Utilizing TED Talks — The RIGHT Way

Figuring out how to teach students while keeping them engaged and interested can be difficult. Many teachers are riding the line of lecturing too much or not enough. No teacher wants to bore their students, but there are times where there seems like no other option but to lecture. However, after I read the articles and watched the videos on using TED talks effectively it really opened my eyes. There are many positive and different ways to take advantage of TED talks and teachers should learn how to do that. TED talks are an effective way to encourage and promote discussion on difficult or controversial topics. They help students generate new thoughts and ideas and the more they discuss the more they come up with.

Another important teaching technique to keep in mind and utilize is encourage your students to play. Contrary to popular belief, children learn a lot from “playing”. It is not necessarily mean going outside and playing on the playground, but it means give the students the freedom to explore new ideas. If we are strict and constantly limiting what students can or cannot do, we take away their creative and imaginative thinking. When they play with new ideas, opinions, or viewpoints they can end up getting more out of the discussion.

Hacking is another technique to encourage your students to do. Some teachers can feel threatened when a student may provide help or ideas that make their lesson or teaching better. Hacking is essentially just that, making something better than before. We have all heard that teachers learn just as much as their students or more, and I believe that fully. If students can contribute to a lesson or lecture and make it better, then we should be all about that. Showing and discussing TED talks is a great way to enhance and “hack” a specific topic.

I really enjoyed learning more about utilizing TED talks to their fullest potential and in a way that is most beneficial for students and teachers. It is great that they have tutorials for showing teachers how to do certain things. When I was in high school, one of my favorite things was discussing different topics in a class-wide setting and hearing other viewpoints and opinions. It is also a good way for students to learn how to respectfully and calmly discuss with others that have different beliefs than their own.