It can be hard being a teacher when exposed to negative teaching-related stories and information from the media. Especially at a time when you are trying to do everything you possibly can to ensure your students are happy and learning. Coming home at the end of a hard day and turning on the news to see a report about the state of education in the country can feel like a kick in the guts! Well, we’ve found a better use of your time… 10 super inspiring, uplifting, and sometimes funny TED talks for teachers.
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TED Talks for Teachers – News You’ll Want to Watch
(1) Every Kid Needs a Champion – Rita Pierson
“Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like!”
If you are after a goosebump kinda feeling – this is the TED talk for you! Rita Pierson is a teacher of 40 years and her experiences shine through this inspiring and uplifting TED talk. She reminds us of the importance of building relationships and connecting with our students before any learning will happen!
(2) 3 Ways to Sparks Learning – Ramsey Musallam
“Rule 2 – Embrace the mess!!” As an early years teacher, I just love this rule that Ramsey speaks of during this wonderful TED talk!
After a life-threatening health scare, Ramsey changed the way he was teaching and came up with three rules for learning. This one will leave you nodding in agreement – it’s a nice reminder of the importance that sparking curiosity in our students has on their education.
(3) Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection – Reshma Saujani
An inspiring talk about her experiences and her own learnings and the importance of teaching our girls to be brave!
Reshma Saujani is the founder of Girls Who Code and has made it her mission to socialise young girls to take risks and learn to program!
(4) How Autism Freed Me to be Myself – Rosie King
Rosie King challenges the stereotypes of people with autism and contextualized the issue by asking us, “Why be normal?”
An inspiring talk for all teachers to remind us of the different little humans that enter our class every single day!
(5) Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator – Tim Urban
Okay… this is more on the funny side rather than inspirational! But, with report card time fastly approaching – this made us giggle.
Are you a master procrastinator?
(6) What Teachers Make – Taylor Mali
Whilst not a traditional TED talk this video of poet Taylor Mali is available on ted.com so we just had to share it. This will leave you feeling uplifted and remind you that what you’re doing matters! An oldie, but most certainly a goodie!
A powerful recital of a poem where Taylor fights for teachers at a dinner party!
(7) The One Thing All Great Teachers Do – Nick Fuhrman
“Great teachers celebrate mistakes…” Nick talks about an experience he had when he was seven years old and how that affected him.
(8) Math Class Needs a Makeover – Dan Meyer
As primary school teachers, we are all maths teachers as well as everything else. We found this talk about how we need to transform the way we teach maths really interesting!
Dan explains the way we can change questions to get our students to really question and think mathematically.
(9) How to Gain Control of Your Free Time – Laura Vanderkam
A realistic look at how to manage your time! We just love how Laura is realistic about traditional talks about how to manage your time effectively.
There are 168 hours in each week. How do you find time to do things that make you happy?
(10) The Power of a Teacher – Adam Saenz
Adam reminds us why we went into education… to make a difference.
A really great storyteller who is a psychologist and decided to try some substitute teaching to really understand what it’s like for a classroom teacher. Educators have the power to shape the future by establishing life-changing relationships with their students.
We hope some of these TED talks for teachers leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy!
What TED talks inspire you? Share them in the comments section of this blog.
Blog image: shutterstock.com / Antonio Guillem
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