“The Playful Classroom: Teachable Moments on a Playful Walkabout,” with Julie P. Jones, PhD, Associate Professor of Education, Converse College and Jed Dearybury, Director of Creativity at www.mrdearybury.com
“The Playful Classroom: Teachable Moments on a Playful Walkabout,” with Julie P. Jones, PhD, Associate Professor of Education, Converse College and Jed Dearybury, Director of Creativity at www.mrdearybury.comLearning must be meaningful. Learning must be relevant. Learning must be fun. We believe play is the key to making magic happen regardless of the setting, regardless of the student, regardless of the content. Play constantly teaches us life skills, so why not bring that same experience into every area of learning?!
In this session (now given through Zoom rather than in-person), Jed and Julie will take you on a playful walkabout outside to show how you can find unstructured playful LEARNING experiences all around us that can be used in your own classroom. The will also give an overview of their work, “The Playful Classroom: The Power of Play for ALL Ages.”
Jed Dearybury began his education career in 2001. During his 13-year early childhood classroom tenure, Jed received numerous awards. He was featured in GQ Magazine as Male Leader of the Year, met President Obama as the SC winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, and was named as a top 5 finalist for South Carolina Teacher of the Year because of his passion, love, and success in education. Since 2015, he has become an educational leader by providing quality, hands-on, engaging learning experiences for students and teachers across the country. Jed is also a Play Ambassador for the US Play Coalition.
Julie Jones, PhD, is Associate Professor of Education and the Director for Student Teaching in Converse College’s 
School of Education and Graduate Studies. She maintains an active research agenda with interests including instructional technology and pedagogy, always with a mix of creativity and play. She is a Google Certified Educator, providing regular training for K12 educators on technology integration, and she serves as the Executive Editor for the Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina, a South Carolina Association of Teacher Educators (SCATE) publication. Julie is also a Play Ambassador for the US Play Coalition.
“Play Hour” is a series of LIVE Zoom sessions every Monday and Friday in April at 10:30am EDT/7:30am PDT as part of the 2020 ONLINE Conference on the Value of Play. All “Play Hour” LIVE Zoom presentations will be recorded and included in our online conference launch (May 1), so don’t fret if you miss any!
The Conference on the VALUE of Play
The Play Conference, as it is commonly known, is an annual educational conference presented by the US Play Coalition. The latest research and practices in the field of play are presented at the conference, which brings together play researchers, park and recreation professionals, educators, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the U.S. and beyond. The three day event has been moved ONLINE for 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our first-ever online Play Conference!