In exploring the TEDTalks Education I saw several topics and speakers that I really wanted to listen to, so I began with Amy Tan's "Where Does Creativity Hide?" Tan has always been a favorite author of mine and as a teacher of gifted students I was very intrigued by what she has to say about creativity. Her podcast was very interesting and filled with humorous anecdotes from her childhood to present. I had difficulty, however, connecting her podcast to myself as a teacher or the students in my classroom.
With that I moved onto another educational topic that I think most teachers can agree on; grit. Angela Lee Duckworth's podcast, "The Key to Success? Grit." discussed why she believes that the best predictor of success is grit. She defines grit by saying, "Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint."
This podcast in particular stood out to me because I think many teachers struggle with the question, "what motivates my students?" Duckworth explains her time in the classroom as a 7th grade math teacher and the achievement trends she observed with her students. In her podcast she states, "What struck me was that I.Q was not the only difference between my best and my worst students. Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric I.Q. scores. Some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well." This statement struck a cord with me as I reflected on my students in the gifted classroom. I have been working with gifted students for four years and each year my class is a mixture of students who have qualified based on the district assessments and students who have been recommended to be in the class as a "principal placement" based on their academic progress throughout the year. One of the many lessons that I have learned in teaching these students, whether they are actually labeled "gifted" or whether they are bright learners, is that intelligence and I.Q. does not always equate high academic performance. Initially when I would come across a brilliant student who exhibited poor effort resulting in poor grades I was often at a loss. I would think to myself, "...but he's gifted! She's smart! Why is he/she doing so poorly?!" Duckworth explains that "...what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective, from a psychological perspective." After struggling with this during my first year teaching TAG, I finally realized that I needed to think back to everything I learned about student behaviors in the many Psychology classes required for my teaching license. I needed to figure out a way to motivate those students.
Duckworth ends her podcast on student motivation and grit saying, "We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them. We need to measure whether we've been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned." This quote speaks volumes to me because as an educator I am always self reflecting; thinking about what I can do better next time and how one small change from me can make a difference.
Sources
DeNeen, J. (2013, January 18). 50 Educational podcsats you should check out. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/50-educational-podcasts-you-should-check-out/.
Duckworth, A. (2013, April). Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? grit. [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit.
Tan, A. (2008, February). Amy Tan: Where does creativity hide? [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_tan_on_creativity.
This podcast in particular stood out to me because I think many teachers struggle with the question, "what motivates my students?" Duckworth explains her time in the classroom as a 7th grade math teacher and the achievement trends she observed with her students. In her podcast she states, "What struck me was that I.Q was not the only difference between my best and my worst students. Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric I.Q. scores. Some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well." This statement struck a cord with me as I reflected on my students in the gifted classroom. I have been working with gifted students for four years and each year my class is a mixture of students who have qualified based on the district assessments and students who have been recommended to be in the class as a "principal placement" based on their academic progress throughout the year. One of the many lessons that I have learned in teaching these students, whether they are actually labeled "gifted" or whether they are bright learners, is that intelligence and I.Q. does not always equate high academic performance. Initially when I would come across a brilliant student who exhibited poor effort resulting in poor grades I was often at a loss. I would think to myself, "...but he's gifted! She's smart! Why is he/she doing so poorly?!" Duckworth explains that "...what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective, from a psychological perspective." After struggling with this during my first year teaching TAG, I finally realized that I needed to think back to everything I learned about student behaviors in the many Psychology classes required for my teaching license. I needed to figure out a way to motivate those students.
Duckworth ends her podcast on student motivation and grit saying, "We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them. We need to measure whether we've been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned." This quote speaks volumes to me because as an educator I am always self reflecting; thinking about what I can do better next time and how one small change from me can make a difference.
Sources
DeNeen, J. (2013, January 18). 50 Educational podcsats you should check out. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/50-educational-podcasts-you-should-check-out/.
Duckworth, A. (2013, April). Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? grit. [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit.
Tan, A. (2008, February). Amy Tan: Where does creativity hide? [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_tan_on_creativity.
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