Teacher Tom

Transforming Our Classrooms into Natural Learning Habitats

Play-Based Learning Cannot Be Measured . . . And That's a Good Thing

Exploring the World is How We Explore Our Minds

This is Why Our Schools are So Threatened By Children at Play

A Strong, Natural, Healthy Need for Autonomy

First We Must Admit We've Been Fooled

Chaos Or Community?

Serenity Prayer

Especially the Truth and Beauty

And I Don't Owe Anyone an Explanation

"Strewing Our World With Rich Materials . . . Weaving Them Into Our Thoughts"

What We Found in Those Boxes

The Essence of Being a Play-Based Teacher is Not Teaching

Why I Like Classic Jigsaw Puzzles

Modern Schools Would Have Failed Einstein

No One Escapes Unscarred

"Comparison is the Thief of Joy"

The "Magic Circle": Play as the Source of Culture

May Your Wishes Be Granted

"I Know! We Can Both Be Anna!"

A Gift That Made Me Feel Loved and Treasured

When We Stop Worrying About What Goes into the Boxes

Auld Lang Syne

Teacher Tom's Last Minute Gift Ideas for Young Children

When Even the Sun Stands Still

"Thank You For Telling Me That"

Play is a Pure Good: Learning is a Happy Accident

"Comparison is an Act of Violence"

Wasting Time

Our Discussion About "Bad Guys"

Topping One Another Up

The Myth of "Childishness"

Toward a Deep Sense of Self

The Boy Who Found School Disappointing

Leaving Me With My Bucket Full

Gossiping

Creating a Learning Environment for Creative Thinking and New Ideas

Classroom Management that Accommodates Our Natural Need to Move

There is Never a Reason to Arrest a Child

Play-Based Classroom Management is Based on Love, Not Power

Play is a Lily We are Too Ready to Gild

This, Of All Days, Is One to Be Human

What Does "Classroom Management" Mean in a Play-Based Setting?

But Are They Well-Behaved?

Adults Learning from Children

What Happens When We Stop Bossing Kids Around

Learning Self-Control

"Be Careful What You Teach"

Reality Isn't Always as it Seems, Especially When it Comes to Classroom Management

What is Play?

The Vital Power of "Followership"

Risk, Cooperation, and the Culture of Childhood (When We Get Out of Their Way)

Playing With Evil

Today is Veteran's Day

To Get Close to Things

Seeing the Cage that is Created by Norms and Standards

The Way Democracy is Supposed to Work

What Do You Do That is as Effortless and Unprompted as a Preschooler Playing?

How Young Children Learn Self-Discipline

The Girl Who Couldn't Sit at Circle Time

"I Often Lose My Patience and Even Scream at My Children"

Surely, You Want Your Kid to Be a Part of This!

If There is Any Single Thing I Want Parents to Know, It's This

"The Perfect Uselessness of Knowing the Answer to the Wrong Question"

Technology is Destroying Our Minds

The Secret to Freedom is Courage

The Hope That Others Will Find Me Worthy of Imitation

Now It's Our Children's Turn to Come to Know the World

"There is No Reality Except Action"

Playing Math

"Don't Worry, Dearie, We'll Eat You First"

"Eat This Food, Then You Can Have Some Ice Cream"

"A Strong, Demanding Love"

"Reasoning is a Social Activity"

Speaking Sentences That Began With , "Let's Pretend . . ." and Ended With, "Okay?"

Not Instruction, But Connection

"I Wonder if That's True"

There are Times When It's Okay to Say, "You Can't Play"

Telling Our Stories

Where Questions are More Important Than Answers

If Adults Could Learn to Trust Children

The Central Project of Every Civilization That Has Ever Existed

The Only Way We Will Get There is With Parents as Our Allies

Where Community Begins

The Real Purpose of Learning is Joy

This is How We Make the Villages Our Children Need

When a Parent Says, "We Need to Talk"

Partnering With Parents One Preschool at a Time

The Power of Partnership With Parents

"What are Your Hopes for Your Child?"

Building Our Future Villages

The Truth Will Make Me Free

I Persist in the Radical Idea that Childhood is for Play

A Just Relationship With Money

The Power to Give Life

Knowing How to Play the Game

One Liberation at a Time

When We are Free to Seek Our Own Answers

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Pickaxe

The Sky is Not Falling

Staying in Relationship With the Mystery

Protecting Teacher Tom

A Crack in Everything

We Need More Junkyard Playgrounds in the World

The Radical Notion That Families Should Have Time Together