How do you say 'PowerPoint' in Masai?

This blog comes from the person at the TED conferences who prepares their speakers. If you don't know about TED and TED-Ed, you should. The conference brings some of the most interesting and influencial people on earth to speak about the area they researched, experienced with and are experts in. Some really cool stuff. The TED-Ed version connects educators and animators to make short films for students. I use them all the time. I'm even playing with submitting a lesson to TED-Ed.

The story of the blog involves this young man (his TED Talk is above) who has come up with an ingenious way to keep lions away. Someone from TED invited him to speak and the blog is about how they prepared him to travel across the world, speak in his non-native language using technology he was unfamiliar with to an audience of some of the most educated and sophisticated leaders on earth. That would freak me out, let alone a 12 year old boy from Narobi, Kenya. Chris Anderson, the curator at TED, suggests five avenues of attack in preparing people for the TED Talks, which I think are instructive for my young orators as well.

• FrameYour Story
• Plan Your Delivery
• Develope Your Stage Presence
• Plan The Multimedia
• Putting it All Together

The essence of the Ford's Theater Oratory Program are in there in topics two and three, but Ive been lookng for the other three as my students delve more into original oratory and the use of Prezi, PowerPoint, One Note ...

Enjoy.

"...don't be surprised if they start to fidgit."

This is the part of summer where potential outweighs actual. My classroom is clean and quiet and I spend a few hours each day playing with what 'could be' for next year. This summer's Big Hairy Audacious Goal: Change how I've been doing things in a fundamental way. As the summer barrels forward, the potential because actual--either it makes its way into the curriculum or it doesn't. By
August, the reality of students in a couple weeks requires fine tuning, not major overhaul. But now is the time for dreaming big.

This summers big dream:

• Spend three quarters teaching American History, not two.
• Spend one quarter teaching Civics not as a US Government class but as a Civics Laboratory

What this means in reality:

• Fold my econ module into American History... tie it to historical events rather than as a stand alone entity.
• Completely changing the research portion of the class. This is a big deal in my world. Almost everything I do has a connection to research. By lengthening the American History module, all of the projects and assessments have to change as a result.
• Fully integrate oratory and art into the classroom experience. I have been playing with some ideas for speeches and speech-writing as well as figuring out how to make the classroom move visual and interactive.

In addition, I keep playing with an idea that has been rattling around in my head for some time. What would happen if students picked the type of assessment for a particular unit. Paper Test. Project. Presentation. Paper. I have a pretty varied assessment model but they all do the same thing at the same time. What if I let them choose and then graded them accordingly? I normally have eight big assessments each year. If I required them to do at least one paper, one paper test, one presentation and one project and then let them pick the method for the other four... I'm still figuring this one out but I want to let them focus on their strengths at the same time challenging them to explore areas where either they don't have a lot of experience or feel weak in.

Part of this impetus for change comes from remarks by Sir Ken Robinson in the video above. Some highlights:

• Students are naturally different and diverse--science and math are important but not sufficient, "a real education has to give equal weight to the arts, humanities, physical education..."
• Curiosity-if you can lighten the spark ... children are natural learners. Curiosity is the engine of achievement.
• School level control--education doesn't go on in the committee rooms or legislative halls but in the classroom...

At the end of the speech he says something that has me thinking about my role as an educator. He talks about leadership in the Command and Control form. The real role is in Climate Control. He is speaking administratively but I think it applies to classroom leadership as well. Instead being teacher-boos of all things; if I create a climate where there is different, curious and student-owned learning going on, then Death Valley gets rain and the ground gets carpeted with little flowers.

I'm excited to see where potential takes me this summer.

For your viewing pleasure...Constitution Edition

We are prepping for our Constitution test this week and I have been showing them some of the great School House Rock videos as well as one made for the TED Ed project. I wanted to share them with ya'll as well.

 

When I grow up I want to be spoken word poet!

Monica commented on my last post with a link to a TEDTalk that I've watched three times now. It is more sophisticated and longer than my initial Shake and Fold TED talk but it is equally as authentic. I can tell you I am stealing her idea about lists and poetry. I already do haikus with the kids and find it a exceptional tool to get them to get to the roots of their thoughts. Now I just need to help them expand on their ideas.

Shake and Fold = just be yourself

Thanks to Jim Knight of Radical Learners for this TED video.

Mr. Knight does a great job of talking about the video so I would recommend his blog to you. What I've have been thinking about since seeing it is how genuine it is. TED conferences tend to bring out the big guns and big toys. Vice President Al Gore used a scissor lift on stage to interact with his graphs on a talk on global warming. Many of the presenters use as many computers on stages as was needed for a moon landing. One of my favorites has a scientist with backup dancers. Most TED talks are smooth-that smoothness is part of their appeal. There is something equally appealing about the unsmoothness of this presentation as well.

The speaker is Joe Smith. According to the TED talk bio on YouTube, he is a former district attorney in Oregon. The bio points out that he ran for the state's Attorney General with a campaign which accepted donations only from individuals and with a monetary cap of $100.

What I like about the presentation is its authenticity. A basin of water and paper towels. You get a sense he is a little nervous or at least a little out of his element. Mr. Smith has a sense of humor which points out that he understands that simplest ideas often sound too simple to be taken seriously. He doesn't get us all boo-hooey over the environment although that is the focus of the piece. I appreciate how simply he corrects himself when he misstates his evidence. There is even something authentically low tech about the fact that the handlers in Portland didn't tuck in his microphone cord.

I think sometimes as speakers we get enamored with technology and wowing an audience.

• But if we don't have something to say ...
• What if the bells and whistles get in the way of the audience hearing the your idea ...
• What if the presenter gets swallowed up in the presentation ...

There is a great scene in the movie Hitch where one character says that a pair of shoes the dating consultant (that's Hitchens) told him to buy aren't what he would normally buy. He says:

Man : Yeah, but I don't think they're really me.

Alex 'Hitch' Hitchens : "You" is a very fluid concept right now. You bought the shoes. You look great in the shoes. That's the you I'm talking about.

As speakers, we need to sometimes try on new shoes. The 'new' technology or prop or technique can be a asset in our attempt to inform, inspire and convince. However, if, with appropriate practice, the new doesn't meld with who you authentically are, then it will more than likely get in the way of informing, inspiring and convincing.