Dr. Denisha Jones is the Executive Director of Defending the Early Years, an education justice advocacy and activist organization.“Something has gone wrong that we've made kids ‘uncurious’ — from kindergarten to twelfth grade. And that's what the entire schooling is.” — Dr. Denisha JonesDr. Denisha Jones is the Executive Director of Defending the Early Years. She is a former kindergarten teacher and preschool director who has spent the past 20 years in teacher education. Denisha is an education justice advocate and activist working with various grassroots organizations to dismantle the neoliberal assault on public education. She is a part-time faculty member in the Art of Teaching program at Sarah Lawrence College and the School of Education at Howard University. Since 2017, she has served on the steering committee for the national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Her first co-edited book, Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice, was published in December 2020 by Haymarket Books.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, where he has posted daily for over a decade, chronicling the life and times of his little preschool in the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest corner of the USA.For nearly two decades, Teacher Tom was the sole employee of the Woodland Park Cooperative School, a parent-owned and operated school knit together by Teacher Tom's democratic, progressive play-based pedagogy. Teacher Tom came into teaching through the backdoor, so to speak, having enrolled his own child in a cooperative preschool, where he began working daily in his daughter's classroom as an assistant teacher under the tutelage of veteran educators — although he'll be the first to tell you that most of what he learned came from the children themselves. When it was time for his daughter to move on, he “stayed behind.”Today, Teacher Tom shares his play-based pedagogy through online e-courses for early childhood educators; produces online early childhood conferences; consults with organizations about his "Family Schools" program; and inspires early-years audiences around the world (Greece, UK, Iceland, Australia, China, Vietnam, New Zealand, Canada, and across the US) both virtually and in-person with his engaging views on early childhood education, play, and pedagogy.He was pressured by his blog readers into authoring his first book, aptly named Teacher Tom’s First Book, and is thrilled about the 2023 release of Teacher Tom’s Second Book.Resources, people, and websites mentioned in this episode:MiraseeTom’s website: TeacherTomsWorld.comDenisha’s website: DEY.orgFor show notes, visit Presenting Teacher Tom’s Podcast (Dr. Denisha Jones)Credits:Host: Tom HobsonProducer: Michi LantzSupervising Producer: Cynthia LambAudio Editor: Marvin del RosarioExecutive Producer: Danny InyMusic Soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyMaking our hosts sound great: Home Brew AudioMusic credits:Track Title: Blueberry Jam JamArtist: Simen AndreasWriter: Simen KnudsenPublisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Childlike WonderArtist: ReveilleWriter: Brendan St. GelaisPublisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Tick TockArtist: Ivy BakesWriter: Erick PenaPublisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSpecial effects credits:24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market.To catch the great episodes coming up on Teacher Tom’s Podcast, please follow us on Mirasee FM's YouTube channelor your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.Episode transcript: How Did We Get Uncurious Kids? (Dr. Denisha Jones) coming soon.~~~~~
