TED TALK 2 THE SAGA CONTINUES

My mind is a raging torrent flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives. I’ve given this a lot of thought but, I still can’t decide on a singular topic. I’m currently reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell that is composed of various stories from his time with the New Yorker magazine. These stories have seemingly sent me into another direction with my TED talk.
As in my original TED talk proposal, I want to encompass what we seen from the TED talk in class and other that I’ve personally viewed to come up with a truly original idea. I’ve looked over the other TED talk blogs and I see some great ideas but, few that seem unique. I want to challenge myself to talk about something that not only interests me but, will be thought provoking to the class. I think about the life of Johnny Cash and the scene from the movie “Walk the Line” where he is asked by the music producer, if you were hit by a truck and laying dying in the gutter and you could only play one song to let people know what you felt. What song would you play? Would you play that song or would you play something different? I don’t want to play the same tune that everybody else is playing. I want to play something truly original because that is what inspires people.
My original proposal was missing one factor that bonds all the TED talks and that is relevance. Relevance to the speaker and to the audience. So let tie these four factors all together now. Passion, Humor, Absolute Conviction, and Relevance are the four binding factors in all our TED talks. The manner in which the speaker arrives at these factors is different but, these four factors are the constants in a river of variables. Is that deep enough or are you hungry for more?
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”The above quote is often credited to Nelson Mandela from his 1994 inauguration speech but, it is actually the work of Marianne Williamson. I find inspiration in things every single day and I want to pass this feeling on to the world. I’m still working on my moment. Please stay tuned!

TED TALK TOPIC

TEK TALK TOPIC
As I watched various TED presentations, three universal themes of passion, humor, and absolute conviction were the common themes of many of the TED presentations. We've all watched the Mr. Zander's TED talk on classical music and Mr. Robinson's TED talk on creativity in schools, and the common theme of these two talks were the passion, humor, and absolute conviction with which the speakers spoke about their subject. Over the course of the last few weeks, I've watched numerous TED talks and the universal themes of passion, humor, and absolute conviction are proven time and time again. I would like to speak to you about teaching the passion, humor, and absolute conviction to your students because I know these themes will connect you to your students.
Passion is a powerful tool that educators can use to connect with their students. We've all had teachers that were our favorites, and we've all had teachers that seemed to mail it in from home. We won't be talking about the latter group. It is by looking at our favorite teachers that we see how they were able to connect with us. Most of my favorite teachers displayed a real passion for their subject even though their subjects did not share a common theme. My favorite teachers' subjects were various subjects from math to art to french but, the passion was the common theme in their teaching, and that is what they used to connect with their students.
Humor is universal. I believe this could be the most powerful tool that is also the most under-utilized by teachers. A great sense of humor can bond a teacher with their students faster than any other tool. As we watched the various TED talks, the subject matter took time to understand but, the humor was able to draw you in and bond you with the speaker. The humor seemed to buy the speaker more time to explain their subject because they instantly became someone that we could relate to on a personal level. In our first TED talk, Mr. Zander could have easily lost us with the subject of classical music but, the humorous manner in which he delivered his message bought him some time and actually had me interested in classical music for the first time in my life.
Absolute conviction is the last of the common themes that I took from our TED talks. The speakers spoke about their subject with so much conviction that they had you believing everything that they said was absolute, and they left no question in your mind that you loved classical music in Mr. Zander's TED talk or in cultivating creativity in your students from Mr. Robinson. As a future Social Studies teacher, I think about the explorer Pizzaro that upon landing in the New World burned his ships to display his absolute conviction about his quest. He left no doubt in the minds of his followers about retreating back home to Spain. His message may have been a bit extreme but, his absolute conviction could never be questioned by his followers.
My talk will focus on these three tools and how teachers can utilize them in their classrooms on a daily basis. I come from a sports background and I relate alot of my teaching to coach-player relationships. This is where I've found my passion at an early age. I want to display this passion in my talk along with my sense of humor and absolute conviction to relate to my classmates as well as my future students.

TEK TALK TOPIC

TEK TALK TOPIC
As I watched various TED presentations, three universal themes of passion, humor, and absolute conviction were the common themes of many of the TED presentations. We've all watched the Mr. Zander's TED talk on classical music and Mr. Robinson's TED talk on creativity in schools, and the common theme of these two talks were the passion, humor, and absolute conviction with which the speakers spoke about their subject. Over the course of the last few weeks, I've watched numerous TED talks and the universal themes of passion, humor, and absolute conviction are proven time and time again. I would like to speak to you about teaching the passion, humor, and absolute conviction to your students because I know these themes will connect you to your students.
Passion is a powerful tool that educators can use to connect with their students. We've all had teachers that were our favorites, and we've all had teachers that seemed to mail it in from home. We won't be talking about the latter group. It is by looking at our favorite teachers that we see how they were able to connect with us. Most of my favorite teachers displayed a real passion for their subject even though their subjects did not share a common theme. My favorite teachers' subjects were various subjects from math to art to french but, the passion was the common theme in their teaching, and that is what they used to connect with their students.
Humor is universal. I believe this could be the most powerful tool that is also the most under-utilized by teachers. A great sense of humor can bond a teacher with their students faster than any other tool. As we watched the various TED talks, the subject matter took time to understand but, the humor was able to draw you in and bond you with the speaker. The humor seemed to buy the speaker more time to explain their subject because they instantly became someone that we could relate to on a personal level. In our first TED talk, Mr. Zander could have easily lost us with the subject of classical music but, the humorous manner in which he delivered his message bought him some time and actually had me interested in classical music for the first time in my life.
Absolute conviction is the last of the common themes that I took from our TED talks. The speakers spoke about their subject with so much conviction that they had you believing everything that they said was absolute, and they left no question in your mind that you loved classical music in Mr. Zander's TED talk or in cultivating creativity in your students from Mr. Robinson. As a future Social Studies teacher, I think about the explorer Cortez that upon landing in the New World burned his ships to display his absolute conviction about his quest. He left no doubt in the minds of his followers about retreating back home to Spain. His message may have been a bit extreme but, his absolute conviction could never be questioned by his followers.
My talk will focus on these three tools and how teachers can utilize them in their classrooms on a daily basis. I come from a sports background and I relate alot of my teaching to coach-player relationships. This is where I've found my passion at an early age. I want to display this passion in my talk along with my sense of humor and absolute conviction to relate to my classmates as well as my future students.

TEK TALK TOPIC

I'm currently working hard on coming up with a topic for my tek talk.  Tune in soon!

There is merit to the concept of allowing students to develop their nonacademic interests into academic terms, turning their "street smarts" into "book smarts" and realizing that the two can co-exist after all.  Gerald Graff compares the academic world to the sport's world. He draws parallels between the two worlds and so do I, as I view the teacher as the coach and the students as the players.  The job of every coach is to put their players in the best position to succeed, and this is to be done by any means necessary.  The ability of the coach is reflected in the success of their players. 

Graff expresses through his own experiences that through his analysis of the things that interested him, he was unknowingly becoming a closet intellectual.  My experiences have taught me the same things.  I learned to become a passionate reader from comic books and I learned out math skills, like how to figure out my batting average and earned run average, from reading Sports Illustrated and Who's Who is Baseball.  I was able to translate these personal passions into academic success.  Winning is contagious and once you taste it, you want it all the time. The job of the coach is to put their players in the position to win. 

Street smarts are constantly overlooked by schools and colleges.  The failure is not the player's fault.  The blame is on the coach that failed to develop the player's strengths and only concentrated on their weaknesses.  It is by building on their strengths that coaches can build confidence in their players and then begin to address the weaknesses.  By concentrating on weaknesses, the coaches can cripple players and rob them of their potential talents. Players aren't always able to see the whole picture. It is the coach's job to help the player focus on their part of the picture. The coach orchestrates the parts of the picture to establish a successful end product.  Experience has shown me that a team with a combination of street smarts and book smarts is the best of both worlds and has the best chance to be ultimately successful.  The job of the coach is to act as the facilitator for the maximum output of their players and the team. 

I use the words coach and players as our author, Gerald Graff uses sports as a way to connect back to academic pursuits.  The coach is the teacher and the players are the students.  These terms seem universal whether dealing with academics or athletics.  We need to realize that winning is the ultimate goal whether we are coaching or teaching and whether we are playing or learning. The true intellectual is able to walk between worlds of the street and academia. They are just as comfortable in the corner bar using expletives to discuss the Philadelphia Eagles’ last game as they are at a benefit dinner discussing the merits of the charity.  The true intellectual sees the value in both discussions.

GRAFF READING

There is merit to the concept of allowing students to develop their nonacademic interests into academic terms, turning their "street smarts" into "book smarts" and realizing that the two can co-exist after all.  Gerald Graff compares the academic world to the sport's world. He draws parallels between the two worlds and so do I, as I view the teacher as the coach and the students as the players.  The job of every coach is to put their players in the best position to succeed, and this is to be done by any means necessary.  The ability of the coach is reflected in the success of their players. 

Graff expresses through his own experiences that through his analysis of the things that interested him, he was unknowingly becoming a closet intellectual.  My experiences have taught me the same things.  I learned to become a passionate reader from comic books and I learned out math skills, like how to figure out my batting average and earned run average, from reading Sports Illustrated and Who's Who is Baseball.  I was able to translate these personal passions into academic success.  Winning is contagious and once you taste it, you want it all the time. The job of the coach is to put their players in the position to win. 

Street smarts are constantly overlooked by schools and colleges.  The failure is not the player's fault.  The blame is on the coach that failed to develop the player's strengths and only concentrated on their weaknesses.  It is by building on their strengths that coaches can build confidence in their players and then begin to address the weaknesses.  By concentrating on weaknesses, the coaches can cripple players and rob them of their potential talents. Players aren't always able to see the whole picture. It is the coach's job to help the player focus on their part of the picture. The coach orchestrates the parts of the picture to establish a successful end product.  Experience has shown me that a team with a combination of street smarts and book smarts is the best of both worlds and has the best chance to be ultimately successful.  The job of the coach is to act as the facilitator for the maximum output of their players and the team. 

I use the words coach and players as our author, Gerald Graff uses sports as a way to connect back to academic pursuits.  The coach is the teacher and the players are the students.  These terms seem universal whether dealing with academics or athletics.  We need to realize that winning is the ultimate goal whether we are coaching or teaching and whether we are playing or learning. The true intellectual is able to walk between worlds of the street and academia. They are just as comfortable in the corner bar using expletives to discuss the Philadelphia Eagles’ last game as they are at a benefit dinner discussing the merits of the charity.  The true intellectual sees the value in both discussions.

Graf Blog

Currently reading the Graf Assignment.  Stay tuned for my blog repsonse!