TED+Talks

Kara's TED talks.

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This video and Sir Ken Robinson was a great view. I like his statement that if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will not come up with anything original. Also, the statement that we grow out of creativity is poignant. These statements stick out because I believe he is right. The way educators present the content lead students to believe that there is only one way to arrive at an answer and in some cases, there is only one answer. In some situations, there are multiple ways to arrive at an answer and allowing students to figure out the way to that answer stimulates creativity. When we do not incorporate things that allow students to be creative or do not incorporate their passions in lesson plans, they will not only lose interest in what you are teaching but they will also not be able to recall the content later in life when it is needed.

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This video is interesting because Pranav is interested in joining the digital and physical world seamlessly. His technology allows us to take our digital world with us wherever we go. Taking pictures by just the gesture or allowing us to see a video version of a news article from a newspaper is just mind blowing. If this is the direction technology is headed, teachers need to use technology in the classroom now more than ever to prepare students for the future. This is definitely a great example of the “Did you know?” video and proof that we are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist. If the digital world is moving in this direction, who knows how many new jobs this technology will create.

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I chose this video because I had a hard time learning math in school but it is the one subject I am most excited to teach. I am excited to teach math because I have learned in my master’s classes the correct way math should be taught. I am excited to offer more students the opportunity to learn and engage in constructing their knowledge of math concepts in a way that I was not afforded. This video stuck out to me because it’s about using computers to teach math as well as connecting it to the real world. I also like the way he separated math and calculating. We spend so much time trying to ingrain in our students’ brain how to calculate and not all students (like me) can just pick it up. If you’re like me, you need to know why you are doing these calculations and how it is going to apply to your everyday life. A lot of times teachers may answer your application question with, “Well if you’re going to be an architect…” What if I am not going to be an architect? When we spend less time getting students to calculate problems and allow them more time on conceptualizing and applying math problems to their real world as Wolfram stated, I believe this allows students to connect to mathematics and they become more interested and accepting of the subject. Also, I like how Wolfram responds to the statement that computers dumb math down. It is spot on because math is still taught in a traditional way that does not prepare students for the real world because when students get to the real world, there are computers that allow for that calculating. However, it is up to the student to know what kind of problem they have and how they need to solve it. We need to teach students to become problem solvers, not memorizers of facts.

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Laufenberg’s opening in this video really highlights how technology is ever changing. Her views on education mirror what I hope to do with my future students. It really made me think about how educators and the education system do steer students to the thought that there is only one right answer and it does not allow students to be creative and become problem solvers. Reflecting on this, I have realized how I have lost some creativity and problem solving skills due to the fact that all I want to know is what the educator wants (what is the right answer). Also, when a professor allows freedom, it becomes a scary assignment because there aren’t guidelines and I can’t be sure what I am doing is the right way. Elementary school is where it all begins and can decide whether a student embraces creativity and begins constructing their knowledge with the guidance of an educator or has to realize later in life they have lost the creativity and just want to strive for the right answer. Coming from experience, it is hard to reverse. However I strive to encourage creativity and knowledge building in my students so that they may have a better educational experience than I did and become creative thinkers.