This week I spent some time listening to some Ted Talks and have found they are a really great way to get some great professional development that you may never get otherwise without leaving your home. I can also see how using Ted Talks in the classroom might be effective and am interested in learning more about how to incorporate them. Some Ted Talks that are definitely worth sharing with students include: What Adults Can Learn from Kids, Arthur Benjamin does “Mathemagic,” Four American Characters, and Chris Abani Muses on Humanity and Are Games Better Than Real Life?.

One thing that really struck me with Adora Svitak’s presentation about what Adults Can Learn From Kids is that kids still dream of perfection and do not know there are limitations to things you can do. If adults thought a little more like this, we might take a few more chances and do some even more amazing and unbelievable things. As teachers, I think it’s very important that we support children in their dreams for perfection and the unbelievable, so that they do not live in fear of failure and can achieve great things.

Arthur Benjamin’s “Mathemagic” was so entertaining to watch! I’m so glad that he is a humble magician and shares his secret. This would be a really fun video to incorporate into a math lesson on squares. Knowing the trick to find the square of any number will be beneficial for students as they go on in math and are adding on a lot of steps to squares. I wish I had known this trick when I was taking math classes!

Anna Deavere Smith’s performance of her Four American Characters was stunning. Each of the characters she performs represent actual people she interviewed and are tied to a specific point in American History. I could see this video used in a History, English, or Theatre classroom for various aspects of the video.

Chris Abani’s Muses on Humanity was very inspiring.The Nigerian word “abuntu,” in short, means: “the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.” Abani speaks about how “the simple act of kindness from a complete stranger will unstitch you.” I think that humanity and random acts of kindness are things that teachers should absolutely emphasize in the classroom, in order to help our students recognize the need to help others, even if we do not know them, because we, too, might also be in their position some day.

As David Perry mentions in his video, I think as video games get more and more realistic, it is important that teachers are aware of video game addiction with our students and how that sometimes alters the line between fantasy and reality for them. Although they generally start as an outlet, I think we need to work with these students to find outlets other than just video games to keep them within reality. I’m not saying ban video games at all, I just think it is definitely something that needs to be monitored so that students’ brains aren’t turning to mush and they continue to live in reality.