English teacher Debora Hill’s senior English classes demonstrated their abilities to spread ideas worth sharing, by presenting their own TED talks to their classmates.
TED is a nonprofit organization that uses lessons and speeches to spread ideas. The talks are 18 minutes or less and are set in New York and Vancouver where hundreds of people can come and watch the speakers.
Hill said that ever since she discovered the TED talk world she has been addicted to watching them. She came across some other teachers on the internet who had their students do their own TED talks so she decided to give it a try. Hill has been showing the talks for years, but this is the first year she has had students make their own.
“It’s a perfect assignment especially for seniors because they’re going off into the world and [their] developmentally at an age where ideas are important to [them],” Hill said.
Senior Joseph Powell believes that the purpose of the TED talks was to practice what a good presentation is.
“When I was watching the class present their TED talks I felt like he was watching real live talks,” Powell said. “Students got to choose their own talks, which meant they actually cared about what they were saying which made it a good unit.”
Senior Talia Purnell said that doing TED talks was a great unit because it gave students the chance to express themselves. She said that what made the TED talks really interesting was that it was very relatable and personable for a lot of students.
“The fact that it really came from my heart made it different,” Purnell said.
Hill said that she was very impressed with the students presentations and that she loved the variety of ideas, topics, and tones. Her goal with the project was that eventually each person would find something they could tap into that really mattered to them.
“This was so different from having students do a presentation that has a dry topic,” Hill said. It’s different than other assignments because it’s real. It’s a real message and real personal stories.”
Hill said that she found out all kinds of things about students lives that she would not have known otherwise
Senior Jasmine Nadim decided on her TED talk topic after doing a brainstorming activity. Nadim said that she finally chose her topic to be something she had always wanted to write about and share but never had the chance to.
“I was nervous presenting my TED talk,” Nadim said. “I wanted it to be at the caliber of actual talks but the more I practiced and got comfortable with it, the more I realized that the quality of the talk depends on how much you care about what you’re saying.”
Nadim said that she loved expressing something personal and important to her to a group of people who she does not tend to share that side of herself with.
Nadim also said that she thought other people’s TED talks were really interesting.
“Their content opened my eyes to a lot of new concepts but also hearing what my classmates were passionate about helped me see them in a new light,” Nadim said. “It was much a bonding exercise as it was an academic one.”
Senior Smith Levi  chose his topic of disrespect after witnessing his peers, time and time again, acting disrespectful. Levi said that since the goal of his talk was to make people feel badly, it made presenting very uncomfortable. Levi said he ended up just reading his script, even then, he was too nervous to present well.
“Other people, like Joseph Powell had really beautiful and intense stories that made me see the teller in a whole new light,” Levi said. “Others, like Zane Haney, showed their talents through their talks. It’s cool to see my peers pursuing their passions.”
Levi said that despite everything he still enjoyed making the presentation. He had a lot of fun with his slides and his anecdotes, and that he is happy that he has his talk, even if it may not  have changed anyone’s thinking.