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22 Education TED Talks to Make You Think

These education-focused TED talks aim to answer the question: “As a country, how can we better inspire our students — and support our educators?”

Sal Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script — give students video lectures to watch at home, and do “homework” in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

Liz Coleman: A call to reinvent liberal arts education

Bennington president Liz Coleman delivers a call-to-arms for radical reform in higher education. Bucking the trend to push students toward increasingly narrow areas of study, she proposes a truly cross-disciplinary education — one that dynamically combines all areas of study to address the great problems of our day.

Geoffrey Canada: Our failing schools. Enough is enough!

Why, why, why does our education system look so similar to the way it did 50 years ago? Millions of students were failing then, as they are now — and it’s because we’re clinging to a business model that clearly doesn’t work. Education advocate Geoffrey Canada dares the system to look at the data, think about the customers and make systematic shifts in order to help greater numbers of kids excel.

Michelle Obama: A passionate, personal case for education

Speaking to an audience of students, US First Lady Michelle Obama reminds each one to take their education seriously — and never take it for granted. This new, brilliant generation, she tells us, is the one that could close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be.

Nadia Lopez: Why open a school? To close a prison

Our kids are our future, and it’s crucial they believe it themselves. That’s why Nadia Lopez opened an academic oasis in Brownsville, Brooklyn, one of the most underserved and violent neighborhoods in New York — because she believes in every child’s brilliance and capabilities. In this short, energizing talk, the founding principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy (and a star of Humans of New York) shares how she helps her scholars envision a brighter future for themselves and their families.

Linda Cliatt-Wayman: How to fix a broken school? Lead fearlessly, love hard

On Linda Cliatt-Wayman’s first day as principal at a failing high school in North Philadelphia, she was determined to lay down the law. But she soon realized the job was more complex than she thought. With palpable passion, she shares the three principles that helped her turn around three schools labeled “low-performing and persistently dangerous.” Her fearless determination to lead — and to love the students, no matter what — is a model for leaders in all fields.

Sugata Mitra: Kids can teach themselves

Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own — and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves?

Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education

Education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education — the best teachers and schools don’t exist where they’re needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

Bill Gates: Mosquitos, malaria and education

Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny 18 minutes, he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them. (And see the Q&A on the TED Blog.)

Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms

In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers.

Charles Leadbeater: Education innovation in the slums

Charles Leadbeater went looking for radical new forms of education — and found them in the slums of Rio and Kibera, where some of the world’s poorest kids are finding transformative new ways to learn. And this informal, disruptive new kind of school, he says, is what all schools need to become.

Andreas Schleicher: Use data to build better schools

How can we measure what makes a school system work? Andreas Schleicher walks us through the PISA test, a global measurement that ranks countries against one another — then uses that same data to help schools improve. Watch to find out where your country stacks up, and learn the single factor that makes some systems outperform others.

Takaharu Tezuka: The best kindergarten you’ve ever seen

At this school in Tokyo, five-year-olds cause traffic jams and windows are for Santa to climb into. Meet: the world’s cutest kindergarten, designed by architect Takaharu Tezuka. In this charming talk, he walks us through a design process that really lets kids be kids.

Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change

Designer Emily Pilloton moved to rural Bertie County, in North Carolina, to engage in a bold experiment of design-led community transformation. She’s teaching a design-build class called Studio H that engages high schoolers’ minds and bodies while bringing smart design and new opportunities to the poorest county in the state.

John Hunter: Teaching with the World Peace Game

John Hunter puts all the problems of the world on a 4’x5′ plywood board — and lets his 4th-graders solve them. At TED2011, he explains how his World Peace Game engages schoolkids, and why the complex lessons it teaches — spontaneous, and always surprising — go further than classroom lectures can.

John Hardy: My green school dream

Join John Hardy on a tour of the Green School, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). The centerpiece of campus is the spiraling Heart of School, perhaps the world’s largest freestanding bamboo building.

Freeman Hrabowski: 4 pillars of college success in science

At age 12, Freeman Hrabowski marched with Martin Luther King. Now he’s president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where he works to create an environment that helps under-represented students — specifically African-American, Latino and low-income learners — get degrees in math and science. He shares the four pillars of UMBC’s approach.

Timothy Bartik: The economic case for preschool

In this well-argued talk, Timothy Bartik makes the macro-economic case for preschool education — and explains why you should be happy to invest in it, even if you don’t have kids that age (or kids at all). The economic benefits of well-educated kids, it turns out, go well beyond the altruistic.

Shimon Schocken: The self-organizing computer course

Shimon Schocken and Noam Nisan developed a curriculum for their students to build a computer, piece by piece. When they put the course online — giving away the tools, simulators, chip specifications and other building blocks — they were surprised that thousands jumped at the opportunity to learn, working independently as well as organizing their own classes in the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). A call to forget about grades and tap into the self-motivation to learn.

Kang Lee: Can you really tell if a kid is lying?

Are children poor liars? Do you think you can easily detect their lies? Developmental researcher Kang Lee studies what happens physiologically to children when they lie. They do it a lot, starting as young as two years old, and they’re actually really good at it. Lee explains why we should celebrate when kids start to lie and presents new lie-detection technology that could someday reveal our hidden emotions.

Richard Baraniuk: The birth of the open-source learning revolution

In 2006, open-learning visionary Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions (now called OpenStax), an open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world.

Blaise Agüera y Arcas: How computers are learning to be creative

We’re on the edge of a new frontier in art and creativity — and it’s not human. Blaise Agüera y Arcas, principal scientist at Google, works with deep neural networks for machine perception and distributed learning. In this captivating demo, he shows how neural nets trained to recognize images can be run in reverse, to generate them.

Check out more educational TED Talks .

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10 TED Talks on Education

Are you ready to discover your college program?

So we all know that education in America has its fair share of problems (understatement alert). Some of these problems are sociocultural, others are economic. Some problems are practical and others still are philosophical.

In the face of these numerous and mounting challenges, elected officials and lawmakers have been short on meaningful solutions. It makes you wonder if perhaps the biggest problem with our educational system is that solutions don’t always come from the smartest of folks. Feel fee to jump to the defense of your district congressman or state senator at any time…Bueller? Bueller?

Ok. Moving on.

If you’re looking for solutions to education’s myriad problems from the smartest folks, most of them have delivered a TED Talk at some point. Technology, Entertainment, Design, or TED, is a set of global conferences operating under the tagline “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

In that spirit, here are a few education ideas from among TED’s nearly endless panel of featured speakers that we feel are worth spreading. Enjoy our first installment of 10 Awesome TED Talks on Education.

10 Awesome TED Talks on Education

1. do schools kill creativity by sir ken robinson.

Sir Ken Robinson gave this speech in February of 2006 and it has since been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube and a remarkable 39 million times on the TED Talks website. That is more than enough time to arrive at the conclusion that the answer is probably “yes” to the titular question “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”

Robinson makes the argument that we need to rethink the fundamental premise by which we educate our children. Robinson is dry and hilarious in this insightful takedown of formal education as it exists to day. He argues that all children are born inherently creative and that school systematically squanders that creativity, and “pretty ruthlessly” at that. Robinson makes the powerful assessment that creativity should be viewed as equal in importance to literacy. Robinson also resolves that if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. Nonetheless, schools train students to be frightened of being wrong, and of making mistakes. Robinson laments that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people are educated to believe their talents are not valued, and perhaps even that these talents are obstacles to success.

Robinson insists that we can’t afford to continue on this way, that we need to radically rethink our view of intelligence as something diverse, dynamic, and distinct.

2. How To Fix a Broken School? Lead Fearlessly, Love Hard by Linda Ciatt-Wayman

With 1.3 million views on the TED Talks website, and 87,000 views on YouTube, Cliatt-Wayman’s May 2015 Talk casts a blinding light on the reality facing students and educators alike in “low-performing” inner-city schools. As a graduate and principal of North Philadelphia schools, Cliatt-Wayman gives a stirring and personal speech, one that moved many in the audience to tears. Cliatt-Wayman charged that what we call low-performing schools are often not schools at all, that the chains on the doors, the darkened hallways and the half-empty classrooms do not imply places of learning.

Cliatt-Wayman shares her strategies as a principal for transforming dark, dangerous, and frightening North Philadelphia schools from havens for drugs, weapons and violence to havens for disincline, enrichment, and love. Her experiential wisdom makes for a poignant Talk, anchored by a few of the slogans that have produced meaningful change at her Strawberry Mansion High School (where it bears noting she was the fourth principle in four years).

Cliatt-Wayman advises that “If you’re going to lead, LEAD,” an attitude that contributed to changes large and small at her troubled school, from replacing lightbulbs and decorating bulletin boards to recasting the way the school day is scheduled and transforming the budget. She also told educators that eliminating excuses at every turn is the primary responsibility for leaders at struggling schools. Finally and fundamentally, she said that it is the job of educators to offer their students hope, undivided attention, unwavering belief in their potential, consistent expectations, and unconditional love.

3. Teaching the World Peace Game by John Hunter

Filmed in March of 2011, and viewed just under 1.3 million times on TED Talks, 228,000 times on YouTube, “Teaching the World Peace Game” provides an energizing demonstration of how we can use classroom time to cultivate students who will one day be leaders, innovators and decision-makers.

Public School teacher John Hunter is warm, funny and personable as he explains his extraordinary approach to stimulating interactive learning among gifted students. Hunter demos the multi-tiered, map-based gameboard—basically Risk on anabolic steroids—that he has used to engage students since the late 1970s. The goal of the game is to do nothing less than solve the world’s problems. Students are handed a planet and a list of encompassing crises—not unlike the world that they will eventually inherit from prior generations.

The class collaborates, debates and compromises on developing solutions for issues as far-reaching as ethnic tension, nuclear proliferation, environmental disasters, water rights disputes and basically the entire grab-bag of seemingly insoluble problems that they will one day be asked to solve. Indeed, John told the audience that he’d happily send his fourth graders to consult Al Gore because they succeeded in solving the problem of global warming in a single week.

Hunter demonstrates both how educators can excite the imagination of their students and how they can nurture the young minds that will eventually be required to shape our world for the better. What most fascinates about Hunter’s experience is the fact that his students ultimately manifested strategies in ways that no educator could possibly predict, suggesting that the best educational results come when students are allowed to arrive at their own answers and solutions.

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4. Our Failing Schools. Enough is Enough by Geoffrey Canada

In May of 2013, Geoffrey Canada delivered an impassioned talk that has been viewed 188,000+ times on YouTube and more than 1.5 million times on the TED Talks website. Canada levies an accusation that’s pretty hard to dispute, claiming that in spite of our long track record of educational failure, we’ve basically done nothing to improve our outcomes. From both a scientific perspective and a business perspective, Canada says that our approach to education simply doesn’t make sense.

We’re losing kids, we know we’re losing kids, and yet we simply don’t allow real educational innovation to occur. He asks the audience to imagine a world in which we took the same stagnating approach to technology as we did to education. Whereas we respond to failure in this sector by probing for yet greater achievement, the education business has failed to use science to improve its approach to children.

To much approval from the audience, Canada attests that what sets him apart from many education policy-makers is that he “actually likes kids.” In this spirit, he remarks just how strange it is that we spend billions of dollars on standardized testing, that we gather enormous troves of incredible data, and that we fail to use them to actually help students in either a timely or effective manner.

Canada urges that its time to try something different. He insists that we must keep innovating in education until we nail the science down. We cannot wait another 50 years to get this right. He warns that here is an educational cliff and that we are walking over it right this very second.

5. The Nerd’s Guide To Learning Everything Online by John Green

John Green’s Talk, from November of 2012, has been viewed roughly 2.8 million times on the Ted Talks website and does not appear to have been published on YouTube.

Green takes a little bit of time to get to the point. Fortunately, he does so in a decidedly engrossing fashion. Green analogizes the lifelong quest for knowledge to cartography. Learning, he explains, makes the map of your life bigger. When you begin learning, you may not know every location on the map but you do have an instrument that tells you where you’d like to go. As Green phrases it, you’ve seen the coastline but now you want to explore the land.

When we’re young—and to the extent that we manage to develop a love for learning in school—we get to be part of a physical community of learning. Green advises that as we age out of school, we often lose that level of engagement. He shows how online forums like YouTube are restoring our opportunity to be part of a fluid, active and dynamic learning community.

Green demonstrates the variety and intuition with which YouTube can teach and invite learning, all in real-time. Green notes that videos which aim to teach are not necessarily being viewed in classrooms but independently by individuals electing to be part of a learning community. The centerpiece of his Talk is the resolution that these virtual spaces have become, for a new generation of learners, the kind of communities we used to have as students, communities that allow us to continue following our own learning maps into adulthood.

6. The Key To Success? Grit by Angela Lee Duckworth

Filmed in April of 2013, viewed by roughly 1.6 million on YouTube, and by 8.5 million viewers on the TED Talks website, Angela Lee Duckworth’s Talk brings some level of scientific rigor to a character trait that has rarely been measured thusly.

Often millennials are disparaged for being soft and entitled. If this criticism has any basis in reality, Duckworth’s concise Talk is something today’s students and parents need to watch. Duckworth argues that we need to achieve a better understanding of students and learning from a motivational and psychological perspective. She contends that schools are only really effective at measuring I.Q. and asks if success in school and life require more than just being able to learn quickly.

More than social charisma, attractiveness, and intelligence, Duckworth’s experience and research led her to conclude that grit—day-in day-out hard work and determination—is the trait that most determines success. Measuring traits of grittiness among her own students, Duckworth learned that grittier kids—marathon runners rather sprinters—generally succeeded best, independent of talent and intelligence. In spite of just how determinant an impact grit has, Duckworth concedes that science knows precious little on the subject.

Accordingly, Duckworth promotes “growth mindset,” the belief that the ability to learn can change with one’s effort. In Duckworth’s findings, the fascinating trait that most differentiates gritty people from their softer counterparts is that they don’t view failure as a permanent condition. Duckworth admits that her remarks are brief because we simply don’t know much about grit. Her speech ultimately suggests itself as a starting point for improving our understanding of what might be a key determinant of success. Among TED Talks, Duckworth’s is brief but instructive.

7. Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education by Salman Khan

Salman Khan’s Talk from March of 2011 doesn’t necessarily break any new ground. Instead it reaffirms that, at least in one regard, we are moving in the right direction. Even if schools aren’t taking the active steps to revolutionize education, at least technologists and web users are. Viewed roughly 900,000 times on YouTube and 4 million times on the TED Talks website, Khan’s Talk deals largely with the positive impact that web-based video-education can have on learners. Indeed, Khan scored his best laugh when he informed his audience that as a former analyst for a hedge fund, he wasn’t accustomed to doing something of social value.

But that’s exactly what happened when he started tutoring his cousin remotely. As part of the process, Khan began producing explanatory YouTube videos to accompany individual lessons and quickly found that his cousin preferred the videos to live instruction. Getting past the “backhanded” nature of that compliment, Khan discusses the ways that video learning can help to improve the individuality, accessibility, and comprehensibility of instruction. Rather than using video to supplement the classroom experience, Khan made a case for allowing video instruction to transform the way we approach classroom time.

Khan’s approach transposes the classroom and homework experiences. As teachers assigned his videos for self-guided after-school instruction, they found that classroom time was freed up for problem-solving, game-playing and innovation-building. Teachers also used this time to provide individual attention and in-class guidance to students while they completed assignments. Ironically, remarks Khan, the impact of replacing human instruction with video instruction was a humanization of the otherwise dehumanizing process of sitting in a classroom listening to a monolithic lecture. Khan’s presentation ultimately demonstrates that video instruction, properly dispatched, can be used to individualize learning outside of the classroom while transforming the in-class experience into something far more personal and stimulating.

8. Teachers need real feedback by Bill Gates

If you’ve ever seen Bill Gates speak, then you know this one isn’t breathtakingly exciting. It does, however, inform on a major shortcoming in our educational system, and one that may help to explain why so many other countries outperform the U.S. in math, science and reading. Filmed in March of 2013, Gates’ Talk has been viewed roughly 293,000 times on YouTube and just under 2 million times on the TED Talks website.

Gates laments that teachers receive woefully inadequate feedback on how to improve their practice. The Microsoft magnate argues that the system in place is unfair to teachers and is consequently unfair to students.

Gates diverges with a brief video featuring a teacher who uses a camera to record her classroom lessons. Not unlike a quarterback, the teacher explains that she revisits her tapes following each lesson in order to dissect her own performance. Gates suggests that this method could be a pathway to providing teachers with real-time diagnoses on their performance and could ultimately help schools develop the tools they need to act on these diagnoses. Again, this won’t be the most entertaining TED Talk you’ll ever watch (and the visual aids just scream Windows ’98), but Gates is right. Teachers need feedback that’s actually designed to help. The real value of this Talk is that a person of visible influence is making that case.

9. Mathematics and Sex by Clio Cresswell

If you’ve just finished with the Gates Talk and you’re looking for something a little more…stimulating…this one is your next logical stop. More than 3.6 million YouTube viewers have indulged their curiosity in mathematics since Cresswell delivered her April 2014 Talk.

Full disclosure, this isn’t as much about sex as how sexy math can be, whether it’s used to detect inconsistencies in how people report their sexual activeness or in designing the perfect piece of chocolate. Cresswell draws playful connections between sexuality and mathematics, two natural conditions which transcend human culture, in order to demonstrate the fact that mathematics can provide new insight and understanding into all things around us.

The value of Cresswell’s presentation is in its appeal to those who are not of an inherently mathematical disposition. She reveals just how fascinating and all-encompassing mathematics are, and just how scintillating they can be.

10. Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling by Emilie Wapnick

This talk centers around the oft-posed question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Wapnick’s Talk has been viewed 261,000+ views on YouTube and 2.7 Million on the TED Talks website since being delivered in April of 2015.

The troubling implication of Wapnick’s leading question is that we are raised to believe that we have no recourse but to choose a single path of personal and professional development. This question, which is innocent and entertaining when we’re young but which imposes stress and insecurity as we grow older, implies that we each have one great thing that we are meant to do while we’re here on this earth and that we have to figure out what that thing is and devote our lives to it.

But what of those who have many interests, whose passions and intelligences can’t be bottled as a single elixir? Wapnick calls these individuals “multipotentialites.” For those who have been instructed that they must pursue a single true calling, Wapnick says its easy to see multipotentiality as a flaw to be overcome but she argues that multipotentialites have superpowers, among them idea synthesis, rapid learning, adaptability.

We need creative thinkers to tackle the world’s problems, Wapnick argues. Accordingly, says Wapnick, we should all be pursuing careers based on how we’re wired. She advises “embrace your inner-wiring, whatever that may be. If you’re a specialist at heart, by all means specialize…To the multipotentialites…embrace your many passions, follow your curiosity down those rabbit holes, explore your intersections.”

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Six Great TED Talks on the Importance of Education

• Posted by Strive Academics
• Categories Education
• Date October 28, 2019

It is easy to find reasons to get an education. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that people who obtain only a high school diploma earn, on average, about $679 per week if employed full time. An associate’s degree increases that average to $782 per week, a bachelor’s degree to $1,155, and an advanced degree to about $1,435. Of course averages don’t tell the whole story, but the trend is obvious: most of us make more money if we get more education.

There are other compelling reasons to stay in school, too. Many people want to join professions where degrees are required and perform work that appeals to one’s mental capabilities and talents. We tend to take for granted the notion that the opportunity to advance through higher education is open to anyone who studies hard enough — and has the money to pay the tuition.

In some parts of the world, however, that isn’t the case. For girls particularly, education is not only seen as optional but can even be illegal. Families are frequently threatened with death or exile, and girls themselves have been targeted for attempting to educate themselves. Even here in America there are cultural limits placed on some young people’s futures.

Whether through choice, support, or lack thereof, every student has decisions to make regarding his education and his work life. The importance of education is equal to the influence that work will yield over quality of life in terms of finances, time, satisfaction, status, and freedom. Whether the goal is professional or nonprofessional, education of some kind is simply necessary.

The six TED Talks collected here help make that point on six different levels. Some are from familiar figures; others are people whose stories are new but memorable. Students may find them helpful to put things in perspective.

A Passionate, Personal Case for Education

Former First Lady Michelle Obama is at her eloquent best in telling her story of rising from a working-class background to becoming a lawyer and eventually the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Acknowledging her supportive parents and solid family values, she tells a group of British students how she always liked making As and encourages them as future leaders. If this doesn’t make you want to go to college, what will? Finally, it’s cool to be smart!

Dare to Educate Afghan Girls

In this Ted Talk, Shabana Basij-Rasikh describes life under the Taliban and how going to school was literally dangerous for girls in Afghanistan. If you’ve been thinking about cutting class because it’s boring, then imagine risking your life to create a class because someone decided you weren’t worth educating. This young woman and her family risked their lives because her father believed “there was a greater risk in not educating his children.”

Open a School, Close a Prison

In this meaningful presentation, Nadia Lopez describes her school that she opened in Brownsville, a gang-infested neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. She believes her students are all scholars because they are lifelong learners despite living in a world of violence and impossibilities. They have gone from wondering if they will see their 18th birthdays to believing they can attend the colleges of their choice. With her help, it’s starting to happen. Watch this Talk and believe in the power of education.

Reasons to Learn a New Language, or X

John McWhorter, a linguist and Columbia professor, persuades passionately that everyone should learn a foreign language. Learning to communicate with new syntax and vocabulary is good for the brain, but it’s also just plain fun. It is also a ticket to participation in a new culture, which will broaden most people’s world view and help us celebrate what’s different and what’s pretty much the same all over. We could probably extrapolate this idea of learning something new to include musical instruments, a sport, a branch of science, or anything else. And it’s never been easier than now.

Why Jobs of the Future Won’t Feel Like Work

David Lee talks about the realities of mechanization and how many jobs will be lost over the next few decades. Fear not, though, because we will always need people to develop creative solutions to problems. Luckily for us, that’s a lot more fun anyway. You may not be managing widget makers, but you just might get to take your Saturday self to work and do a whole lot more. 

Celebrating Dirty Jobs

Part of learning to define the importance of education and work is to question what really is important to you . Should you follow your passion? Have we declared war on work? According to Mike Rowe, we have marginalized manual labor as the work you get stuck with and that most of us shouldn’t even want to do. He argues that “dirty” and “clean” aren’t opposites — just two sides of the same coin. With community college being a viable option for a lot of people, maybe it’s time to rethink what we really want from our work lives.

Whether education seems like a dream or a chore, a right or a risk, it is definitely worth deep consideration. The consequences of abdicating a choice are too great. Education will, in large part, define one’s financial life, free time, and overall personal satisfaction. Watch these Ted Talks. Think about what school and skills really matter most. Then dream your biggest dreams — and get to class!

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5 Inspiring TED Talks All Education Leaders Should Watch

When was the last time you had an "Aha!" moment? Engineering them in our lives requires inspiration. As the product of a global community with the sole mission of spreading ideas, TED Talks are the perfect avenue to hear inspirational stories from great leaders.

We curated a list of TED Talks delivered by leaders in education and beyond to serve you as you recommit to your passion and ready yourself for the new school year. You'll find stories that inspire, tips that enhance your leadership, and reminders about the importance of your work. Watch them yourself or share them with your team so you can reflect together. To see our complete list of recommended resources, read How Education Leaders Can Restore, Retool, Recommit Now—And All School Year Long.

1. How to Fix a Broken School? Lead Fearlessly, Love Hard

Turning around struggling schools is not easy, but with the right passion and skills, it can be done, says veteran educator Linda Cliatt-Wayman . Reflecting on how she and her team transformed a high school in North Philadelphia, Cliatt-Wayman shares the three fundamental principles that guided them. 

Worth quoting: “As we lead, we must never forget that every single one of our students is just a child, often scared by what the world tells them they should be. And no matter what the rest of the world tells them they should be, we should always provide them with hope, our undivided attention, unwavering belief in their potential, and consistent expectations.”

Read stories of other principals who led their schools through adversity:

• Ground Zero: What I Learned About Leadership in My First Week as Principal  

2. The Danger of a Single Story 

Life, as we know it, is made up of overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie cautions that we risk misunderstanding others if we only focus on a single story about a person or their culture. Adichie shares how she found her authentic voice and why stereotypical stories are incomplete. 

Worth quoting: “The consequence of a single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.”

The bottom line? Representation in school leadership benefits all students. Read more about why this is so:

• Closing the Representation Gap: A Series of Papers  
• Why Representation Matters in Our Schools

3. How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Influential leaders inspire others by starting with "why" rather than "what" or "how." British-American author and thought leader Simon Sinek’s lecture is the third most watched TED Talk of all time with 34 million viewers . While it speaks directly to business executives, Sinek’s talk has implications across industries for how leaders can communicate, lead, and inspire others to act.

Worth quoting: “There are leaders, and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us. Whether they’re individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to.”

Continue to hone your personal leadership skills with these articles:

• Fuel Your Professional Growth This Summer: 4 Leadership Practices to Cultivate
• Leadership is Learned: Four Ways to Unleash the Leader Within  

4. How Schools Can Nurture Every Student's Genius

Education visionary Trish Millines Dziko questions if our public education system is designed to cultivate future leaders. Millines Dziko co-founded the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) with the central goal of eliminating racial disparities in education. In her TED talk, she discusses an approach to promoting equitable learning and helping students develop critical thinking and leadership skills. 

Worth quoting : “Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom. Let’s give our children freedom.” 

Need strategies to strengthen your equity focus? These articles will help:

• Equity-Focused Leadership: 4 Tips to Keep Moving Forward
• Strengthening Your Equity-Focused Leadership: 6 Questions for Self-Reflection

5. Building Student Identity and Agency

As educators, we have the power to shape the identities of our students. We can either build students up or tear them down. Practicing school leader and author Dominique Smith suggests we examine how some practices may be labeling students and what we can do to help kids build positive identities instead.

Worth quoting: “We have the power to change how individuals feel about themselves. We have the power to make students go home and say, ‘I am proud of who I am. I’m excited about who I am. I make a difference in this world.’ Sometimes we don’t take that power.”

For more tips on building a positive school culture, peruse these articles:

• Social-Emotional Learning: Ways for School Leaders to Support Students  
• Shaping School Culture: Four Leadership Actions to Consider 

Inspiration found

The new school year is a time for fresh starts and new beginnings. It’s also a time to recommit to your passion and remember why you entered the profession in the first place. Get inspired by the personal stories of other leaders so you can start the new school year with courage and as the best version of yourself. Your staff and your students are counting on it.

What inspirational talks are you playing on repeat? Let us know by tweeting them to @NewLeadersOrg.

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50 Inspiring TED Talks For Teachers

These are the best TED Talks for teachers because they make us laugh, warm our hearts, break down barriers, and inspire us to dig deeper.

50 Of The Most Inspiring TED Talks For Teachers

contributed by Sara Briggs, opencolleges.edu.au

The communication explosion reaches its peak when you explore the endless avenues running through TED Talks. Moreover, the title educator embodies many forms within these talks.

So it’s precisely for this reason that any educator benefits from so many of these talks. Each speaker reveals his or her passion of a view or a subject with the enthusiasm of a first-year teacher.

Using TED Talks to convey an important message or spark creativity might be more effective in teaching students than an individual agenda or preconceived notion of what should be said. Furthermore, TED Talks challenges educators everywhere to think differently and encourage the same in their students.

These are the best TED Talks for any educator because they make us laugh, warm our hearts, break down barriers, and always inspire us to dig a little deeper and push a little harder, challenging your educator perspective.

1. 100,000 Tutors

One student described this Stanford University class on Artificial Intelligence as “sitting in a bar with a really smart friend who’s explaining something you haven’t grasped but are about to.” In the video, Peter Norvig pinpoints what it takes to create online learning at its best, how it should work and how it should feel.

2. School Cloud

Sugata Mitra won the 2013 TED Prize for his idea: Build a school in the cloud. After quite literally putting a computer in a wall in impoverished areas of India, he proved that children, people, are capable of learning without an agenda or even a teacher. Given the proper tools people will group together and teach themselves. They only need encouragement and positive reinforcement as a teaching mechanism.

3. Autistic Brothers

Another must-see for educators,  Faith Jegede: What I’ve learned from my autistic brothers  enlightens anyone who sees education as a one-way street. Faith Jegede shares her insights into the beauty behind the Autistic mind and urges us to change our view of “normal.”

4. Teacher Feedback

In this  Ted Talk, Bill Gates: Teachers need real feedback , Gates talks about the need for teachers to receive valuable feedback so that they can improve and strengthen their skills and become better teachers. He brings the teaching field to technology and cameras, using video to share and promote better and more effective teaching.

5. Bring On the Learning Revolution!

In  this  poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.

6. Teaching Design for Change

Designer Emily Pilloton moved to rural Bertie County, in North Carolina, to engage in a bold experiment of design-led community transformation. In  this video , she talks about teaching a design-build class called Studio H that engages high schoolers’ minds and bodies while bringing smart design and new opportunities to the poorest county in the state.

7. What We’re Learning From Online Education

Daphne Koller is enticing top universities to put their most intriguing courses online for free — not just as a service, but as a way to research how people learn. With Coursera (cofounded by Andrew Ng), each keystroke, quiz, peer-to-peer discussion and self-graded assignment builds an unprecedented pool of data on how knowledge is processed. Watch the video  here .

8. What Teachers Make

Ever heard the phrase “Those who can’t do, teach”? At the Bowery Poetry Club, slam poet Taylor Mali begs to differ, and delivers a powerful, 3-minute  response  on behalf of educators everywhere.

9. How to Learn? From Mistakes

Diana Laufenberg, an 11th grade history teacher in Philadelphia,  shares  3 surprising things she has learned about teaching — including a key insight about learning from mistakes.

10. Changing Education Paradigms

In  this talk  from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers.

11. Don’t Eat the Marshmallow!

In  this  short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification — and how it can predict future success. With a priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow.

12. The Puzzle of Motivation

Career analyst Dan Pink  examines  the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

13. Teaching Kids Real Math With Computers

From rockets to stock markets, many of humanity’s most thrilling creations are powered by math. So why do kids lose interest in it? Conrad Wolfram says the part of math we teach — calculation by hand — isn’t just tedious, it’s mostly irrelevant to real mathematics and the real world. In  this  talk, he presents his radical idea: teaching kids math through computer programming.

14. Teach Arts and Sciences Together

Mae Jemison is an astronaut, a doctor, an art collector, a dancer. Telling stories from her own education and from her time in space, she  calls on  educators to teach both the arts and sciences, both intuition and logic, as one — to create bold thinkers.

15. Education Innovation in the Slums

Charles Leadbeater went looking for radical new forms of education — and found them in the slums of Rio and Kibera, where some of the world’s poorest kids are finding transformative new ways to learn. And this informal, disruptive new kind of school,  he says , is what all schools need to become.

16. Teach Statistics Before Calculus!

Someone always asks the math teacher, “Am I going to use calculus in real life?” And for most of us, says Arthur Benjamin, the answer is no. He  offers  a bold proposal on how to make math education relevant in the digital age.

17. Mosquitoes, Malaria, and Education

Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny  18 minutes , he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them.

18. Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education

Salman Khan  talks  about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script — give students video lectures to watch at home, and do “homework” in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

19. How to Educate Leaders? Liberal Arts

After leaving his Microsoft job in Washington, Awuah returned to his home in Ghana and has helped to open a liberal arts college there. This polished speaker  shares  his experience in Africa and uses this experience to plead his case for the importance of incorporating a liberal arts education in order to create true leaders.

20. The Birth of the Open Source Learning Revolution

A professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas and the founder of Connexions, an open-source education system, Richard Baraniuk  talks about  the benefits of open source for educators. Specifically, Baraniuk speaks about the drawbacks of texts books and how using online open-source information provides more current and relevant material. Students pursuing an online bachelor’s degree in Education may have a particular interest in this resource.

21. Sputnik Mania

Filmmaker David Hoffman  shares  a part of his documentary, Sputnik Mania. Through this movie, Hoffman explains how it contributed to the space and arms race that, in turn, lead to an inspirational movement of math and science education across the US.

22. Finding the Next Einstein in Africa

While accepting his TED prize, physicist Neil Turok  shares  his wish to provide opportunity for the future of Africa through opening and nurturing the creativity available in the young people there. Turok uses his math and science background to understand why and how Africa has been left behind–and how we can change it.

23. What I’m Worried About, What I’m Excited About

Bill Joy  muses  on what’s next. Looking to the future, this co-founder of Sun Microsystems discusses how society and individuals have reacted to situations in the past. He then explores the path we can take to ensure positive growth in the areas of health, education, and technology.

24. A Parable for Kenya

This member of parliament in Kenya  discusses  education, both his own and the importance of education to children in Africa. He has a vision for making this education possible and shares it passionately.

25. Toy Tiles That Talk to Each Other

MIT grad student David Merrill  demos  Siftables — cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. Is this the next thing in hands-on learning?

26. The El Sistema Music Revolution

Jose Abreu on kids transformed by music. The founder of a Venezuelan youth orchestra, El Sistema, Abreu  speaks  about his wish to spread music throughout Venezuela and the world as a tool of social change and empowerment. Abreu speaks in Spanish (with English subtitles) with such passion about his vision for the future of the world.

27. El Sistema’s Top Youth Orchestra

Gustavo Dudamel leads El Sistema’s top youth orchestra. Watch this video of Dudamel and his students as they perform Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, 2nd movement and Arturo Marquez’s Danzon No. 2. The power of  this performance  is a testament to why El Sistema works.

28. Once Upon a School

Surrounded in a culture of educators, Eggers grew up realizing the importance of education. He  talks about  his tutoring center, 826 Valencia, and how it has helped and inspired others to become involved in education. The power of this tutoring center is inspirational to those concerned with education.

29. Tales of Creativity and Play

Tim Brown explores the relationship between creative thinking and play, and how this relationship can be nurtured. Using activities presented in  the talk , he illustrates his points that are useful for all who work with children as well as those who want to nurture creativity in adults.

30. Digging up Dinosaurs

Strange landscapes, scorching heat and (sometimes) mad crocodiles await scientists seeking clues to evolution’s genius. Paleontologist Paul Sereno  talks about  his surprising encounters with prehistory — and a new way to help students join the adventure.

31. What We Think We Know

Jonathan Drori, expert on culture and educational media,  offers  four questions to the listeners as a starting point to explore how we get ideas in our heads and how difficult it is to shake ideas once they are there. Drori also reviews some “bad practices” that serve to reinforce wrong ideas and some better ways of helping students learn correctly.

32. A Powerful Idea About Ideas

Alan Kay  shares  a powerful idea about ideas. Kay talks about techniques for educating children by using computers to illustrate experiences. By looking at simplicity and complexity, traditional teaching modes that rely on complex adult ideas, and approachable methods of teaching students in ways that are more simple and intuitive.

33. Play is More Than Just Fun

Stuart Brown says play is more than fun. Brown  describes  why play is important and how it contributes to happy and healthy adults–not just children. Using examples from the natural world, Brown shows how play is an integral part of life and how it can change behaviors.

34. One Laptop Per Child

The founder of the MIT Media Lab in Massachusetts  discusses  his program, called “One Laptop Per Child.” This project hopes to build $100 pedal-powered laptops and distribute them to children in developing countries around the world in an effort to promote education. Coming from the perspective of children being the most important natural resource of any country, Negroponte’s project hopes to provide students with opportunities for their future and the future of their countries.

35. A Free Digital Library

Brewster Kahle is building a truly huge digital library — every book ever published, every movie ever released, all the strata of web history … It’s all free to the public — unless someone else gets to it first. Watch his video  here .

36. Institutions vs. Collaboration

In  this  prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning. His concepts can be applied to education as well.

37. A Call to Reinvent Liberal Arts Education

Liz Coleman is the president of education and learning reform at Bennington. She is the advocate for educational reforms. In  this speech  she says that the interaction between the two organizations in areas of education should be reflected as an opposing factor in modernism and it reduces the study fields into the non moving specialized place. She has emphasized on the point that why diversity is required for solving the big problems.

38. How Games Make Kids Smarter

Gabe Zichermann  explains  how games make kids smart. His speech readily opposes the idea that games and video playing gadgets are a total waste of time for kids. He says that games are the most innovative, creative, and intellectual tools that are working to bring improvement in almost every aspect of performance in cognitive areas.

39. Turning Trash into Toys for Learning

At the INK Conference, Arvind Gupta  shares  simple yet stunning plans for turning trash into seriously entertaining, well-designed toys that kids can build themselves — while learning basic principles of science and design.

40. A Girl Who Demanded School

Kakenya Ntaiya made a deal with her father: She would undergo the traditional Maasai rite of passage of female circumcision if he would let her go to high school. Ntaiya  tells  the fearless story of continuing on to college, and of working with her village elders to build a school for girls in her community. It’s the educational journey of one that altered the destiny of 125 young women.

41. Teaching One Child at a Time

Educating the poor is more than just a numbers game, says Shukla Bose. She  tells the story  of her groundbreaking Parikrma Humanity Foundation, which brings hope to India’s slums by looking past the daunting statistics and focusing on treating each child as an individual.

42. How to Escape Education’s Death Valley

Sir Ken Robinson offers three principles crucial for the human mind to flourish — and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational “death valley” we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.

43. How Schools Kill Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. Watch the classic video  here .

44. Life Lessons Through Tinkering

Gever Tulley uses engaging photos and footage to clarify the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. When given tools, materials and guidance, these young imaginations run wild and creative problem-solving takes over to build unique boats, bridges and even a roller coaster!

45. Math Class Needs a Makeover

Today’s math curriculum is teaching students to expect — and excel at — paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. In  his talk , Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think.

46. Kids, Take Charge

Kiran Bir Sethi  shows  how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life’s most valuable lesson: “I can.” Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

47. Gaming to Re-Engage Boys in Learning

Although it may be inappropriate to brashly generalize, education statistics point to one thing for males ages 3-13: their culture isn’t exactly school appropriate. Their general sense of violence, emotional disconnect, and hyperactivity tends to make them more inclined to drop out. The items males generally embrace do not make them great learners. However, there is hope. Alison Carr-Chellman  illustrates how gaming, one of the most notorious aspects of male culture, could help reel them back in.

48. Let’s Raise Kids to Be Entrepreneurs

Why is it that we only hire tutors to train kids at what they’re bad at? Why is it that the idea of being an entrepreneur is so vilified? Cameron Herold explains that we need to stop essentially punishing the children with these proclivities in business. Instead, we need to foster their development. Although specific in its focus, the core message can be translated ubiquitously. Let’s teach our kids what they’re good at, not teach them to be adequate in something they previously weren’t.

49. 3 Rules to Spark Learning

It took a life-threatening condition to jolt chemistry teacher Ramsey Musallam out of ten years of “pseudo-teaching” to understand the true role of the educator: to cultivate curiosity. In a fun and personal  talk , Musallam gives 3 rules to spark imagination and learning, and get students excited about how the world works.

50. The Call to Learn

The incredibly eccentric Clifford Stoll reviews what it means to be drawn to learning as well as tangents about the Moog synthesizer and no-volume bottles. He claims that the only ones who can truly predict the future are kindergarten teachers; they’re the only ones with exposure to the next generation.

TeachThought is an organization dedicated to innovation in education through the growth of outstanding teachers.

TED Weekends emphasizes the importance of the student-teacher relationship

Rita Pierson and Sir Ken Robinson both give incredible talks in the PBS special TED Talks Education. Photo: Ryan Lash

Pierson challenges other teachers to understand the power of relationships. And this week’s TED Weekends on the Huffington Post explores the influence of connections in the classroom. We are especially excited about this edition because it contains not only a beautiful essay from Pierson, but also an offering from the most-watched speaker on TED.com, Sir Ken Robinson, who also appear in TED Talks Education . Read excerpts of both amazing essays below.

Rita F. Pierson: This Will Make You Appreciate Your Elementary School Teacher

Teachers don’t make a lot of money. They are usually not deemed worthy of news coverage unless there is a scandal or a strike. Most of the time, their major accomplishments are shared only with colleagues and family members and not the media. The celebration is often cut short by some catastrophe the next day. Yet, in spite of the highs and lows, I cannot think of another profession that brings both joy and challenge on a daily basis.

In the spring of my career, I found myself questioning the choice of my life’s work. The students did not appear to be motivated, the paperwork was overwhelming and the constant change of educational direction was discouraging. But, I just could not seem bring myself to do anything else. “Next year”, I would say. “Next year I will switch jobs, make more money and have far less stress.”

Next year just never came. I am now in year 40. And while I am no longer in the classroom or at the schoolhouse, I remain an educator. It finally dawned on me that there was no other profession that would let me change children’s minds and have an impact on their future, long after the school day and school year were over. For every student that finally “got it,” for every rookie teacher that said, “you inspired me to stay,” I get the raise that never quite made it to my paycheck. Read more »

Sir Ken Robinson: Why We Need to Reform Education Now

What should America do about its disastrous high school dropout rate? That’s the focus of TED Talks Education, the first ever TED/PBS television special, hosted by John Legend, the award-winning musician. The program looks not only at what’s going wrong in high schools, but how to put it right. As it happens, the solution is not a mystery; but putting it into practice will involve a major shift in current policies.

In 1970, the U.S. had the highest rates of high school graduation in the world, now it has one of the lowest. According to the OECD , the overall U.S. graduation rate is now around 75 percent, which puts America 23rd out of 28 countries surveyed. In some communities the graduation rate is less than 50 percent. About 7,000 young people ‘drop out’ of the nation’s high schools every day, close to 1.5 million a year. The social and economic costs are enormous.

Research  indicates that in general, high school graduates are more likely to find employment, to earn at higher levels and to pay more taxes than non-graduates. They’re more likely to go on to college or other learning programs. They’re more likely to engage positively in their communities and less likely to depend on social programs. It’s not true, of course, that pulling out of high school inevitably leads young people into trouble. Many high school ‘drop outs’ have gone on to have extraordinary, successful lives. What is true is that a very high proportion people who are long-term unemployed, homeless, on welfare or in the correctional system do not have high school diplomas. Read more »

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Class Tech Tips: 25 Reasons to Use TED-Ed in Your Classroom

The folks at TED also have a platform for students and teachers. It’s called TED-Ed, and you’ll find lots of short videos, resources and discussion questions for your classroom.

How do roller coasters affect your body? Why don’t poisonous animals poison themselves? These are the type of questions tackled with the amazing TED-Ed videos for students and teachers!

If you’ve ever watched a TED talk before you’re familiar with the power of those short videos, focused on a single idea. An expert walks to the center of a stage and uses stories and visuals to explain a concept or share a message. Well the folks at TED also have a platform for students and teachers. It’s called TED-Ed , and you’ll find lots of short videos, resources and discussion questions for your classroom.

Reading, Viewing and Listening

This year I’ve led lots of workshops and sessions on the topic of “tasks before apps.” Although these presentations focus on creation in the classroom, I always like to acknowledge the power of content consumption on digital devices. Empowering students as creators is essential, but thinking of students as consumers of content is important too. We want to prepare children of all ages to read, view, and listen, to content shared on digital devices.

Here’s an excerpt from Tasks Before Apps: Designing Rigorous Learning in a Tech-Rich Classroom (ASCD):

“Students are avid consumers of content. Over the course of a single day, they might watch a video clip, listen to an interview, scroll through an article, or click a link on social media. Digital tools have transformed the way we teach students to be critical thinkers about the information they encounter. With devices in their hands, students of all ages can access material of all kinds with ease. As educators, we must help students navigate the information they come across as consumers.” (p. 25)

TED-Ed Videos for Students and Teachers

Earlier this year I shared a favorite TED-Ed video when leading a session at the NCTE conference in Houston. I said something I often do when introducing a favorite digital tool, “There are so many reasons I love TED-Ed!” So when reflecting on some of my favorites from this year, I thought I would sit down and actually share a list of reasons when I love TED-Ed so much.

Here are 25 reasons… I hope if you love them as much as me that you’ll share the link to this blog post on social and add a few more favorites to the list!

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1. Explainer Videos Are Relatable

TED-Ed videos explain a concept on a variety of topics. These type of “explainer videos” help students better understand an idea. Explainer videos are a relatable format for students of all ages. This style of videos are popular with vloggers on YouTube and frequently shared on social media.

2. Content is Engaging

Although the topic of cicadas might not grab your students interest on a piece of paper, the video presentation of material will certainly grab their attention. Below you’ll find one of my favorite TED-Ed videos to share with teachers. This video is a favorite example of just how engaging their videos are on all subjects.

3. Diverse Topics

As soon as you head over to TED-Ed’s website you’ll see a wide range of topics. There is the ability to search by keyword or browse by subject area. So you can find videos related to mythology, physics, health and more.

4.  You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Your students might have a burning question that TED-Ed addresses in one of their videos. We all are guilty of the fact that “you don’t know what you don’t know.” You might encourage students to explore this website and choose one video to watch and reflect on what they learned.

5. Comprehension Questions

When you access a TED-Ed video straight from their website — as opposed to searching on YouTube — you’ll find comprehension questions that go along with each video. These are great for checking for understanding and helping you make connections to another topic explored in your classroom.

6. Use Questions for Discussion

The questions provided by TED-Ed, along with ones you develop yourself, are great for discussions. You might pose the question for your entire class. Alternatively, you might ask students to discuss in small groups.

7. Flipped Classroom

If you are participating in a true flipped classroom model, you share resources for students to read, watch or listen to outside of the classroom. Then when students come to class, they participate in discussions and solve problems together. You can share a TED-Ed video for students to watch before class. 

8. Post in Google Classroom

Teachers using Google Classroom can easily share TED-Ed videos with their students. You can post a link as an announcement for students. If you want students to respond or have a discussion, you can also do this in Google Classroom.

9.  Turn Into QR Codes

In a BYOD environment, you can turn a link with a TED-Ed video into a QR code . This way students can scan and watch the video on their device. This strategy is also a great option if you are not using an LMS with students and need another way to share a link.

10.  Curate Watchlists for Students

Since TED-Ed videos are available on YouTube , you can set up a watchlist for students. This curated list is perfect for selecting specific videos related to a single topic. If you sign into your Google/YouTube account, you can create a watchlist and share the link with students. 

11.  Listening Comprehension

The visuals in TED-Ed videos are compelling. I you are focused on addressing a particular Listening standard, they can definitely support this work. You might ask students to listen without watching first, then replay the video with visuals.

12.  Student Work Exemplary

As I mentioned in the introduction, students can create in the classroom in lots of ways. If you want students to create explainer videos, TED-Ed is a perfect exemplar. Give students a chance to explore their library of videos for inspiration. Then students can use a tool like Adobe Spark Video to create their own explainer videos.

13.  Demo Power of YouTube

Sometimes the only thing we associate with YouTube are videos that are silly, or not very educational. TED-Ed is an excellent example of educational videos hosted on a platform with diverse content. You can use a TED-Ed video to spark a conversation on YouTube resources.

14. Extend a Reading Passage

Imagine your students have finished reading a Newsela article on a scientific development related to dental health. You might show them a video associated with this topic like How do teeth evolve? This strategy is also a great way to prompt a response from students on a reading passage.

15.  Provide Background

Before starting a new project, reading a book, or exploring a topic, you can provide background information with a video clip. Sharing a TED-Ed video can help level the playing field for students who might not know about something. You could share a video that provides background knowledge in an LMS before class.

16.  Make Cross-Curricular Connections

When subjects are taught individually, students may find it challenging to make connections. TED-Ed videos provide context for how different topics connect. For example, if you are studying the history of the Arctic, you might share a video like Why can’t some birds fly? that features penguins.

17.  Share with Families

A monthly newsletter is a great way to stay connected with families. If you are looking for content to share, TED-Ed is a great resource. Choose a video to include in your newsletter that connects to a topic you are exploring with students this month.

18. Use a Teaser

A TED-Ed can act as an introduction to a new topic. You can use a video on a Friday to “tease” a topic you are going to explore the following week. This strategy is one you can use if you are posting videos for students to watch before class too.

19. Capture Questions

If a TED-Ed video is helping you introduce a new topic, it’s a perfect opportunity to gather student questions. Try incorporating a strategy like a KWL to have students jot down what they already know and what they want to know about a topic. You might pause the video a few times to give students a chance to gather their questions.

20. Practice Online Discussion Skills

Learning how to participate in an online discussion is an important skill. TED-Ed videos are perfect for backchannel discussions. You might create an open backchannel for students to respond organically or provide prompts.

21. Spark Ideas for Inquiry

Students getting ready to research can gather ideas and find a topic they want to learn more about using TED-Ed. Provide brainstorming time for students to dig in and watch videos to gather research ideas. You can model how you think aloud and gather ideas as you watch a video before sending students off to explore.

22.  Create a Summary

You might have several ELA goals related to writing in response to reading. Students can watch a TED-Ed video and write a summary of the information presented. This strategy helps students transfer the main idea into a topic sentence and decide on the most critical and relevant key details.

23. Share in Seesaw

If you are using Seesaw this year, TED-Ed videos make a great combo. Teachers can share TED-Ed videos as a link in Seesaw for students to watch. Then students can respond with a drawing, note or video.

24. Find Supporting Evidence

Students researching a topic in any subject can benefit from the information providing in TED-Ed videos. These videos offer ideas and supporting evidence for students creating public service announcements. If your students are writing persuasive essays, the information presented in these videos will also come in handy.

25. Set-up Students as Lifelong Learners

Although this list has included lots of classroom activities, we all want students to stay curious, lifelong learners. TED-Ed can demonstrate the power of digital content to students and how one question leads to another. It is an excellent resource for all members of your school community, and I can’t wait to hear how you use it this school year! 

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. She is the author of Tasks Before Apps (ASCD) and #FormativeTech (Corwin). Visit Monica's site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

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The Use of Robotics and Simulators in the Education Environment

Advances in technology continue to push the envelope in healthcare, travel, communication and education. The use of robotic and simulation technologies have proven themselves to be worthy components of available educational resources. These technologies use in the education environment have shown their value in everyday learning and in the specialized education of students with disabilities.

Robotics and Simulators in Education

The use of robotics has allowed complicated medical procedures to be simplified, the work of dangerous construction projects to be safer and the discovery of our universe to be possible. When applied to education, robotics and simulators can change the way students learn and ultimately create a more knowledgeable and well-adjusted student.

Elementary and High School Education

• Robotics – Robots can be used to bring students into the classroom that otherwise might not be able to attend. In New York, a second grader with severe, life-threatening allergies was unable to attend school due to his condition. A four-foot-tall robot provided a ‘real school’ experience for the boy, ‘attending’ school and bringing the boy with him via an internal video conferencing system. Robots such as the one mentioned are able to ‘bring school’ to students who cannot be present physically.
• Simulators – High school sees the strongest example of simulators within drivers’ education courses. Simulators provide a true-to-life experience while removing any real dangers or risk from scenarios. In drivers’ education, students can experience the feeling of being behind the wheel without ever leaving the safety of the classroom. Simulators offer a chance for ‘what if’ scenarios, which can better prepare student drivers for real-life hazards and obstacles on the roadway.

Higher Education

• Robotics – Many careers require specialized knowledge in delicate practices, specifically in the realm of healthcare. When receiving a medical education, many students find benefits in the use of robotics. When learning to perform complicated medical procedures, a human subject isn’t feasible, so educators are employing the use of robots as stand-ins. Robots can be created and programmed to give off all indications of human life, including breath and heartbeat. Their use can also be seen in such procedures as injections, surgeries and even delivering children.
• Simulators – Simulation technology is utilized in a variety of college degree focuses, offering 360 degree real-life scenarios and 3D projections of real experiences. In addition to providing medical students with the means for thorough exploration of the human body, simulators also provide exceptional methods of crisis and disaster training for emergency response and law enforcement trainees. These types of all-encompassing simulators offer a choice and response technology, requiring officers to make split-second decisions and immediately see the ramifications of their actions. These types of scenarios can include violent altercations or behind-the-wheel high-speed chases.

Special Education

• Robotics – Students with special requirements are reaching new levels of learning through the use of robotics in the classroom. With these technologies children with autism are learning communication and social skills and students with developmental issues and attention disorders are learning focus. Individuals with severe physical disabilities are also offered a constant companion and health monitoring system – all through the use of robotics. Robots can be programmed to suit each individual child’s need, offering special education in a much simpler, accessible format.
• Simulators – Simulators are able to offer students with special needs an introduction to real-world scenarios in a non-threatening environment. Everyday lessons can be taught at a comfortable pace, including subjects ranging from basic self-care to stay-safe techniques in emergency situations. Simulators have also provided a way for special education educators to see the world from their students’ perspectives, including hearing-impaired or blind simulations.

Assistive technology is growing, and the abilities it provides to special education students are limitless. Simulation and robotics technologies offer a range of possibilities within education, with a helpful solution for every student’s learning needs. As the technological world unveils new innovations daily, the educational world will continue to benefit from the opportunities offered with these groundbreaking tools.

You can help shape the influence of technology in education with an Online Master of Science in Education in Learning Design and Technology from Purdue University Online. This accredited program offers studies in exciting new technologies that are shaping education and offers students the opportunity to take part in the future of innovation.

Learn more about the online MSEd in Learning Design and Technology at Purdue University today and help redefine the way in which individuals learn. Call (877) 497-5851 to speak with an admissions advisor or request more information.

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Philadelphia chef Joy Parham talks about the importance, and legacy, of soul food

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- To celebrate Juneteenth is to celebrate African American culture.

It's the inspiration for an initiative by ABC Owned Television Stations, including 6abc, to focus on the legacy of soul food.

A Philadelphia chef who's gotten national exposure says soul food is as unique and varied as the people who make it.

Even with her appearance on the show "Hell's Kitchen," Chef Joy Parham loves to keep it local.

"Basically it's a way for me to circulate my Black dollar in the area I'm from. I'm a West Philly girl," she said.

In the video above, Action News reporter Gray Hall has more on the legacy of soul food from Honeysuckle Provisions in West Philadelphia.

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Ukraine peace summit: Why some countries refused to sign the plan

Major Global South nations cited Russia’s absence or Israel’s presence as reasons for not accepting the communique.

About 100 delegations from countries and international organisations attended the Switzerland-hosted Summit on Peace in Ukraine last weekend, aimed at crafting a path that many participants said could pave the way to ending Russia’s war on its smaller neighbour.

But while a vast majority of participants signed on to the short communique issued at the end of the summit, several key nations did not. The two-day diplomatic summit took place in the Burgenstock resort in Stansstad, Switzerland, and was attended by United States Vice President Kamala Harris alongside leaders from the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, and diplomats from many other nations.

Keep reading

Russia-ukraine war: list of key events, day 842, peace summit stands behind ukraine, calls for dialogue to end russia war, russia, china absent as world leaders meet for ukraine peace conference.

Here is more about the Ukraine peace communique and why some countries did not sign on.

What did the Ukraine peace communique say?

The communique laid out what it said was a “common vision” on “crucial aspects”, including that:

• All nuclear installations, including the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant , should be safe according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) principles and under IAEA supervision. The power plant, Europe’s largest, has been at the centre of Russia-Ukraine battles since the early days of the war, sparking concerns about the potential for a nuclear accident.
• The free flow of Ukrainian agricultural products should be allowed to interested third countries. “Global food security depends on uninterrupted manufacturing and supply of food products,” the communique said. The document described attacks on merchant ships and civilian port infrastructure in the Black Sea and Azov Sea as “unacceptable”.
• All prisoners must be exchanged and all Ukrainian civilians who have been unlawfully displaced should be returned to Ukraine. In particular, the communique said, “all deported and unlawfully displaced Ukrainian children, and all other Ukrainian civilians who were unlawfully detained, must be returned to Ukraine”. According to Ukraine, 20,000 children have been taken by Russian authorities during the war.

Who signed the joint communique on Ukraine?

In all, 82 delegations signed on to support the communique. Swiss President Viola Amherd told a news conference the “great majority” of participants agreed to the document.

Some of these include: Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, Latvia, Norway, Palau, Qatar, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, the UK and the US.

Which countries did not sign on?

• India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates attended the summit, represented by foreign ministers and envoys, but were among those who did not sign the joint communique.
• Brazil attended the Ukraine summit as an observer, but did not back the communique.
• Russia was not invited to the summit, which Moscow dismissed as “futile”. China also did not attend the two-day event. Pakistan, which counts China as its closest ally, was invited but chose not to attend.

Why did they not sign on?

• India: In a statement, Secretary (West) of India’s Ministry of External Affairs Pavan Kapoor said that New Delhi decided to avoid association with the joint communique because of Russia’s absence from the summit. He said India believes that peace in Ukraine requires bringing together “all stakeholders and a sincere and practical engagement between the two parties to the conflict”.
• Saudi Arabia: Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, shared similar concerns while delivering his statement at the summit. “We believe it is important that the international community encourage any step towards serious negotiations, which will require difficult compromises as part of a roadmap that leads to peace,” he said. “And here, it is essential to emphasise that any credible process will need Russia’s participation.”
• South Africa: South Africa’s reasons for not backing the communique were different. The country’s National Security Advisor Sydney Mufamadi wrote in a statement that “it was surprising that at this conference, Israel is present and participating”, five days after a United Nations-backed commission accused Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinians. Mufamadi questioned the legitimacy of a communique that its sponsors argued was driven by “respect for international law” when Israel has been accused by many UN officials of violating international law. South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza in a case at the International Court of Justice.

Episode 25: Teaching Nonkilling, Peace, and Love w/ Roland Joseph The Dialogue Studio

• Society & Culture

In this episode, host Lillian Koizumi talks with Dr. Roland Joseph, a member of the “Nonkilling Security & International Relations Research Committee” at the Center for Global Nonkilling. In their dialogue, Dr. Joseph talks about the importance of peace education and promoting nonkilling, the aspects of Daisaku Ikeda’s peace philosophy that inspire him, what it would look like to teach children love instead of war, as well as what gives him hope at this time.    Dr. Joseph has been deeply influenced by Dr. Glenn D. Paige, a friend of Daisaku Ikeda, who coined the concept of the nonkilling paradigm in his seminal book Nonkilling Global Political Science. His doctoral research focused on the transformative experiences of scholars and activists promoting nonkilling political science to anti-nuclear weapon activists and realists. As a Haitian living in Massachusetts, Dr. Joseph has initiated nuclear disarmament education within the Haitian community with the collaboration of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security (CPDCS). He also launched a campaign for peace in Haiti, including a working group on peace education with professors and students from the Université Publique du Sud-Est à Jacmel (UPSEJ), supported by the International Peace Bureau (IPB). Roland holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Institut Supérieur des Sciences Économiques, Politiques et Juridiques (ISSEPJ) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from UMass Lowell, and a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution with a concentration in Global Conflict from Nova Southeastern University (NSU). Dr. Joseph has been a good friend of the Center since 2018, following his participation in a Dialogue Nights event on nuclear weapons.    Music attribution: Podcast Music To learn more about the Ikeda Center, visit ikedacenter.org or email us at [email protected]

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Juneteenth: What to know about the historical celebration that's now a federal holiday

On june 19, 1865 slaves in galveston, texas were given the news that they were freed by president abraham lincoln. now, the day is a holiday that celebrates the "second independence day" in america..

Three years after it was made a federal holiday , Juneteenth 2024 marks a day of celebration as well as education.

The federal holiday known as “Second Independence Day,” marks the day the last African American slaves were notified that they had been freed from their masters, the National Museum of African American History and Culture said.

Dr. Tim Goler, a professor of urban affairs and sociology courses and director of research for the Center for African American Public Policy at Norfolk State University, told USA TODAY that Juneteenth or "Freedom Day" is a day that shows the "beauty of our culture" that everyone should participate in.

The origins of Juneteenth date back to June 19, 1865 – more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation - when the Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, Goler said.

“This delay and the enforcement of the emancipation in Texas was due to a lack of enforcement until this general arrived," Goler said. "Then Juneteenth thus became this kind of powerful symbol of freedom and the long struggle for civil rights."

The Juneteenth National Independence Day A ct was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in June 2021. The bill was signed by President Joe Biden on June 17, 2021, which officially made the day a federal holiday.

Here's what you need to know about Juneteenth.

An African American holiday: Predating Juneteenth was nearly lost to history. It's back.

Black History, Juneteenth becoming more cemented in fabric of US

Although Juneteenth is now becoming a part of the conversation regarding Black History, there was a time when Black History was not widely discussed within the educational system, especially for historians, said Dr. Alan Singer, a professor of teaching, learning and technology at Hofstra University who writes about the history of slavery and racism.

“I didn't learn it (until) I was an adult, really (in the) 1990s, when as a teacher, I started studying more, so I (could) incorporate it into my lessons,” he said. “I went to City College in the 1960s and they had first introduced a course called ‘American Negro History’ and that was the first time I had learned about any of these things. I took the course because I became a political activist while at City College and I needed to know more about the African American civil rights struggles.”

Singer also adds that he attended high school during the Civil Rights Movement and was never taught about Black History. To change that, he decided to educate himself more to properly teach his students.

“I just felt a heavy responsibility as a teacher to really present a much more accurate picture of the history of the United States,” he said.

Goler adds that Juneteenth has been recognized for years within the Black community and history. Now, the day has become more publicly known.

"In recent years, Juneteenth has gained a much wider recognition. It's only been since 2021 that it became that designated as a federal holiday," he said. "Many Black people and Black communities around the country have celebrated Juneteenth. It's just becoming much more wider and much more visible now."

Commercialization of Juneteenth

Since Juneteenth has been declared a federal holiday, many retailers have unveiled Juneteenth attire through clothing, footwear, hats and other merchandise.

"The question is, 'who benefits from the commercialization of Juneteenth?' I’d definitely like to see more African American (and) more Black businesses benefit," Goler said. "The trend of commercialization, we risk the overshadowing of the historical context, and the ongoing struggle for racial equality that Juneteenth represents."

Singer hopes that companies that are selling Juneteenth products are also advocating for more inclusivity.

“What I'm arguing is that what we need to do is to use a day like Juneteenth as a launching pad to build a more just society,” he said. “It should not just be about the past, it has to be about the future.”

Goler hopes that the holiday will bring everyone together but also educate them about this important day in Black History.

"I think as we observe Juneteenth, it's important to focus on the education, reflection, the community engagement aspect and really ensure that the day remains of a pungent reminder of our continued and enduring fight for freedom and justice," he said.

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at  [email protected] . Follow her on  Instagram ,  Threads  and  X (Twitter) .