Wednesday, May 4, 2011

TED Talks: Julia Sweeney lets go of God

1. What are your take-aways from this video?











When parents lie to their children, they are less likely to be faithful to a religion. When stories are told that are totally bogus to enforce religion, it makes believing less likely.

2. What are the speaker's effective speaking techniques?


 She uses stories common from her childhood to exemplify her point. She uses the classical lie of Santa Clause, along with other lies of childhood, as an analogy to the story of God. She makes fun of stereotypes. She uses common sense to drive in her points.

3. What is his/her presentation style?


She uses different tones of voice for each character in her voice. She almost dictates her story because it sounds very rehearsed and her tones of voice are perfect for what she is saying. When she makes a mistake with her microphone, she plays it off and makes the audience laugh.

4. What matters from this video? How does it connect to you personally? To education? To the world?


When childhood dreams are dependent in lies to prolong innocence, when children grew up, they will not believe in things that adults do. This has always been present in my life. When I was told that Santa Clause wasn't real, I also abandoned my faith in God. When certain subjects are being taught that are only being taught at a surface level, the teachers should not lie to their students to make it make sense to them. Society needs to rethink creating fantastic images of unreal figures so that people will not lose faith in the system (see Vietnam).

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

TED Talks: David Cameron talks fiscal crysis

1. What are your take-aways from this video?

At least some people in the world ralize that government cannot do more without ore money. The government can not be transparent and accountable to its people with the technological revolution of today.

2. What are the speaker's effective speaking techniques?

He gives props to both sides of the arguement. He draws his ideas from both sides of the political spectrum to keep both sides interested. He presents the history of government in a way that makes his point more pertinant.

3. What is his/her presentation style?

He woos the audience with his smooth British accent. He uses facts, figures and examples to make his point seem extremely legitament.

4. What matters from this video? How does it connect to you personally? To education? To the world?

Making government transparent is a very good way to disinfect it. They say that sunlight is the best disinfectant. I want to be involved in the things that influence my life: government. With Cameron's ideas, this is possible. In fact, he is simply stating the facts. These notiions are more than ideas; they are happening now.

Monday, May 2, 2011

TED Talks: Dave Egger talks about a new learning environment

1. What are your take-aways from this video?

Kids want the instructors who can care about their personal success and learning. When students are given this opportunity to work on only homework when they want to be there right after school, they get done without procrastinating.

2. What are the speaker's effective speaking techniques?

He diffuses the fomality of the event by saying how nervious he is to talk at the event. He makes jokes about himself and his own follies to make him seem more personable. He tells what is going through his mind, such as telling that he wanted to swear but did not see it fit.

3. What is his/her presentation style?
He talks for a very long time about his story with virtually not pointfir the first half of his talk. He makes a fool of himself to make the audience warm up to him with this story, full with pictures and jokes.

4. What matters from this video? How does it connect to you personally? To education? To the world?

This seemed like a good idea. Students who are given the opportunity for one-on-one work on their homework do their homework well and quickly without distraction. However, when he begins talking about how the students became more engaged when they "wrote a book as a class", this type of teaching style is sure to come out with engaged, unknowledgeable students. Traditional education works. Tutoring is an invaluable tool to have, however.
Also, I did see that students are more engaged when the envronment of the classroom is more whymsical and fun-loving. This makes sense. Stoic rooms to not make students want to be in the classroom. The world needs to know that the world is a better place when it is more asthetically appealing.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

TED Talks: Arthur Benjamin talks about revolutionizing math

1. What are your take-aways from this video?


Today, many schools are taking their math curriculums and making them fuzzy and non distinct, in essence teaching a math class as a philosophy class is taught. However, Mr. Benjamin offers a legitimate and insightful look into what the future of mathematics could be. And I like it. He says that the ultimate step in math should be probability and statistics, arguing that this is the change that so many want in math for the 21st century without watering down the rigor.

2. What are the speaker's effective speaking techniques?


He makes nerdy math jokes that only the ones who are influential in the field would understand. He speaks quickly and gets his point across without muddling it up with numbers and stories.

3. What is his/her presentation style?


His presentation style is short and sweet. He makes his point, drives it in with common knowledge and then summarizes at the end.

4. What matters from this video? How does it connect to you personally? To education? To the world?


This video offers a unique perspective into what the future of mathematics could look like without watering down the level of rigor for students. He claims that probability is something that matters more to the average high school graduate than calculus. Which is true. I would love to be in a statistics class rather than a calculus class because I think it would apply more to my world. Education should chose which path to take. The world could be a better place with this knowledge under everyone's collective belt.