Showing posts with label SUMMIT. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Teacher Tom: "The Bigger and More Important Education"

"The Bigger and More Important Education"

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.

Researcher, author, and Teacher Tom's Play Summit presenter Peter Gray points out that "almost nobody asks the question, 'What is my child actually learning in school?' Instead, they CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: "The Bigger and More Important Education"

Big Education Ape: Teacher Tom: Let's Turn The World Around: Teacher Tom's Play Summit - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/04/teacher-tom-lets-turn-world-around.html

TTPS 2021 Main Summit Registration - https://www.teachertomsplaysummit.com/?r_done=1

Monday, May 24, 2021

Teacher Tom: An Intellectually Creative Affair: Teacher Tom's Play Summit

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

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Teacher Tom: Teacher Tom's Play Summit is Here: Together, Let's Turn This World Around

Teacher Tom's Play Summit is Here: Together, Let's Turn This World Around

It's time to do more than just mark you calendar. I'm giddy to announce that registration for Teacher Tom's Play Summit is officially open!

You probably haven't been counting down to this day like I have, but if you've been awaiting this moment, you can click through right now to get signed up.

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.

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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!

Saturday, April 10, 2021

TEACHER TOM THIS WEEK IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION + Teacher Tom: Let's Turn The World Around: Teacher Tom's Play Summit

Teacher Tom

TEACHER TOM
THIS WEEK IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Teacher Tom: 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.

Please, please join us. Please share with others. Now is the right time and you are the right person. Click here to learn more about our presenters and get on the waitlist. Let's turn this world around.

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