1. Take-Aways
One thing that I thought was very important to take away from Dave Egger’s Ted Talk was that he believes one on one attention is a huge factor in the success rate of students and their grades. This is extremely important for kids to have in the classroom to open them up to new learning opportunities, both logical and creative. At one point in the talk, he says that one on one, individual learning can benefit any student so much that it could even bring them up a whole grade level in a class. Not only are the grades important, but it shows the kids that they have the ability to learn for their own understanding and not just for the ‘A’ grade. This gives students the chance to learn for the benefit of learning and become successful later on in life because of their success rates now. It will give them the drive to strive and not just learn in school, but for the rest of their lives, and that is the true treasure.
2. Effective speaking techniques /Presentation Style
I absolutely love Dave Eggers' presentation style. He uses a lot of gestation throughout his speech to explain and emphasizes things he feels are most important. To make these stand out even more, Eggers adds in multiple photos of the people and places he has seen and been to that help the students with their homework. He seems to be very happy and d enjoys what he is talking about. He fully believes in what he is saying which makes it easy for me to believe him. He was just a complete joy to watch having fun up on stage. Having a light sense of humor is key when giving a speech because you want to keep the listener involved. He tends to acts surprised at some of what he talks about and is constantly asking himself rhetorical questions. I take pleasure in laughing along with Eggers while still understanding what he is saying at the same time. He also gets to points throughout his Ted Talk where he will talk really, really fast and then just laugh afterwards. Laughing keeps me intrigued because I constantly want to know what it is he is laughing about and why it is so funny. It is so clear that Dave Eggers LOVES what he is doing as an educator and helper to these young students.
4. What Matters
One thing that Eggers says that really got my attention was his 'domino effect.' He talks about a chain reaction that starts with just the little happiness a child gets from getting help with their homework (and the feeling of accomplishment when the homework is done). He says that happier students will make for happier families which leads to happy communities, then to happy cites, happy world, etc. Of course, when Eggers was talking about it, he meant it as a joke, but I like the sound of that idea. I think that the basis of a happy world really does rely on the happiness of the children and teenagers in it. With hormones going crazy during the teenage years, their attitudes have a ripple effect on the rest of their family. Then when the family gets together with other families in the neighborhood, the emotion spreads whether it is good or bad. After all, teenagers and children are the society of the world tomorrow, so they must have a huge effect on the people of today. Now, what matters is how we treat and teach these students in becoming better people. Dave Eggers talks about the first step being that adults and teachers need to pay more attention to the child's thoughts. He believes that students can do anything that they please when they set their mind to it and have a little help from an advisor. I love that he thinks kids are just as capable as adults in all ways. Most people have stereotyped teenagers by thinking they are always wrong, they don't know what they are doing, and that they just cannot handle things as well as adults can. Eggers thinks that teens can do it- as long as they have drive. He says that students can develop something grand if they are just told what to do. In my life, I have to agree with that. It is not always easy to develop your own idea when millions and trillions are already out there. If a teacher would start out with a basic idea, the student could take it and make it bloom into something amazing.
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