person for their secret and they'll inevitably talk about people: parents, teachers, relatives, and friends. Oh sure, some of them talk about hard work and perseverance, but that generally always strikes me as a matter of form, almost like we're expected to credit these Puritan work ethic traits, like a kind of good luck talisman, but the long list, the thank yous and gratitude, is always reserved for the relationships they've had with other people.
Sometimes they might give credit to things they have been taught, like in the case of a mentor, but more often than not it's the relationship itself that they talk about.
"They believed in me."
"They supported me."
"They never gave up on me."
"They loved me."
Rarely does anyone give credit to their education, yet as a society we've convinced ourselves that school is the lynchpin to success.
An Intellectually Creative Affair: Teacher Tom's Play Summit
My journey as an early childhood educator began in 1996, the year our daughter was born. In the back of my mind, I'm sure I was aware that my wife and I were going to be her primary "teachers," at least for the time being, but I recall secretly telling myself that this aspect of parenthood could wait. My instinct was to simply love her, care for her, respond to her, and, well, make every moment as perfect as I could. Any "teaching" that I was going to do would come later, I told myself, sort of thinking that I could hold it off at least until we could carry on a conversation.
That was more or less my concept of education back then: adults telling and doing things to children. The Baby Einstein company (now owned by Disney) was founded in 1996, but it wasn't alone in promoting theories about things one could do to boost your newborn's learning potential, like hanging certain types of mobiles over her crib, buying special toys, and the playing of classical music. Well-meaning people gave us these things as gifts, but they went into closets to wait until I thought we were ready for teaching. They felt like distractions or intrusions into our little three-person triangle of love.
It wasn't until our daughter was two-years-old that I was first exposed to preschool. I'm forever grateful to the random mother I met on a local playground who told me about cooperative preschool. We were loath to send our little girl off CONTINUE READIG: Teacher Tom: An Intellectually Creative Affair: Teacher Tom's Play Summit
I can't tell you how proud I am to offer this online conference, June
20-25, entirely for free. It means a lot to me to be able to bring you 26
early childhood and parenting experts from around the world -- from New
Zealand to Sweden, from Canada to Greece, from Russia to Australia -- to
share an incredibly wide variety of perspectives on education, parenting,
and the current state of childhood.
There are several names you're sure to recognize, like children's
troubadour Raffi, Ooey Gooey Lady Lisa Murphy, champion of childhood Peter
Gray, renowned parenting experts Maggie Dent and Dr. Laura Markham, and
the magnificent and profound Akilah Richards. And while I'm grateful and
honored that these amazing presenters have joined us, I might be even more
excited about this CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Teacher Tom's Play Summit is Here: Together, Let's Turn This
World Around
I'm inviting your open heart and mind to this free event. Click here to learn more and register. See you there! Together we can turn this world around.
******
Please join us June 20-25 for Teacher Tom's Play Summit. Click here to get your free pass to all 26 of our incredible sessions. Professional development
certificates are available and you can upgrade to unlimited access. Please
share this far and wide. Together we can turn this world around!
He's done it once before, and now we hear his call
For the children, turn this world around.
Turn, turn, turn,
Turn this world around
For the children, turn this world around.
Turn, turn, turn,
Turn this world around
For the children
Turn this world around.
~Raffi
It's an urgent message, one that's part of almost every conversation I have these days. The principle project of every society has always been to care for the children, yet in so many ways, we are failing in this fundamental task. I myself have been going along for years, feeling like I was doing enough: that if I just tended my little corner of the world where children are free to enjoy an authentic childhood, where they are respected, where their needs are met in a community that strives to let them grow up as free people . . . but I know now that this is not enough.
These last 12 months have been transformative in so many ways, not all bad. Indeed, many of us have expressed our hopes that the legacy of the pandemic might be exactly the catalyst we need to turn this world around, not just for children, but for all of us. At least as many are expressing fears, because transformation doesn't always naturally happen the way we want it to. No, the only way the world has ever "turned around" has been when we make it happen.
This is the inspiration behind Teacher Tom's Play Summit, a free online gathering of early childhood educators and parents taking place June 21-25. Please join us. Together we will turn this world around.
We've managed to pull together some of the most progressive and thoughtful people in ECE, from Peter Gray, Lisa Murphy, and Maggie Dent to the beloved children's troubadour Raffi whose message of "child honouring" comes directly from the Dali Lama. We have cast a wide net to assemble a line-up of both established experts as well as less often heard voices from marginalized communities. The fate of young children is one of the few issues that can truly unite all of us, and it starts with listening to children, to one another, and sharing our perspectives from around the globe.
Maori educator Brenda Souter says, "It's a journey. It's not a destination . . . And we certainly have not reached it if it is." Ojibwe teacher Hopi Martin warns, "There is a real need to repair what is lost. We've got to work together or we're in big trouble." And Denisha Jones, co-founder of Black Lives Matters in Schools, tells us that first "we have to liberate ourselves" which is, I think, the most logical next step in this journey that may not reach its destination in our lifetimes.
But that's okay. As Defending Early Childhood board member and Play Empowers founder Kisha Reid said to me when last we spoke, "Let's take over the world!" which is her way of saying "Turn this world around."
As we hopefully try to emerge from a pandemic, from political and social turmoil, and as we are finally opening our eyes and ears to the voices of those less often heard, the time is ripe for transformation, for children, for all of us, and we are the ones to make it happen.
Let's Turn The World Around: Teacher Tom's Play Summit
We heard it from Mandela,
"Turn this world around,
For the children" - turn this world around.
He's done it once before, and now we hear his call
For the children, turn this world around.
Turn, turn, turn,
Turn this world around
For the children, turn this world around.
Turn, turn, turn,
Turn this world around
For the children
Turn this world around.
~Raffi
It's an urgent message, one that's part of almost every conversation I
have these days. The principle project of every society has always been to
care for the children, yet in so many ways, we are failing in this
fundamental task. I myself have been going along for years, feeling like I
was doing enough: that if I just tended my little corner of the world
where children are free to enjoy an authentic childhood, where they are
respected, where their needs are met in a community that strives to let
them grow up as free people . . . but I know now that this is not
enough.
These last 12 months have been transformative in so many ways, not all
bad. Indeed, many of us have expressed our hopes that the legacy of the
pandemic might be exactly the catalyst we need to turn this world around,
not just for children, but for all of us. At least as many are expressing
fears, because transformation doesn't always naturally happen the way we
want it to. No, the only way the world has ever "turned around" has been
when we make it happen.
This is the inspiration behind Teacher Tom's Play Summit, a free online gathering of early childhood educators and parents taking
place June 21-25. Please join us. Together we will turn this world around.
We've managed to pull together some of the most progressive and
thoughtful people in ECE, from Peter Gray, Lisa Murphy, and Maggie Dent to
the beloved children's troubadour Raffi whose message of "child honouring"
comes directly from the Dali Lama. We have cast a wide net to assemble a
line-up of both established experts as well as less often heard voices
from marginalized communities. The fate of young children is one of the
few issues that can truly unite all of us, and it starts with listening to
children, to one another, and sharing our perspectives from around the
globe.
Maori educator Brenda Souter says, "It's a journey. It's not a
destination . . . And we certainly have not reached it if it is." Ojibwe
teacher Hopi Martin warns, "There is a real need to repair what is lost.
We've got to work together or we're in big trouble." And Denisha Jones,
co-founder of Black Lives Matters in Schools, tells us that first "we have
to liberate ourselves" which is, I think, the most logical next step in
this journey that may not reach its destination in our lifetimes.
But that's okay. As Defending Early Childhood board member and Play
Empowers founder Kisha Reid said to me when last we spoke, "Let's take
over the world!" which is her way of saying "Turn this world
around."
As we hopefully try to emerge from a pandemic, from political and social
turmoil, and as we are finally opening our eyes and ears to the voices of
those less often heard, the time is ripe for transformation, for children,
for all of us, and we are the ones to make it happen.
