The perfect guest speaker in your classroom can motivate students, add spark to a lesson, and set the stage for great learning experiences. But we all know the results of a less than perfect speaker. While I think a real, live, quality speaker is maybe ideal, there is a lot to be said for the electronic version.
I have become a super fan of TED Talks. If you don’t know about them, please take some time to explore the thousands of recordings on every topic imaginable. Most are between seven and 15 minutes in length; they are performed in front of a live audience and are professionally recorded.
A quick search for “computer science” yields hundreds of possibilities. You will find Jay Silver: Hack a banana, make a keyboard!; Shimon Schocken: The self-organizing computer course; Jinha Lee: Reach into a computer and grab a pixel; and so many more you won’t know where to start!
The series of talks on “technology” is rich with presentations by visionaries such as Ray Kurzweil, Juan Enriquez, and Sheryl Sandberg. One of my favorite CS related topics is data analysis. The “Making sense of too much data” series of ten talks is amazing. I’m sure you will think so too. If you are looking for motivation to spur students in solving real-world problems, just pick a topic, search TED Talks, and get ready to be inspired.
Invite the “guest speakers” from Ted Talks into your classroom. You will get subject experts, inspiration, and excitement with no bad surprises!
Pat Phillips
Editor, CSTA Voice