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 to a place for others to raise, but this was a school that required parents to attend with their child. What I found there wasn't anything like my notions of schooling, but rather my ideas of childhood, with parents and children playing together in the context of community. 

I was in awe of the children who surrounded me, these humans who I'd previously thought of as somehow lesser than adults. Daily they astounded me with their curiosities and insights. I had the sensation that it was me, not them, who was scrambling to keep up. It was thrilling for both me and our child to plunge into our cooperative community, engaging with the things and people as we saw fit. We were obviously learning and growing, as were all the children and their parents, but there was little, if any, evidence of "teaching."

This was the gift that teachers Sue Anderson and Chris David (a woman I hold dear as my most important mentor) gave us. Through them, I saw that teaching, as I'd previously perceived of it, had very little to do with learning. Oh sure, I might offer a child useful tips and advice here and there, but most of the learning came from simply playing within the context of community.

Since that time, I've been thinking about learning -- every day. Sometimes all day. Lately, I've been wondering how the lessons I've learned from working with young children apply to adults. I think about Sue, Chris, and the other "teachers" I've had in my adult life. None of them were people who lectured me or tested me or otherwise instructed me. No, most of what I learned from them was by looking in the direction they were looking, observing them as they went about their lives, asking them questions, and listening. I've not become Sue or Chris, but they are both, to this day, part of everything I do.

So how do these principles apply to adults? This is the question I've been asking myself as we've put together the upcoming Teacher Tom's Play Summit. How do we approach creating a genuine learning environment within the limitations of an online environment? I didn't want to just offer a series of experts to tell and do things to you. This is why I opted for an interview format, one that is more suggestive of dialog than instruction. This is why I opted for a diversity of perspectives, because I've found that real learning happens when we are free to turn things round and round, considering them from all sides, the way young children do with their playthings. And this is why I'm reluctant to pretend to tell you what you will learn from any given session, because each one of us, as children do, will take away something different and unique.

My thesis is that learning, no matter what our age, is indistinguishable from the process of thinking. It is a creative affair. My intent is to offer you the occasions to be intellectually creative, to provide a forum in which ideas become loose parts that each of us are free to assemble into our own learning. How do the ideas offered by, say, Lisa Murphy go together with the insights of Jackie Bennet? Does what Peter Gray says contradict with what we hear from Liana Chavarin or is there a way to put them together in a satisfying whole? How does Kisha Reid's experience compare and contrast to my own? What can I learn from educators in societies as varied as Russia, New Zealand, and Greece? My invitation to you is to come to Teacher Tom's Play Summit with a curious mind. We tend to drop the term "play-based" in favor of "self-directed" when it comes to adults. And that is the environment we're hoping we've created: a place of beautiful ideas for you to turn around in your mind, comparing, contrasting, assembling and creating. There are no competing ideas, only ideas that make your original idea bigger.

What is sorely missing from most online forums, as we've become all too aware during this year of pandemic, is the essential community piece. Our Facebook community group is a hopeful start. There are already thousands of people in there introducing themselves, but that won't be enough. My hope for this summit is that it will spawn communities of adults learning together. One way we hope to do that is to keep the community group alive and vital long after the summit itself is over, but the real work of creating community, as always, comes down to all of us. 

My vision is that each of you will bring your friends and colleagues along with you, for entire schools to take part, and for us to take the learning beyond the limitations of an online conference into your own "real" world where you can really dig into these ideas.

I envision existing communities of educators and parents sitting around together discussing Raffi's ideas, Barb O'Neil's stories, and how Jan White's thoughts on connecting children with nature jibe with Hopi Martin's notion that Mother Earth is the first teacher. 

I see parents and educators sitting in circles discussing what Maggie Dent or Laura Markham alongside the insights of Caitlyn McCain, Roberta Pucci or Suzanne Axelsson, each piecing their learning together like one might a puzzle.

I see school communities asking themselves if Akilah Richards' and our panel of homeschoolers are really telling us to shutter our schools or is their message about unschooling and raising free people one that can be a fulcrum upon which we transform our schools to better suit young children? 

I imagine us wondering together about the stories of Denisha Jones or Nona Orbach or Laleña Garcia or John Yiannoudis or Tania Hino.

I hope that this summit sparks a million thoughtful conversations, both online and in our homes and schools. It's the thinking that matters. That is where the learning is.

I'm inviting you to join us. Bring your community. Engage with the loose parts we've come together to offer you. It's an intellectually creative affair. I know you will learn, but what exactly that will be is up to you and your community.

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What if the whole world understood the power of trusting children with the freedom to play, to explore their world, to ask and answer their own questions? What if everyone respected their right to learn in their own way, on their own time? What if we remembered that children must have their childhoods and that means playing, and lots of it? Registration is now open for Teacher Tom's Play Summit , a free, online conference that takes place June 20-25. Click here to get your free pass to all 24 of our incredible sessions with early childhood and parenting experts and thought leaders from around the world. Every one of these people are professionals who have placed children first. Please share this far and wide. You will walk away from this event transformed, informed, challenged, and inspired to create a world that respects children and sets them free to learn and grow. Together we can, as presenter Raffi sings, "Turn this world around!"

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