Weiner
2012
A call for teachers to organize and convince unions to fight for social justice.
How do you define creativity?
Would you be able to spot creativity in the wild?
What about creativity in the classroom?
This endless human quest to define the seemingly undefinable, and somehow make it useful for educators, is what today’s guests Tom Rendon and Zachary Stier set out to do, bringing together philosophy, neuroscience, and site visits, in a years-long collaboration that became Creativity in Young Children: What Science Tells Us and Our Hearts Know.
In this conversation, Tom and Zach help me understand the counterintuitive ways creativity shows up in the world, in the human condition, and how we can cultivate creativity and connection in the classroom.
Transcripts are available via the Zencastr link above (top left corner).
Thomas Rendon has worked in the early childhood education field for more than 25 years as a trainer and policy maker. He served as the Head Start State Collaboration Office Coordinator with the Iowa Department of Education for 18 years. Tom has a BS in Speech from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Iowa and is working on a PhD from Kent State University.
Zachary Stier is the director of children’s services at Ericson Public Library in Boone, Iowa. He develops and facilitates workshops for librarians, early childhood providers, and families through his company, Mr. Z and 2 Company, LLC. He is an adjunct lecturer for the University of Illinois Champaign iSchool graduate program, teaching early literacy. He holds a Masters of Library and Information Science from Drexel University, a Masters of Early Childhood Education from Concordia Portland, postgraduate studies in Early Childhood from Erikson Institute, and a Doctorate in Education from Concordia Chicago.
