Inspirational Videos

Khan Academy
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html 


Khan Academy is a great resource for students and teachers alike. This video by it's creator, Salman Khan really dips into the future of what educator can be, especially in today's world. This video can provide lots of great ideas on how to use http://www.khanacademy.org/ for math interventions, enrichment and home learning.


Malcom Gladwell on Choices
http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html 


Malcom Gladwell does a really nice job (not combing his hair) outlining how choices affected the spaghetti sauce industry. Its not a far stretch to see how the connection of choice reaches the education world. He talks about quality of choices and how the person who is making the choices should have some input in the choices that they receive. This was a great connection to how as teachers in the classroom we need to pay close attention to the choices we are offering our students. 


Dan Pink on Motivation in the Work Place
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

This video is another video directed at business but can also be applied to education. Motivation is something that is at the root of education and whether or not our students are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Dan argues that when you have a narrow focus (standardized tests) you are actually diminishing creativity and inspiration. He says that "students" need to direct their own goals and own focus. His quote "If you want compliance than management is great. If you want engagement, self direction works better" sums it up perfectly.


Sugata Mitra and Child Driven Education
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

This was a really interesting video in which this man, Sugata, put high tech computers in inner cities in India. These computers taught very complex ideas to children who could access and watch this videos whenever they wanted too. The complex information was interestingly enough transfer to the students and they had a very high level retention of the material. His argument was that because the children could control the pace at which they were learning and also when they learned it, they took more away.

Ken Robinson on Changing Education Paradigms
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html 

This is a very interesting and engaging video done a lot like the UPS commercials with the white board. Ken takes you through his idea on how education has changed throughout history and outlines his ideas on why our education system is failing. He talks about how we are pushing students out of an assembly line and how creativity diminishes in a student as they go through school. All in all a very interesting way to look at the American education system.