Teachers, it's election season and that means we are certainly going to have our differences. But whatever our differences, if there is one thing and one thing only that we can all agree upon it is this . . . a great day at work for a teacher, by definition, is one when we, the teacher, do something that sparks the curiosity of the students in our classroom.

Now just think about that for a second . . . does it get any better than that?

Well for nearly 30 years, I certainly didn’t think so . . . and then last year, I learned that yes, it can and does get better than that. Much better, in fact . . . for the truth is that today, with technology, teachers cannot only spark the curiosity of the students in their classroom they can also, at the very same time, spark the curiosity  of learners around the world.

And how does a teacher do that . . . spark the curiosity of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of learners . . . well, the answer to the question is by way of something called . . .

The TED-Ed Lesson.


And what is a TED-Ed Lesson? At its core, it’s a 3-5 minute animated video that focuses on topics ranging from chemistry to Shakespeare to origami. Each animation is created by TED-Ed in collaboration with an educator, an insanely talented scriptwriter, and an equally talented animator.

Now to see what one of these video’s looks like, let’s take a look at one that I created just two months ago and entitled Why is the US Constitution so Hard to Amend?

So there you have it . . . an example of a typical TED-Ed Lesson . . . but the typical TED-Ed Lesson doesn’t stop there. 

In other words, Ted Ed Lessons, as you can see from the slide now before you, are way more than just a video. 

A TED-Ed Lesson is also an opportunity for the teacher, in the Think section that accompanies the video, to create four multiple choice and three open-ended questions related to the video.  

Here’s one of the multiple-choice questions that I created for my lesson. It asks, “who said the earth should belong to the living?"

And here’s one of the open ended questions that I created . . . it asks, “in what ways if any would you like to see the Constitution amended?"

The typical TED-Ed Lesson also includes a Dig Deeper section, a chance for the teacher to provide those who view the lesson with additional resources to explore.  

Of all the additional resources I included in my lesson, most of them are predictable. But I also included a chance for all learners to answer a ten question survey that I created and which asked questions such as . . .

. . . “do you think the constitution should be amended to prohibit the burning or desecration of the American flag . . . and . . .

. . . “do you think the constitution should be amended to require the federal government to balance the budget on an annual basis?”

Now aside from the Watch, Think, and Dig Deeper sections, Ted Ed Lessons are also an opportunity for a teacher, in the Discuss section, to create a question that relates to the video and that can be tweeted by the students to friends and family from the classroom using their cell phones. In my case, the question I asked was “Do you think that the millennials and those that follow will be more inclined than previous generations to amend the constitution?”

Given all this, can you imagine the extent to which every single TED-Ed Lesson that I have ever put before my students has sparked their curiosity?

So now, let’s assume that my presentation this morning has inspired you to try to create a TED-Ed lesson of your own. What do you do next? Well for starters, all you need to do is go to the TED-Ed web page and nominate yourself . . . and you do this by simply answering a number of questions that appear there and then sending off those answer to the TED-Ed team.

If the team accepts your nomination, they will lead you from there.  When all's said and done, you will have engaged in a wonderfully collaborative, 2-3 three-month learning experience that will result in you having created for your students and for learners around the world . . .

a short, bite-sized snack of knowledge that is not only free but, like most bite sized snacks, highly addictive and that, on average, will be consumed by at least 100,000 learners.

Now for this teacher, and I’m assuming for you too, it doesn’t get any better than that.

So I close with a question for all of you .  . . one that I hope you will ask yourself as you walk out of here today and that question is this . . . what incredible lesson do you have inside of you and that you want to have animated and put forward. For just like me, you too have in you to not only spark the curiosity of the students in your classroom but also the curiosity of learners around the world.

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