A Process Of One Thousand Steps

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I think most of us, if asked to define "success," would think deeply enough to consider more than the capacity to acquire great wealth. Certainly, we would cite things like having "enough" money and a holding personally satisf … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Watching A Poem

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; We came down from a lined sky descending below the horizonThat sent us lines of waves to blur the line between sand and the North AtlanticOf course, that line was where we stoodIn a lineContemplating the space between tide and … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

The Time I Met Real Fairies

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I'm currently in Iceland, taking part in an incredible weeklong gathering called International Play Iceland. I will share some of my stories with you here on the blog in the coming days and weeks, but today I re-visited a scho … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

When Someone Is Crying, Someone Is Learning

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; We worry a great deal about both physical and psychological injury, and we should, but I wonder if in our efforts to protect ourselves and others, especially young children, we often lose sight of the truth that without pain, … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

"The Platinum Rule Calls Not For Empathy, But Compassion"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; In Rutger Bregman's book Humankind, he writes about an experiment in which psychologists told volunteers a sad story about a 10-year-old girl who was suffering from a deadly disease. She is, according to the story, on a waitin … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

More Advanced And More Relevant Than Anything Taught In Normal Schools

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; A child fell and bumped her head hard enough that we decided to apply an ice pack. I fetched one of those single-use gel packs that one activates by squeezing it in the middle until the internal bag pops and the chemicals mix. … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

"In Heaven There Will Be No Law"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; "In heaven there will be no law, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb. In hell there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed." ~Grant GilmoreEvery rule we make is an admission of failure whe … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

It's A Pity That They Must Live Within Our Catastrophic Imaginations

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Awhile back, I was watching a boy playing around under the swings as a classmate was swinging. It wasn't a particularly risky activity in my view. I mean, I was standing right there, taking pictures, discussing it with him, an … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Removing The Simplicity Filters

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Those of us who live with animals are often accused of anthropomorphizing them, which is to say attributing human characteristics to them and explaining their behaviors in human terms. I know I do it. I've even developed a hab … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

"You've Gotta Mess With People"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; You've gotta mess with people. ~Utah PhillipsWhen our new puppy played with other dogs, after the initial sniffing ceremony, she proceeded to engage in behavior that, were she a human, would be called "messing" with them. She … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

"We Have To Make It Big Enough For All Of Us!"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; "Hey! This is my game!""We're playing too."There was a pause. You could tell he was wrestling with his options. Then he replied, "Well, I guess it's our game . . ."It happened in an instant. It could have gone a different way, … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

The Daring Young Girl

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; When the two-year-old girl first caught my eye she was standing directly beneath the trapeze bar, craning her neck to look up at it. She reached upward, stretching on tip toe, her fingers opening and closing as if trying to gr … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Starting With The Idea That It's All An Experiment

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; The opposite of play isn't work, it's rote.  ~Edward HollowellThis might sound like an odd thing for a teacher to write, but I sometimes get the idea that knowing stuff is the enemy of education. There is little gratification … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Play Is How Learning Becomes One With Living

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. ~John DeweyPeople tend to have one of two responses when I tell them I'm a teacher. Either they say something like, "Good for you . . . Such important work," or … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

We Must Demand Play-Based Education Because, Damn It, That's What The Evidence Tells Us

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Economic Forum, and Unicef (and according to the dubious measurement of standardized test scores) Finland has the best schools in the world. The … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Treating Children Like People

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I sometimes forget how radical our ideas are about young children. I forget that not everyone trusts children even if most people say they do. I forget that most adults are convinced that children must be guided, coerced, tric … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

I Want To Help You Develop Your Own Unique Approach To Play-Based Learning

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I started this blog in 2009 simply because I'd written a couple articles for Seattle's Child magazine that I thought were pretty good and felt they deserved a life beyond the recycling bin. That was the entirety of my ambition … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

"Children Do Not Like Being Incompetent Any More Than They Like Being Ignorant"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; "Children do not like being incompetent any more than they like being ignorant. They want to learn how to do, and do well, the things they see being done by bigger people around them. This is why they soon find school such a d … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

The Key To Our Deeper Sense Of Self

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; As a child, my family moved around a lot. I'd called four places home before my first day of kindergarten. I attended three different elementary schools and three different middle schools. My parents, themselves, had grown up … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

What I Learned When I Declined The Urge To Blather

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Two freshly-minted three-year-olds were playing on the floor, not together, but near one another. I was lying amidst them, fiddling with whatever came to hand. The boy picked up a toy that was meant to be a tiny version of the … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Children Learning from Children

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I feel that it's important for us, as early childhood educators, to stay abreast of the latest research in our profession (all of which supports a play-based approach) as well as some of the other areas of cognitive and neuros … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Judging Others Is A Sucker's Game

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Judging by their behavior, we can say that plants are intelligent. They turn toward the sun because they need the light. They absorb necessary nutrients from the soil. They communicate with one another, share resources, and ca … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

What Happens When Children Know They Have Permission To Play

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; "I'm gonna try this.""You're gonna get hurt.""I can't get on. Everybody hold it.""Was that funny?""My turn.""I want a turn.""You can go after me.""I'm next.""Okay, so guys, after me it's you, then it's you.""Then I'm after you … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

The Problem With "Hard Work," "Grit," and "Rigor"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I'm currently reading neuroscientist Antonio Damasio's book Self Come to Mind and came across this fascinating observation: "(S)mart brains are . . . extremely lazy. Anytime they can do less instead of more, they will, a minim … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Cooperation And Communication

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; One can argue that humans are among the most evolutionarily successful larger species on the planet.I have to qualify that controversial assertion with the term "larger" because, frankly, the last couple years have underlined … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

That's The Real Work

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; When parents complain, "He doesn't listen to me" what they really mean is that their kid doesn't do what they want them to do when they want them to do it. Believe me: they are listening to you. They are almost always listenin … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

"Now I'm Ready For My Ice Cream"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; The two-year-old said to me, "If you eat this food you can have some ice cream." She placed a plate in front of me on which she had positioned a glob of purple play dough. I said, "What is it?""It's healthy food.""What kind of … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

These Are The Heroic Stories Of Us

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; We are sometimes said to live in a post-mythology society. No longer does a pantheon gods, spirits, and demons control, create, and explain our world. We now have science, philosophy, and religion, but as surly as we continue … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

"You Just Teach Silly Things"

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; He said, "Teacher Tom, you should teach us things. You never teach us anything . . .  just silly things."I answered, "What do you mean? I teach you stuff all the time.""No, you don't. You just teach us silly things.""Okay, so … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

The Primary Purpose Is To Care For The Children

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I was recently talking with the person responsible for hiring educators for a large regional chain of preschools. Altogether they employ some 300 teachers. With the school year on the verge of starting they still had 45 vacant … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Lifting The Loft

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Several of the kids were taking turns boasting about how strong they were."I can pick up this whole table!""I can pick up this whole school!""I can pick up this whole world!"As their claims escalated ludicrously, some of their … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

How To Make Stink Dough . . . If You Dare

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; The boy was sinking his fingers into the freshly-made play dough in a slow, controlled manner, forming them into fists as it oozed between them. When they were finally firmly clenched, he paused for a moment, then ripped both … | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 1 year ago

Those Mythological "Jobs Of Tomorrow"

I'm weary of hearing about "STEM," the popular acronym for "science, technology, engineering, and math." I'd be shocked... | Continue reading


@teachertomsblog.blogspot.com | 4 years ago