The Big Picture

Summary:

• Who: 80+ 10th grade English students (both Survey and Honors students).
• Collective Scope: The students will analyze ALL 600+ of the currently published TED Talks (+ a few strategic TEDx Talks I will select).
• Individual Scope:  Each student will be assigned 8+ Talks to analyze individually.  These will be assigned on a first-come/first-serve basis based on their research on the TED site.
• Submissions: They will have to submit one blog entry (aka their summary) each week.  Students will have ‘contributor’ status here on this blog, therefore allowing them to upload/edit any submissions (but the final ‘publication’ will be my responsibility).  Specific writing/grading guidelines will be given to them at the launch of the project.  Additionally, each student will give a TEDxProject Talk (see below) and also publicly ‘defend’ specific talks in front of their classmates.
• Duration:  The overall project will be highlighted during a 7-week period during our 4th quarter.  This will be introduced in late March, but the majority of the work will essentially take place in April & May.

Analytical Work:

• Written Work: Students will offer a written summary of all 8+ videos they are assigned.  Each summary will be uploaded weekly as an individual blog entry following these simple rules (to guarantee a ‘Gentleman’s C’, so to speak):  1) write respectfully and thoughtfully, 2) write a minimum of 15 sentences, and c) attempt to be “remarkable” — to borrow from TED speaker Seth Godin’s talk — so that visitors will want to “remark” about your post and also consider the video itself.  Beyond that, write in a way that is meaningful and compelling. Period.  Students’ submissions will be individually evaluated based on a) the overall thesis/ideas/creativity/style and b) their writing technique and ‘final’ submission quality.
• Public Speaking/Presentation: Students will will defend — in front of the class — 2 TED Talks they highly recommend at some point in the 4th quarter; a presentation calendar will be created and made public.  Optional:  I am also contemplating having them live-present one TED Talk that is not  — in their estimation — something they enjoyed or agreed with at first pass (since TED Talks are by their very nature provocative/controversial/risky).

Culminating Project:

• Give a Talk: Each student will give their own TEDxProject Talk (in Ignite or Pecha Kucha style — 20 slides of 15 to 20 seconds each).  These will done on video, uploaded to YouTube, and then embedded here on the site to be seen by others.  Students will prepare with a ‘global’ audience in mind from day one.
• Theme: They will use “What Matters (to You)?” as their ‘essential question’ to explore for their own TEDxProject Talk.  Essentially, they will select a topic based on something that truly “matters” to them and craft a 20-slide presentation to go with it.
• Judges: I am contemplating convening a panel of ‘judges’ (as I did with the “Alice Project“) to give the kids feedback virtually (although not in real-time).

Extra Credit:

• Choice: Pick any videos you want to do, even if multiple students have done so already.
• Grade: 3 for a ‘B’ (Survey) or 5 for a ‘B’ (Honors); 6 for an ‘A’ (Survey) or 8 for an ‘A’ (Honors).
• Guidelines: Follow all writing guidelines as stated above (and in class).

Opportunities to Collaborate:

• Engage my students directly:  Simply leave comments.  The more the merrier.  They’re moderated but usually published within 24 hrs.
• Join our CoverItLive chat sessions:  Several times in April & May, we will hold CoverItLive sessions in the evenings (CST or -6GMT) to discuss various TED Talks.  If you’d like to be involved, contact me or just keep an eye out for my Twitter updates (@christianlong) or here on the TEDxProject blog.
• Become a judge:  While no formal plans have been made at this point, if anyone would like to be on a jury to evaluate the students writing and Talks, please contact me.  If we get a critical mass of interested people, I’ll convene a jury and offer instructions at that point.
• Present/Submit TEDxProject Talks (MS/HS students only):  If teachers would like to have their own students present/upload a TEDxProject Talk w/ the “What Matters (to You)?” theme, please contact me.  Instead of creating a formal process, I’d rather discuss various options with each teacher/class to fit their abilities/restrictions/interest.