TED Talk Videos

There are countless inspirational and educational TED Talk videos about hundreds of topics.  If you have some free time, I highly encourage that you watch the ones related to child development and elementary education.  While there are pages to choose from, I chose three videos that I enjoyed and summarized them below. 

1. Ramsey Musallam on the Three Rules to Spark Learning
Ramsay Musallam was a monotone lecturing teacher.  For his first ten years of teaching, he stood at the front of the classroom and lectured to his high school students, much like most high school teachers do today.  That's when Musallam was diagnosed with an aneurysm on his brain stem.  The confidence that his surgeon had in his own capabilities shed a new light on the platform Musallam should be using to teach. He realized that questions are magnets that draw us towards our teachers.  Students curiosity and questions are the seeds of real learning because questions lead to great instruction.  However, great instruction never leads to questions, because the students are not interested in the topic to begin with.  Because of these new found facts, Musallam decided on his three rules to spark learning.

1.  Curiosity comes first: as mentioned above, questions lead to great instruction.  
2. Embrace the mess: trial and error is the key to learning.
3. Practice Reflection: take the time to discuss what you just learned.  Why were things done in a particular way and what did you learn through the process and outcome?

Ramsay Musallam closed his lecture by pointing out the high curiosity level in young children.  He suggested that all children are curious, but if their teachers do not cultivate that curiosity it eventually goes away.

2. Rita Pierson on how Every Kid Needs a Champion
Rita Pierson was an educator for over forty years.  She has seen educational reform over those years and has seen the lack of discussion on human connection. She sees education as less of "I teach, you learn" because children cannot learn from someone they do not have a relationship with.  To Rita Pierson, relationships are the key to becoming a teacher who makes a difference.  She knows that the best way to build those relationships is through the small things, like apologizing when you are wrong or making an effort not to show favoritism.  You may not like all of your students, but the key is they can never know it.  Pierson discusses the importance of making each and every student feel important.  They need that connection just as much as the other students.  Focus on the positives with your students, even when they are hard to find.  Every child deserves an adult who will never give up on them.  Giving them a purpose makes a world of a difference.  Pierson closed her lecture with a quote that many teachers have lost sight of over the years: "Teaching should bring joy."  This job is a calling and a gift, and we should enjoy building the relationships with our students and changing their lives for the better.

3. Christopher Emdin with Teach Teachers How to Create Magic
Christopher Emdin acknowledges the issue with those who know how to captivate an audience and teach effectively are too far out of the classroom to teach our future educators.  Education students want to teach students but are not able to engage in the learning process.  Those who are able to engage an audience did not learn those strategies in a classroom.  Emdin wants to reframe teacher education so these skills can be learned in the classroom.  When a teacher is so great at engaging his students, it is described as "he just has that magic".  Emdin believes that magic can be taught.  By studying those who can captivate an audience, like a rapper or a preacher, teacher education students can learn those skills.  He hopes that by reframing teacher education, college professors can create that magic in their classrooms as well.