The non-profit organization Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) has shared innovative ideas since 1984. Because TED Talks are largely about inspiring people to try new things, the presentations on education are exceptional. Here are five TED Talks that will inspire students to keep learning.
1. Rita Pierson Says Every Kid Needs a Champion
Rita Pierson is an outspoken educator who packs a big message into her 8-minute TED Talk. This third-generation teacher has 40 years of experience in the school system. She says that learning is based on relationships. When a colleague said that she was paid to teach a lesson, not to like the students, Pierson replied, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” Looking back to school, everyone can remember an uninspiring or disagreeable teacher who turned students away from a subject. At the same time, everyone can remember teachers who established positive relationships that encouraged their students to achieve their best.
2. Ramsey Musallam’s 3 Rules to Spark Learning
For 10 years, Ramsey Musallam read dehumanizing chemistry lectures to bored high school students. At age 35, he was diagnosed with a severe aneurysm. His experience working with a pioneering heart surgeon changed his teaching style. During a discussion about the groundbreaking procedure, the surgeon explained how he developed the technique. He said that he asked questions, learned everything about the existing method and reflected on this information before finding a way to improve the technique. The surgeon’s curiosity led Musallam to present lessons that would engage naturally curious students and make them ask questions.
3. Ben Dunlap Shares the Story of a Lifelong Learner
Ben Dunlap, the former president of Wofford College, had three close Hungarian friends and mentors. On Dunlap’s first day as a college professor, a Hungarian man was auditing his class. Sandor Teszler was a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor and textile magnate who was accompanied by an entourage of middle-aged women. Eventually, this lifelong learner took every course in the college’s catalog. After Taszler’s death, Dunlap met two other immensely successful Hungarians. During an intense argument over the quality of the first and second Harry Potter movies, Dunlap discovered that the secret to their success was insatiable curiosity and the irrepressible desire to learn more about everything.
4. Stephen Burt Explains Why People Need Poetry
Literary critic Stephen Burt said that he first discovered poetry in science fiction novels. The Harvard professor highlights connections between words, emotions and patterns that apply to vastly different things like literature, computer programming, math and existential philosophy. Burt says that assimilating patterns allows people to recognize similar themes in things that they already know and like. This TED Talk isn’t just about old-school poets. It’s about identifying patterns and using them to create new things.
5. Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!
Students need good listening skills to process new information. The ideas Sirolli presents can make a difference in the classroom and the real world. His advice is for aspiring social workers, teachers, doctors, volunteers and anyone who wants to help people. When the Australian government asked him how he helped 27 struggling business people achieve success in one year, he said, “I do something very, very, very difficult. I shut up and listen to them.” Sirolli says that if you want to help people, you need to listen to their ideas.
The information that’s presented in these TED Talks can inspire and encourage anyone who wants to be a better teacher or a better student. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
