A great way to introduce lessons

I love using Ted talks in my classes! After the first one, students always ask, "When can we watch another?" And it's not because they just want to watch a video and "veg out." They do a lot of work based on the videos we watch. They like them because the topics are interesting and students like to hear what their classmates say about the videos. We get into some lively debates! There are videos on a variety of topics, but it can take awhile to find one that relates to what you are studying. You can search for videos on a variety of topics and by duration, but Ted could use a better 'tagging' system to make it easier to find videos. As an English teacher, I can always find a talk that I can use. I start with the standards we are working on and the I find a talk that I think is interesting to my students. Teachers in other subjects may find it more time consuming to find a talk that relates to what they are studying.

TED Talks is a great resource to have in any classroom. I have used them to review learning, introduce a new topic, or to get kids interested in the subject or new unit.TED Talks are typically not very long, but get right to the point of the topic. These videos could also be used to start a classroom discussion.