PREFACE/ENCOURAGEMENT/PONTIFICATION: Stretch your mind. It’s a huge world out there, and there’s a lot to discover.
TED talks (www.ted.com) are an invaluable source of information. You’ll find a lot of talks that you agree with, and a lot that you don’t. I like to download (while I’m on a wi-fi network) the talks to my phone app and listen to them in the car. This way you don’t use your data plan – just remember to remove the talk from your phone when finished since it takes up space. Just don’t watch the video while you’re driving! It takes self-control, but, hey, you’re a responsible adult.
Here’s the “About Our Organization” from their site:
“TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.”
You can sort the talks in all kinds of ways – by time, funny, inspiring, topic, most popular, etc. to find what you need.Some of the talks have marvelous ideas, some have great ideas that I can’t fit into my world but am glad that they exist, and some make me wonder how people can possibly think such things, or even make it to the stage. But overall it’s a great source for seeing what’s going on in the broader world.
Of course, not all the talks will be relevant to anything you do; some talks are offensive and not suitable for children. But remember that you’re the one sifting through the training for your students – you are the lead teacher/administrator/curriculum designer and responsible for culling, gleaning, adjudicating and obtaining the materials for your school. So you’ll learn a great deal in this process.
Here are just a few of what I consider to be among the best (if you look at the number of views, I’m not alone):
Ken Robinson, How schools kill creativity (20 minutes): http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity
Bunker Roy, Learning from a barefoot movement (19 minutes): http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy
Simon Sinek, How great leaders inspire action (18 minutes): http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action
Anything is Progress 