Upcycled Education: TED Talks

You know how much Upcycled Education appreciates TEDtalks, right? Remember this post here?

Today, our student (yes, student) guest blogger, the amazing KH, is here to share her must-see favorites. Have you seen the three talks listed below?

Welcome, amazing KH!

Amy Cuddy's Power Pose

I think what Amy Cuddy presents in her TEDtalk is something very useful that doesn’t need a lot of resources to change your life. Plus, what she talks about is very true: 1.) many judgments are based on nonverbals, 2.) we are influenced by our nonverbals, and 3.) our bodies change our minds, our minds change our behaviors, and our behaviors change our outcomes. And I think these are very valuable things to remember in the classroom (and life) because students/people might base their judgments on how we present ourselves in the classroom. The 2-minute a day power poses, Cuddy describes, can change not only how others think of us but how we think of ourselves. If you go into a classroom feeling vulnerable, or into a meeting feeling insignificant, you can practice these 2-minute power poses and instead of faking it ‘til you make it, you can fake it ‘til you become it.

Jane McGonigal's Superbetter

I absolutely love this idea of Superbetter (Ialready downloaded the app!). In the game, you are given "power ups" that boost four types of resiliences: physical, mental, emotional, and social, and if you spend one hour a day boosting these resiliences, studies have shown that you can add ten extra years to your life. So how can you incorporate this in your classroom? So many ways!! You can actually teach your students the game. Have a special "Superbetter Board" where you can post different types of power ups, quests, and bad guys. This way students can try and complete the missions on their own time. But for me, working with young kids, I thought these would make great focus activities. Before starting the day why not give your kiddies some paper and tell them to write a short thank you note to someone they love to boost their social resilience, or tell them to jump up and down for 30 seconds to boost their physical resilience, or even give themselves a hug or pat on the back to boost their emotional resilience. So not only are you adding time to their lives, but you're helping them to stay connected and in touch with people in their lives, themselves, and their environment.

Shawn Anchor's Happiness

Basically what Shawn Anchor is saying that the world has reversed the formula for happiness. We think that if you work harder you will be more successful, and if you are more successful you'll be happier. But this is backwards because when your brain is at a positive, it functions better than at negative, neutral or stressed. So if we as teachers, train our students to think more positively, not only will they use better work ethics but they will generally become happier. And to train them to think positively we can use a series of exercises. For 21 days, you can ask students to write down three gratitudes and by doing this they will begin to scan the world for positives first rather than negatives. Journaling is a great tool used in most classrooms already, and by asking them to journal about a positive experience they had in the last 24 hours, they can relive this experience and receive the same positive effects it has on their brain. Exercise, meditation, and random acts of kindness are also activities you can use with students to focus their brain on happiness and allow them to function better and more efficiently in the classroom.

Thank you, amazing KH! She really is amazing, by the way. These TEDtalks seem so appropriate to this time of year, too. Each of them is like a mini-New Year's resolution.

I love TEDtalks and I adore my wonderful students, like KH!

Enjoy,

Jen

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