Ted Talk Tuesdays - revisited

A few days ago I wrote about how a gifted teacher was planning already for next year and how she was going to have Ted Talk Tuesday lunches for her gifted students, etc. I made up the Tuesday part. I have no idea if she's going to have it on Tuesdays or not. But, I've been thinking about it and about how that very good idea could be ramped up a bit.

At first I thought, "After they've watched a few videos and get the hang of it, allow THEM to choose the next one to watch. They would have to introduce it to the others and also tell about the speaker. And they'd have to tell why that video was chosen." Then I thought, "No good, because they'd have to watch so many of them ahead of time and then the event wouldn't be as interesting." Hmmm... OK. NO way around that. So, the teacher will have to choose. But, that said, I'll just BET that the kids will be watching others anyway and suggesting them. Maybe that's the better solution. Let it happen naturally.

Then I got to thinking about something that Joanne Romano, another CFF Mentor, had said. "What if they made their OWN 'Teddie' Talks?" (They'd probably have to use another name, but you get the idea.)  They would have to submit their written speech to have it checked for accuaracy, etc, and then maybe eight would be selected. Make it a challenge to get accepted. Speeches would be written and slides created (NO BULLETS!!!) Then, wouldn't it be great if they'd get to give those speeches in an assembly - or even as an evening event that parents could attend? All the speeches would be filmed and posted to, maybe, the Keystone Commons, or even to the district's own site. The bio's of the speech givers would be withheld unless the parents knew a password or something, if that was a concern. (They don't have a problem with posting images and names of kids playing sports, though.) I'm also thinking that, if these speeches were given during the school day they could be live streamed to other classes around the country. Stay with me here - maybe not the country, but the state. Several teachers doing this and then the top speeches get chosen and could be presented virtually over video conference units, or streamed over the PAIUnet. Or.. I guess that's jumping the gun, isn't it?

Max length of a speech is ten minutes. Max number of presenters in a night is 7 or 8, maybe. The details would be worked out later. I'm just thinking out loud.

Don't you love the idea? Wanna get that started? How can I help? Say the word.


Edit: 6-12-10
I didn't want this buried in the comments. MANY thanks to ATLTeacher who left the following as a comment:
Examples here: http://tedxproject.wordpress.com/
http://teachingwithted.pbworks.com/

MANY thanks to ATLTeacher, first of all. But second, I'm wondering where the heck I've been if I hadn't known about those two great sites before.  Can't wait to share them with the teachers. I'm really hoping someone around here will get this going. I'd LOVE to see it.

Posted in: Speech,Ted,video