TED-Ed Innovative Educators: How do you pioneer a program?
By Laura McClure on June 16, 2015 in TED-Ed Innovative Educators
TED-Ed is bringing together 28 thoughtful and innovative educators to try something new this summer: the TED-Ed Innovative Educator program. To learn more about the idea, read on!
The TED-Ed Innovative Educator program is a year-long professional development program for educators who are dedicated to celebrating the ideas of teachers and students around the world. As TED’s on-the-ground education ambassadors and advocates, TED-Ed Innovative Educators will engage in training, leadership activities and innovation projects that help people make the most of TED-Ed resources to drive student curiosity. If all goes well, more TED-Ed Innovative Educators will join an outstanding, supportive and ever-growing community of leaders in education from K-12 and university settings worldwide.
The program is currently in closed beta. The founding cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators is about to begin eight weeks of training during summer 2015. To read stories about this cohort’s innovation and leadership adventures after training — and to be alerted when we begin accepting applications to the next (open beta) cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators — sign up for the TED-Ed newsletter here >>
I am a homeschooling mom who will be leading an aquatic science class in the fall to a very small groups of teens, including my own son. I have a background in environmental chemistry, science educational writing, art director of science content, and currently work as a visual artist creating mobile apps. I think that all teachers have something that they can learn from each other & I consider homeschool parents to be inherently innovative. I plan on using TED-Ed videos to stimulate topic-specific discussion among the teens as part of the learning process.
I am honored to be a part of this group. I have been inspired by the dedicated and talented teachers I have “met” through this program and am in awe of the diligence and foresight by the TED ED developers of the program. We have hopes of pioneering a successful program, and cultivating real change in education, but we have to remember two things, at the very least. One is to keep the needs of the students as our focus, and our own agendas out of the way. The second is to remember that each of us were chosen because our unique experiences, backgrounds, insights, and world views. We each have a distinct voice to bring to the conversation, and we can not waver from that, now that the program has started. We are each a very specific piece that will make this machine work. As I learn more about TED and TED Ed each day, I am increasingly hopeful of its ability as a platform to share ideas that can fuel change in the world.