The perfect cold opening

Stop wasting time at the beginning of a talk to introduce yourself, explain why you were asked to give a talk, list an agenda of what you want to talk about, make a poor attempt at a joke. Instead, jump in and get on with the content.

This video, of a very short TED Talk, is a perfect example of how a cold opening can grab the audience's attention right from the beginning. You'll always have time to do those other things later in your talk, but the first 30 seconds are so precious, why waste them?

Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car | Video on TED.com

Sebastian's talk has all the elements of a great opening, and follows Garr Reynolds' instructions to start your presentation with PUNCH. It was a personal story of his interests as a boy, an unexpected turn of events when he lost his good friend to a car accident, a novel way to look at the challenge of automobile travel, presented a challenging problem to overcome, and was humorous in its delivery.

Chris Anderson (TED Curator) on Effective Communication

Chris Anderson is the curator of the TED Conference, which I have referred to numerous times, and which is the source of the astoundingly popular TED Talks available online for free. In an interview with Charlie Rose, he discusses a bit of the history behind TED as well as the 18-minute format and other things. About half way through the interview, Charlie Rose asks a very poignant question: "What have you learned about the ability to communicate?" Chris's response contains a number of important points for everyone who needs to communicate important information, especially teachers.

Tell Dramatic Stories

The TED Talks format resembles the ancient practice of telling stories around a campfire. For ages before modern civilization, families and tribes would gather around a campfire and share stories that would connect on a deep level with each other. These stories, he says, "send fireworks exploding in the brains of everyone in the audience."

Ancient Storytelling – Photo Credit: Flickr User ihave3kids

How different from the gazed looks often found on the faces of high school and college students! Could telling stories be an answer to improving the attention of students in the classroom? In his book, Brain Rules, John Medina explains that stories elicit emotions which have a large impact on retention. What is so impressive about TED, is that these 18 minute talks are viewed hundreds of thousands of times a day by people all over the world. Now that is a captive audience! Stories can be used in the classroom to grab attention, illustrate a point, or encourage reflective thinking.

Be Transparent

Chris says that those who want to puff themselves up tend to "switch off the audience." But people who allow themselves to feel vulnerable, who are honest and transparent about who they are, look audience members in the eye, and share their passion are able to connect with their audience. This level of connection, he suggests, actually involves neurons firing in the audience member which mirror the neurons in the speaker.

Teachers expend enormous amounts of effort trying to help their students give a damn and see things from their point of view. Unfortunately, this often manifests itself in the form of hour long lectures about a topic that students struggle to relate to. Relinquishing the desire to appear intelligent and academic allows you to become accessible to those you are trying to teach.

Simplify

"A lot of people are brilliant but get lost in jargon." Empathy is a necessary characteristic for a presenter to have if he or she wants to connect to and communicate with an audience. Most effective presenters have developed the skill of simplifying their material so that it is clear enough for everyone to understand it without dumbing it down too much. Similarly, teachers must have the presence of mind to know when they are using vocabulary that is above the comprehension level of those they are teaching, and the ability to rephrase the information using words appropriate to the experience and knowledge of their students.

You can view the entire interview here: http://www.charlierose.com/view/content/11483

Episode 0: Stay tuned...

Brainslides Intro by Nathan Cashion Listen on Posterous

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Happy presenting!

Amazing Lecture – Richard Dawkins

The first installment in my Amazing Lecture Series comes from a well-known and controversial individual. From the YouTube description:

Oxford professor Richard Dawkins presents a series of lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it. With brilliance and clarity, Dawkins unravels an educational gem that will mesmerize young and old alike. Illuminating demonstrations, wildlife, virtual reality, and special guests (including Douglas Adams) all combine to make this collection a timeless classic. The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children were founded by Michael Faraday in 1825, with himself as the inaugural lecturer. The 1991 lecturer was Richard Dawkins whose five one-hour lectures, originally televised by the BBC, are now available free online, courtesy of The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.

Wherever you stand on the issue of Evolution vs. Intelligent Design, and no matter your religious beliefs (Dawkins is a militant atheist), it is difficult to deny that Richard Dawkins has prepared and delivered an amazing lecture. Dawkins elaborates upon the theory of evolution in five installments, each building upon the content of the previous lectures. While he doesn't have the most exciting personality, or energetic voice, he does use a wide variety of teaching tools to compensate. Yes, he uses slides, but very few. He also uses toy dinosaurs, live snakes & bugs, microscopes, guest speakers, paintings, videos, fossils, lasers, smoke, and more! Students are frequently asked to participate, not just by answering questions, but by coming to the front of the class and performing a task that illustrates or demonstrates an important point, such as working a scanning electron microscope.

Of course, Dr. Dawkins isn't quite perfect. The authenticity of his lecture would benefit if he relied less on his notes and spoke more naturally and spontaneously. Yet, it is obvious that the amount of preparation that went into 5 hours of classroom lecture far exceeded the average for college professors. Teachers would improve their lectures by implementing only a fraction of the teaching tools employed in this series.

http://richarddawkins.net/growingupintheuniverse Oxford professor Richard Dawkins presents a series of lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it. With brilliance and clarity, Dawkins unravels an educational gem that will mesmerize young and old alike. Illuminating demonstrations, wildlife, virtual reality, and special guests (including Douglas Adams) all combine to make this collection a timeless classic.

You can watch the full series here: Growing up in the Universe

Washington Post: U.S. teaching practices oppose

This article from Linda Darling-Hammond at the Washington Post summed up what I have noticed and feared about education for some time now.

"The first ever International Summit on Teaching, convened last week in New York City, showed perhaps more clearly than ever that the United States has been pursuing an approach to teaching almost diametrically opposed to that pursued by the highest-achieving nations."

It has been clear to me in my experience as a student that teaching practices rarely match what we know about how people learn. And yet, many other countries seem to understand it pretty well.

"…[G]overnment officials and union leaders from 16 nations met together in candid conversations that found substantial consensus about how to create a well-prepared and accountable teaching profession. … The growing de-professionalization of teaching in America was recognized as out of step with the strategies pursued by the world’s educational leaders."

I understand that the country has deep economic issues., but those in charge seem to be narrowly focused on the budget issues at hand, rather than looking at return on investment.

"And with states’ willingness to lower standards rather than raise salaries for the teachers of the poor, a growing number of recruits enter with little prior training, trying to learn on-the-job with the uneven mentoring provided by cash-strapped districts."

And yet, I am not sure what the solution is...

"Meanwhile, some policymakers argue that we should eliminate requirements for teacher training, stop paying teachers for gaining more education, let anyone enter teaching, and fire those later who fail to raise student test scores. And efforts like those in Wisconsin to eliminate collective bargaining create the prospect that salaries and working conditions will sink even lower, making teaching an unattractive career for anyone with other professional options."

NATHAN

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/darling-hammond-us-vs-highest-achieving-nations-in-education/2011/03/22/ABkNeaCB_blog.html

The Good and Bad of the Prezi Contest Winner

Today, Prezi announced the winner of its iPad Contest. I am excited by the results, but also slightly concerned. The contest asked participants to create a Prezi presentation that would answer the question "iPad + Prezi = ?" in an effort to explore the possibilities of using the new Prezi for iPad app. New technology is always exciting and – like many teachers and students – my first thoughts go towards how it can be used in the classroom. I viewed all 7 finalists for the competition and nearly all of them mentioned using Prezi + iPad in some educational setting.

I especially liked Derek Jones' presentation which explored using Prezi for iPad in various combinations, such as using one iPad to browse various presentations, or using multiple iPads to interact with the teacher's presentation. Check out this concept from his presentation: While a teacher is lecturing, a question can be shown on the projector screen while the possible answers are shown on the students' iPad screens. Each student can then respond on their iPad. How awesome is that?!

Concept: Use Prezi + iPad as a quiz & feedback tool in the classroom

While this functionality is not yet possible with Prezi, it is this conceptual thinking that drives technology forward and makes it worthwhile to explore it's use in the classroom.

The winner, by popular vote, of the Prezi + iPad contest was Will Gibbs, a History teacher in Philadelphia. Will's presentation also encourages the exploration of using new technologies in the classroom and emphasizes the importance of teachers and private companies in moving forward and revolutionizing the tools available for education. In particular, he mentions the use of tests that haven't changed in 30 years! While I agree with Will that "there is far too much stagnancy in our educational institutions right now," his presentation also suggests a viewpoint that I have heard more and more from teachers, that greatly concerns me. Evidently, some people think that using old technology is ridiculous.

I completely disagree that all old technology must die!

There seems to be a fear from some teachers that if they are not using the most current and up to date tools in their classroom that they themselves may become defunct, lose touch with their students, and fail as a teacher. This is not true!

Yes, teachers need to be flexible and willing to try new things as they are available to them, and new technology is one of the greatest ways to get student attention and encourage students to actively participate. But this doesn't mean that it is ridiculous to use tools such as overheads, chalkboards, and dioramas in the classroom today. Sure, updated versions such as document cameras and whiteboards might be better, and allowing students to create stop-motion film or podcasts are a great alternative. But sometimes paper and pencil are just more effective than handing out 20 iPads for the students to sketch on.

We need to use technology that is proven to be effective, not just technology that is new!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Amazing Lecture Series

Things have been slow here on Brainslides as I have been transitioning from being a full time student to being a full time employee. I often hear bloggers promising that they will be better about posting every day or every week. I'm not going to go there just yet, because the transition is still in full swing and I feel it is important to give priority to other things such as my social life and physical fitness (I did graduate in Exercise Science, after all).

However, I do have a set of priorities outlined for this blog, one of which is to introduce you to a series of amazing lectures or lecturers that I have come across in my personal experience or that I have found on the web. I hope to show educators that there are alternatives to the monotony of reading PowerPoint slides and that it can be done in the classroom. I will focus on sharing examples of other teachers who have found ways to use slideware or other technology to enhance their teaching and improve their students' learning.

[caption id="attachment_103" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="BYU Professor Lectures on Finance ©2010 BYU Photo"][/caption]

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