Teacher Tom writes in his blog, “The central purpose of every human community that has ever existed is to care for children.” In the same paragraph, he notes, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 20% of American children have been diagnosed with behavior problems, anxiety, depression or some other mental disorder.” In this episode, Teacher Tom and I dive into a discussion about the importance of unstructured play, risky play, and child-led learning.
We discuss:
MEET TEACHER TOM:
Tom “Teacher Tom” Hobson is an early childhood educator, international speaker, education consultant, teacher of teachers, parent educator, and author. He is best known, however, for his namesake blog Teacher Tom's Blog, http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com, where he has posted daily for over a decade.
Today, Teacher Tom travels around the world (Greece, Iceland, Australia, China, Vietnam, New Zealand, Canada, UK, and across the US) sharing his views on early childhood education, play, and pedagogy. He authored his first book, aptly named Teacher Tom’s First Book, and his second book named Teacher Tom's Second Book, http://www.teachertomsfirstbook.com/books.html.
Check out Teacher Tom's signature Play Based Course HERE.
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