Xixi Wang

What if students and educators could share their best ideas with each other, their communities, and the world?

We’re thrilled to introduce InnovaTED — a new initiative from TED-Ed and TEDx designed to amplify the voices of students and educators around the world! Combining TED-Ed’s public speaking expertise with TEDx’s ability to activate local communities, InnovaTED is a global platform that elevates the voices and ideas of students and educators.

Ongoing support for Student Talks

For over a decade, TED-Ed Student Talks has provided free, customizable activities for educators to support their students in identifying, developing, and sharing their ideas with each other and the world. We will continue and expand our Student Talks efforts as part of this InnovaTED partnership.

A brand new Educator Talks program

As part of InnovaTED, we’re also launching a refreshed Educator Talks program: a free professional development experience that equips educators with the skills, platform, and support to identify, develop, and share their ideas. Educator Talks provides:

— Professional Growth: Educators learn essential presentation and storytelling skills directly from TED’s proven methods, boosting confidence and communication skills.

— Recognition and Impact: By creating pathways for educators to host and speak at TEDx events, educators can establish themselves as thought leaders and inspire others by sharing unique ideas on one of the world’s most recognized platforms.

— Connection and Community: Educators join a global network of peers who are passionate about creating change and sharing knowledge.

It starts with the Idea Workshop

Educators register for a virtual, interactive Idea Workshop to get started. Led by TED-Ed’s founder and executive director Logan Smalley, this one-hour professional learning session has been rated a 5-star experience by hundreds of thousands of educator participants. The workshop offers educators a dynamic opportunity to harness the power of storytelling and effective public speaking and apply it to their most powerful ideas. It guides educators through the initial stages of crafting a TED-style talk, and also provides meaningful professional development that supports enhanced communication and presentation skills to be applied in classrooms, school board and PTO meetings, and more.

Once the workshop is completed, educators are presented with exclusive benefits to continue developing their talk and sharing their ideas. These include free access to TED’s Official Public Speaking Course, a global community of practice, and unique opportunities to create or speak at TEDx events.

Register for the Idea Workshop!

How to get involved

Educator Talks is open to anyone serving K-12 students around the world. If you’re an educator, sign up for the Idea Workshop to access our newest transformative learning journey. And if you know an educator who might be interested, help spread the word by sharing this blog post and website.

Every educator has an idea worth sharing. The Idea Workshop is designed to help uncover it — and to spark a journey, supported by TED-Ed and TEDx, that not only amplifies the best ideas in education, but connects passionate educators to a global network of vital voices, defining the future of education. Make sure your voice is heard.

Winston Thomas

Ideas change everything —  and since language lets us share our ideas, learning how to use it well gives speakers the power to inspire people and even change how they think.

To help young people develop these skills and practice their public speaking, TED-Ed has created an exciting new video series! Public Speaking 101 is an 11-episode course that will teach you how to identify, develop, and share your best ideas, while mastering essential communication skills along the way. This course is great to use in classroom settings, for parents looking to guide their children on presentation and public speaking skills, or for independent learners who work best at their own pace.

How Public Speaking 101 works

The course guides you in developing your own TED-style talk through a progression of videos. Each episode focuses on an integral part of giving an engaging, memorable, and transformative talk. This ranges from strategies to uncover your best ideas, to choosing your presentation style, connecting with an audience, developing body language, and more.

The course uses excerpts from past TED speakers to highlight key ideas and prompts, and to offer a deeper understanding of what makes a talk meaningful to an audience. Each episode also comes with supporting resources and materials for further learning. This includes multiple choice questions that review the content of the episode, writing and brainstorming exercises, and a vocabulary list.

Here are the first 6 episodes of the course, with more to come by the end of 2025:

Episode 1: What happens when you share an idea?

Learn how to identify the qualities that make an idea worth sharing with an audience.

Episode 2: How to uncover your best ideas

Uncover your best ideas by exploring your unique experiences, interests, and perspective.

Episode 3: How to communicate clearly

Discover how to put together the throughline, or main idea that acts as a connective thread or roadmap for your presentation.

Episode 4: What’s the best way to give a presentation?

Decide on a presentation plan that makes you feel prepared to communicate an idea to an audience confidently and passionately.

Episode 5: How to speak with meaning

Learn to develop your voice and body language so that you are conveying meaning authentically, confidently, and comfortably.

Episode 6: 5 ways to connect with people

Find a way to build trust, interest, and a connection with your audience so that they will be open to what you have to say.

For educators looking to support students in building public speaking and communication skills in the classroom, check out TED-Ed Student Talks. This program provides free, customizable activities for educators to guide their students in identifying, developing, and sharing their ideas with each other and the world. You can find a sample of the Student Talks curriculum and more information here.

Watch the episodes and check out the course materials here, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the latest installments!

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Trinidad Algorta, an ESL teacher at a cultural institution in Uruguay.

Here, she speaks with TED-Ed’s Programs Manager, Sasha Rudenko, about incorporating the Student Talks program into an ESL curriculum, the impact it has had on her students, and what advice she has for other ESL educators.

Sasha Rudenko (SR): Tell us about the organization you work for, your role, and the students you work with.

Trinidad Algorta (TA): I am an English as a Foreign Language teacher at the cultural institution Alianza. It’s a bi-national center between the United States and Uruguay where we teach English, along with other subjects. I discovered TED-Ed the same year I had a group of teens from a program supported by the US Embassy and Department of State — they were students from public schools and different NGOs all coming for two years to learn English.

Students working through the activities

SR: How did you implement the Student Talks program? How did it fit into what you were already doing at Alianza?

TA: We were looking for something different to do with our students, and I looked at TED-Ed to create some activities for our courses and came across Student Talks. We incorporated it into our English classes. We had classes twice a week for two and a half hours, which gave us enough time to continue with our usual syllabus and still have time, about an hour once a week, to devote to the program.

“It can be hard because some students don’t feel like they are able to do it. But if they persevere, they’ll find they absolutely can do it.”

SR: If you were to think back and pick a standout moment from your time leading TED-Ed Student Talks, what would you highlight?

TA: The best moment was the event. It was awesome. I really didn’t expect as much as they did, and they surprised me. A challenging part that I remember— that was great at the same time— was when they had to choose their idea. They came up with a lot of ideas, but when they were trying to translate those ideas into a talk, it became more difficult. Some students were connected with their feelings, their interior, and their experiences. But it was hard for them to translate those feelings into a story that they were going to share with everyone. But they learned how to connect those parts and worked together as a group very well. And I was also able to connect with them, so it was a special group.

SR: So, it was challenging to translate their experiences and emotions into talks. What helped them? Was it the collaboration they had within the group?

TA: Yes, collaboration among them. Also, I relied on the Facilitator’s Guide [in the Student Talks materials] for questions to ask students when they got stuck or needed help moving forward, and that helped a lot. There were many ideas the students would say but not give them any importance, and I would tell them “but that’s your story.” And that surprised them, and they began coming up with great stories from those “not important” ideas. Half of the group were immigrants, and so many of them talked about something that happened when they came to Uruguay as it was a very important part of their lives.

Student Kiara Garrido participating in the 2024 event

SR: What skills have you observed improving the most as your students go through the Student Talks activities and events?

TA: First is speaking— English speaking. Second, their body language from standing in front of an audience and performing their speech. Third, they improved their ability to write. It’s a skill they can use in their other courses, as writing a script for a talk is similar to writing an essay. For example, how to structure writing, creating a good hook to capture a reader’s attention. All those things. And I don’t think they realized how much they were learning until they reached more advanced courses and are profiting there from this experience.

“They improved their ability to write. It’s a skill they can use in their other courses, as writing a script for a talk is similar to writing an essay.”

SR: What advice would you share with someone considering being a Student Talks facilitator?

TA: I think the most important thing is to connect with the students. Connect with them and also connect them with their partners, because there’s a lot of group work and they support each other even though the talks are individual. Another thing is don’t give up. Sometimes it can be hard because the students don’t feel like they are able to do it. But if they persevere, they’ll find they absolutely can do it and feel proud of themselves. Last year, I had a student who told me, “Okay, I can give a TED Talk in front of an audience if I don’t know anybody there. So I won’t tell my parents.” And I told him, “No, come on. Your parents must be here.” And now he’s asking me if we are going to have TED Talks this year — he wants to do it again.

The Student Talks group at the 2024 event

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here.

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Reetika Madaan, an independent educator and Student Talks facilitator for nearly a decade.

Here, she speaks with TED-Ed’s Programs Manager, Sasha Rudenko, about the challenges of building a program from the ground up outside of a school, gaining the trust of parents and the community, and how to support and believe in student voices:

Sasha Rudenko (SR): Tell us a bit about your role and what students you serve.

Reetika Madaan (RM): I’m an independent educator, communication coach, and community builder. I don’t represent any school in Ludhiana. I represent a city which was full of students ready to be heard. In 2016, I started TED-Ed Club Ludhiana — not because I was asked to, but because I saw the gap. Students had ideas, but there was no space for them to express them beyond academics and their annual functions. And when I saw this coming up across the board, I decided to build that space from scratch. There was no school backing, no grants, just a vision to start something with the students. And today, the club is a thriving city-wide platform. We’ve had multiple annual showcases, we’ve trained over 50 speakers from 15 schools across the city, and they’ve even been TEDx speakers.

Students take part in the group’s activities

SR: How did you implement the Student Talks program? How did it fit into what you were already doing in the community?

RM: I do many things alongside the TED-Ed Student Talks group. I’ve represented student youth projects at World Economic Forum, as I’m part of their Global Shapers Community. I have collaborated with state governments for skills and entrepreneurship training. When we started with TED-Ed, parents loved the personalized approach — that it wasn’t just a curriculum, which was not happening in schools. And that’s why I think its reach, credibility, and goodwill has increased every year. Ludhiana is a growing city, with lots of young people. With the popularity of social media, they all want to do things aside from academics day and night. They want playful learning activities. So I feel that I’ve brought a lot of that to Ludhiana through these programs and my passion to start new things.

“I made sure every student left with more than a talk. They left with belief. That’s how you build something lasting.”

SR: There are probably many moments since you began in 2016, but could you share any standout moments from your time leading this program?

RM: It has to be curating TEDxSarabhaNagar. Two of my TED-Ed Club students — Rayaansh Pahwa and Amaya Sahni — took the stage on the big red dot. I didn’t just train them. I stood beside them as they practiced, doubted, rewrote, and, ultimately, soared. Rayaansh challenged the rigidity of education with his talk on travel. Amaya moved the room with lessons she had learned at just age 11. That night, I wasn’t just a facilitator. I was a witness to transformation. Which was the very reason I started all this.

SR: As a facilitator since 2016, you’ve seen a couple iterations of our curriculum over the years. What skills would you say that students improve the most going through the Student Talks activities?

RM: Yes, the curriculum has changed over the years. I remember when I started, the curriculum was just a few pages. Then, slowly and steadily it became a playbook with questions and answers, all beautifully visually described and with lots of ideas on how to engage [with the students]. With every curriculum and with every personalized touch that we gave to our students, they not only became more confident, but became stronger. It was not just on the stage, but in life too. They were given the freedom to talk, and so their thinking has become much more layered, more research-oriented. There was a lot of risk-taking, but the outcomes were beautiful.

Madaan’s Student Talks group

SR: What would you say was the most challenging part of implementing the program, and how did you overcome it?

RM: The hardest part? Being an outsider. Starting with no institutional power. No school bell to ring. Just intent. When I started, it began with sessions of just three children. I documented impact, got parents involved, and eventually had schools reaching out to me. So that starting 3 students built to 25, then to 30, and then to 40. We made sure to get parents involved because one of the challenges was dropping students off at a place outside of school. But when their parents saw them doing the exercises and improving every week, that’s where we got our credibility. Then the parents began speaking about us, how much work we were doing each week, and then the schools started reaching out. I made sure every student left with more than a talk. They left with belief. That’s how you build something lasting.

 ”When they see that you care more about their story than their stage time, that’s when the real growth begins.”

SR: From your vast wealth of experience, what advice would you share with someone who is considering bring Student Talks to their students?

RM: To facilitators, I’d say encourage students to tell us what others don’t know about you. Have tough conversations with your students that allow them to talk about what they love and what they want to explore aside from academics. Help them get over pretending like they don’t need to care about something. Then the framework is there for the students to have those tough conservations with their friends or family. Be patient. Be personal. Be persistent. Your students are watching how you listen. When they see that you care more about their story than their stage time, that’s when the real growth begins. To parents, I’d say give your kids independence, or else they will not be able to have their own thoughts or speak about them. And to not expect kids to be miraculously great public speakers overnight. There is a lot of pressure on these kids already, and building skills takes time.

Participants in the Student Talks program

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here.

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Priyanka Behl, an educator at the Empower Kids Personality School.

Here, she speaks with TED-Ed’s Programs Manager, Sasha Rudenko, about integrating Student Talks into their after-school programs, the impact the program has had on their community, and how they used TEDx to host their speaker events to reach wider online audiences:

Sasha Rudenko (SR): Tell us about your school, your role, and your students.    

Priyanka Behl (PB): Empower Kids Personality School is a community school that brings together children from across 36 schools to work together in after-school programs. We also support NGO schools with the Each One Teach One program, where our students spend one weekend educating those who don’t have formal school education and are studying as part of an NGO. The whole idea is to bring resourcefulness to the resourceless, and that’s how Empower Kids has been working — more like a community initiative. TED-Ed has helped us bring this community even closer.

SR: How did you implement the Student Talks program into your school? How did it fit into what you were already doing there?

PB: We use TED-Ed as part of our skill-building after-school program. We have volunteers who help the underprivileged children who don’t have access to formal education and therefore will lack opportunities later in life, such as getting better jobs. We try to help them hone their communication skills, and I try to help them bridge the education gap so they are more employable and can potentially be pulled above the poverty line. While working with the Student Talks program, we realized that beyond communication skills, there were other gaps and things missing in their education. Gender inclusivity was missing; we realized how the younger children were vulnerable and unsure of who to talk to. We saw there were also gaps in knowledge about caste issues, socialism, racism and bias, which we had never talked about. We started with just a small group, and it was a great forum to listen, share their voices, and create an impact in the community by talking about these issues.

“It’s about you finding the voice that can change the narrative. It’s finding ideas that can create impact in your local community.”

SR: If you were to pick one standout moment from your time leading Student Talks, what would you highlight?

PB: We had birthday parties which had a lot of balloons, party poppers,  plastic plates, and all those kinds of things being used. Then, one of the students shared a talk about how unsustainable this is and the impact it has. So, we started using wheat cutlery instead of plastic. And this was largely implemented in all of the students’ 36 schools. Imagine the impact of that! They stopped using plastic cutlery and plates, and replaced it with wheat cutlery. At our events, as well, we use wheat cutlery every time. Outside of school, a big impact of this was in the landfills. Cows in India were dying because they would eat all the plastic out of the landfill that had leftover food on it. But with it being made from wheat, it was harmless for them to eat. And in our community, the cow is a holy animal, and we were able to impact the health of cows through one talk shared. I felt this was truly remarkable.

A student speaks at the TEDx event

SR: What skills have you observed improving the most as your students go through the Student Talks activities?

PB: The number one skill that they learned was leadership. Not only were they willing to be adaptable themselves, but they stepped up and helped others in the group and in the community. The number two skill would be research. When they started researching their topics, we started to see the understanding of how important it was across the board. It gave them a lot of experience finding studies, documents, and research papers, and really helped broaden their horizons for finding information. And the number three skill would have to be communication. They learned great oratory, presentation, and self-expression skills. And the workbook journal helped teach how to give better feedback and constructive feedback that really helped them improve their communication.

SR: As a facilitator, what has been the most challenging part about implementing Student Talks? And how did you overcome it?

PB: Our first challenge was to plan the first event. When you have an event, you have to think of everything from the technical list like cameras and soundproofing, and then logistically how do we get the funds to host the [TEDxYouth] event. I found it challenging for the first event to deal with the cost, and not knowing how to sell tickets or who to reach out to for a guest list. We didn’t know how to bring the right resources to the right place. But then we got a lot of great support from the TED team, and after that our second event ran much more smoothly. And we continue to learn with each event; everyone involved can teach you so much and help you evolve as a person. I’ve seen a transition in myself through building these events, and it’s related to accountability. It feels like you have been given something with a lot of trust, and you are accountable to bring forth these young voices who don’t usually have a platform to share. So I’ve evolved as a person as well.

[Editor’s note: Priyanka holds a TEDx license to host her school events. TED-Ed Student Showcases do not require tickets or funding].

A student speaks at the TEDx event

SR: So, hosting an event was your goal and something you wanted to do for your community, and you even applied for a TEDx license to host it. How did you find that it helped your mission to focus on hosting a culminating speaker event?

PB: Given that our event would be just for young people— the students— we were thinking of the potential audience for them. We wanted their talks to be seen by the change-makers, the decision-makers, and these young voices would not reach those people unless their videos were put out on a bigger forum. The TED-Ed Student Talk video selection process can take a long time, and so with hosting a TEDx event, the YouTube video links come faster. So their videos would reach more people sooner. We were thinking not only of the physical audience at the event but those online who can just listen and connect with it. I felt that TEDx gave us more access to reach a larger audience, and much sooner after the event.

“[Student Talks] is for anyone who is willing to help young voices who feel they have no forum, feel small, or that they have no impact. TED-Ed can lend you that.”

SR: What words of wisdom would you share with somebody who is thinking of becoming a Student Talks facilitator?

PB: This journey can be overwhelming, [but] if you are passionate about ideas, I think this is for you. I’ve been watching TED videos for years, and they turned out to be a perspective-shifter. So I’ve had that passion for ideas from the beginning. If you have that passion, and you want to bring ideas forward and create impact, I think this is a great forum for you. It’s not about you being a hero, it’s about you finding the voice that can change the narrative. It’s finding ideas that can create impact in your local community. It’s for anyone who is willing to help young voices who feel they have no forum, feel small, or that they have no impact, TED-Ed can lend you that. It’s a whole exploration of self-realization that comes with the idea journey. The self-exploration of why their idea matters, what impact is it going to create, how can it change the narrative— it’s something that connects and bridges the gap.

SR: Are there any tips you have after working with your students through the activities about helping them find their idea, their writing, or their research?

PB: I think the best thing that I find is giving them the space to explore. The first task we give them is to create a list of the things that they love. And on the other side, a list of things that they hate. Then we start with talking about one of the things that they hate and why. From there, they usually pick a topic from their “things they hate” list, because if you don’t like something that is happening in your community or life, then you want to talk about it and how to change it. That’s how our idea exploration begins. And it starts with a small group who don’t know each other, but eventually come to be helping each other explore their ideas, and sharing their thoughts. I think it helps them build a little community where they can be more vocal about how they truly feel. As a facilitator, seeing how much they have to share makes me feel like a student again. The ideas sometimes just blow my mind. They have such new perspectives to share, and while we think we’re facilitating, we’re actually learning in that process too.

TEDxYouth event

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Laura Tudose, an ESL teacher at a bilingual high school in Romania and Student Talks facilitator for over 7 years.

Here, she speaks with TED-Ed’s Senior Community Manager, Peter Maccario, about her years as a facilitator, the lasting community the group creates, and the importance of letting students take ownership of their learning experience:

Peter Maccario (PM): Tell us about your school and your role there.

Laura Tudose (LT): Miguel de Cervantes Bilingual High School is a Spanish bilingual theoretical high school in Bucharest, Romania. Our students study Spanish as a first foreign language and then English. My role here is that of an English teacher. I teach English mainly to high school students, and coordinate the TED-Ed Student Talks group with my fellow teachers.

PM: Can you tell us about the students that attend your school and make up the Student Talks group?

LT: The TED-Ed group is a way for students to express themselves more. We have other after-school clubs in our high school but this one is more appealing to them. Every year we have students coming to our group, and more than 80 or 90% of them don’t leave the group. Even if they graduated, they are still coming to our meetings from time to time. They made friends, and they like sharing ideas, talking about a subject that they are interested in as opposed to, for example, the debate club. It’s more personalized. We always try to emphasize that we never know what the outcome will be at the end of the school year, and it’s up to them to get involved in the meetings. We encourage the students to be the leaders of the meetings and to get involved. We, the facilitators, don’t tell them, “do this” or “do that,” unless they need some help. Some come to overcome their shyness, or they are introverted people trying to find friends in a warm environment. We don’t judge them. The Romanian system can be a little bit rigid, so our club is trying to get them out of that formality of a class.

Cervantes participants getting their certificates

PM: How did you implement TED-Ed Student Talks into the school? Did it feel like it fit already within what you do, or did you have to adapt?

LT: We were familiar with TED Talks; we used them in English class. Then we learned about TED-Ed Student Talks back in 2017 and our principal was very open to new ideas. We had a group of students who knew about TED Talks, and the Student Talks was a way to take it a step further. So we started with those students, and we had no idea what to expect or how it would evolve. We are in a more rigid educational system, so it’s not easy to make students get out of that format of being told what to do, and we also had to learn how to communicate better as facilitators.

“It’s up to them to get involved in the meetings. We encourage the students to be the leaders of the meetings and to get involved.”

PM: Do you have a stand-out moment of your time leading the Student Talks program that you’d like to highlight?

LT: I always think of one TED-Ed talk in particular. It was with my first generation of students in the group, and delivered by a student who was, and is still, passionate about the environment. She spoke about an extinct species, the blue parrot. I remember this talk because I truly believe that it was something that defined the student. It’s been many years and she is still an activist. So, she’s followed this passion and it’s also become her job. Another highlight is that we have a special place in Bucharest — a cafe we go to. We extend the invitation to current students and our graduates, and they keep coming!

Program participants

PM: What skills have you seen your students improve the most going through these activities and the program?

LT: First it’s the communication skills. Specifically, the skills that they need to be open when communicating ideas and giving feedback. Not being afraid to speak up or speak their minds. I see this with every group — some are shy or they don’t know each other. But once they become comfortable with each other, feel relaxed and not judged by the others, they open up. Second, it’s the happiness that I see on their faces. At the school event, everybody is happy that they’ve reached the end, and [performing] in front of their families, friends, and teachers, they stand out. Not all of them will have that sense of achievement in high school, but with this event they have it.

“Once they became comfortable with each other, felt relaxed and not judged by the others, they opened up. [They’re] not afraid to speak up or speak their minds.”

PM: What tips or words of wisdom would you share with someone that’s considering starting a TED-Ed Student Talks group?

LT: At the high school age, it’s important to empower them to talk about everything openly, letting them take the lead, and taking a step back. Also, I think that with the Idea Journal, it was really important that they had the copies printed out, so they have it as a real journal. Whereas if we let them work with their phones or digitally, they might not have the materials organized. With the printed version, they can actually go back to what they said in the first sessions and keep track of their progress. Without it, they’re more disorganized and may forget what was discussed in our last meeting, since we meet every two weeks.

Student group art

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Archana Mohan, co-founder of Bookosmia, India’s largest free and open digital platform for children.

Here, she speaks with TED-Ed’s Senior Community Manager, Peter Maccario, about how the Student Talks program aligned with her platform’s goal to give children a space to share their voices, and how they were able to adapt the activities to the unique needs of their students and the online setting:

Peter Maccario (PM): Tell us about Bookosmia, your role, and the students you’re serving there.

Archana Mohan (AM): I co-founded Bookosmia with Nidhi Mishra. We’ve both always been interested in the intersection of children, literature, education, and young voices. As we became parents ourselves, we thought that there should be a place where our children’s thoughts could also have space. And that’s Bookosmia: a free, open website for all children to submit their stories, poems, essays, artwork, any kind of expression. It’s a digital publishing platform that gives a certificate to every child who writes to us.

PM: How did Bookosmia get involved with the Student Talks program? 

AM: We saw the wonderful work that TED-Ed was doing with the exact same motive of having young people speak out, helping give them the voice and the structure to do so. We loved the idea and applied to be facilitators. I think it’s our third year now. And the most striking fact for us has been how unifying TED-Ed has been, how universal its ideas are, and the Idea Journal remains everybody’s favorite. They’re always talking about it!

“TED-Ed is not just about public speaking — it’s where you learn new things about new people.”

PM: How did you implement Student Talks into Bookosmia, and how did it fit into what you were already doing as a digital platform?

AM: At the beginning, we had these wonderful meetings that TED-Ed set up with other facilitators who were just starting out, where we could talk to the previous educators and ask questions. I was a bit worried because for most people, the [Student Talks groups] were being done in one place, like a school or a community center. They actually meet the [students] in person and that’s how these programs run. But I knew that for us that wouldn’t work. We knew we wanted to have our young friends from tier three schools and cities also join us. Limiting it to a physical space would automatically cut out all those children, which we thought wasn’t fair because they were already interacting with us. We wanted to do this online, so the first thing we did was assess how we could integrate this best with an online structure. The best part was all of the Student Talks activities were so flexible with what you could do in a classroom, whether online or offline. Doing the group online brought in so many diverse perspectives that I think would have been lost if we had only done it in one community center where all children go to similar schools, or come from similar income groups, or have similar backgrounds. Because we were talking to children from various parts of the country from different backgrounds, the richness of the conversation was definitely improved.

Students participate in the online Student Talks activities

PM: How were you able to start getting the students invested in the program?

AM: There’s a great activity [in the Student Talks curriculum] called “What is in your water?” which asks students to think about what they’re passionate about. What I love about that activity is no one has ever asked these children what they’re passionate about. Most people don’t think to ask children that. They ask “what are your hobbies?” Or, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Those are two common things that children get asked, but they’re never asked what they’re really passionate about, or what makes them happy. That’s what we were focusing on when we started out: getting the children to understand themselves better, then helping them understand their classmates who were all from different places. We break the ice through a lot of activities, and each of our sessions starts with something fun. I think a lot of our program takes off from where TED-Ed starts, but then we use a localized approach which children are more familiar with.

PM: What other adjustments have you made to adapt the program to your students’ needs?

AM: There is a notion that TED-Ed is an exclusive club, and I loved how we broke that down. When you tell people you’re a TED speaker, there’s value in it. But it can be a bit intimidating — the students think, “am I good enough?” From the beginning we wanted to ensure that that thought doesn’t creep into their heads. The activities at the start of the program, where students talk about their strengths, draw themselves, and write about how they’re feeling before giving a talk, we loved those and we spoke about them together. So many children said to us, “I have never given a speech in public. I’m nervous to talk and I’m an introvert.” And we realized that those were just labels that these children had heard from other people that unfortunately they had now co-opted with their personalities. And to remove these barriers for them, we showed them examples of other TED-Ed speakers. One talk we always show is from a young girl, Molly Wright. She  talks about the power of connection, and shows them that anyone can be a speaker; whatever age you are, whoever you are, you’re able to do that.

Another thing that we did if people were not comfortable on video was suggest podcasting. They went through the same process, developing a throughline, listening to talks, making outlines and everything, but they did their final talk as a podcast. It was just audio, they focused on the delivery of the speech and this allowed them to be in a comfortable space without anyone watching. Once they were comfortable in that setting, they realized they knew their talk, and the video portion just became an extension of that.

Prabhgeet giving her talk about embracing grief

PM: If you were to pick one standout moment from your time leading TED-ED Student Talks with your students, what would you highlight and why?

AM: First, I love watching them let go of their inhibitions. Second, shedding the labels that have been associated with them, either by other people or by themselves. Third, watching them learn that they and their classmates have so many unrealized skills. TED-Ed is not just about public speaking — it’s where you learn new things about new people. For example, we watched the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie TED Talk about the danger of a single story. I can’t tell you how many young people come back and say that whenever they see someone who’s different from them, or they have a prejudiced thought about them, this talk immediately comes to mind. I love how they’re able to associate those talks and use it in real life. In school, they’ve had to write essays for their classes and they’ll tell us about them saying, “in my throughline, I did this.” So they’re using the process in their schoolwork, and I think that’s only possible with a program like TED-Ed that lays out the whole process clearly. By the end of the program, the students know exactly where they need humor, where they need the hook, what they want to convey, and how to conclude.

“Anyone can be a speaker; whatever age you are, whoever you are, you’re able to do that.”

PM: You’ve spoken about a sense of confidence and building new perspectives, are there other skills you’ve seen improved by the program?

AM: Confidence has been the number one change. The second is language. English is not their first language, so while they are able to communicate quite well in English, there is also the question of “what words should I use?” One great learning has been that the simpler the language, the more it reaches people. Also, authenticity and agency are things that they have gotten introduced to. They understand that they are citizens, they have rights, and can speak up and their opinion counts. When children are taught these values, they automatically feel like they are heard and they feel valued. I think it dramatically improves how they look at things. All of this is linked to the program.

PM: What has been the most challenging part of implementing Student Talks online, and how did you overcome it?

AM: Having everybody on the same page when you’re online can be difficult. We can’t all talk at the same time, it’s too noisy. So, you have to mute people and then let each person speak. Luckily, young people are very mindful of how they conduct their online lessons, and so they understand.

Mitali giving her talk about unconscious gender bias

PM: What words of wisdom would you share with someone considering Student Talks for their students or classrooms?

AM: Keep it light and have activities that speak to the children, things that they identify with. Always start with a fun activity. One of the most fun activities we do is create your own meme. We take standard meme templates, and have them write in their own memes and they love it. We also take video of people talking, mute the audio, and ask the students to come up with their own script. What this does is make the whole atmosphere unserious, which you really need to do when you’re talking to young people. Get them invested in the activity, and then make them think.

For anyone considering the program, I would say absolutely go for it. There’s a lot to learn — not just for these young people, but also for the instructors. I think everyone benefits from listening to these young people and their fresh ideas. It’s a win for everyone.

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here, here, here, here, and here.

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Cynthia Dagmara Payes, Regina Blanco, and Violeta Morales, educators from the Instituto Guatemalteco Americano (IGA) School, a bicultural institute in Guatemala.

Here, they speak with TED-Ed’s Programs Manager, Sasha Rudenko, about integrating the program into the school’s curriculum and how it helped their students develop community, motivation, and responsibility:

Sasha Rudenko (SR): Tell us about the IGA School, your role, and your students.

Cinthya Dagmara Payes (CDP): The Instituto Guatemalteco Americano (IGA) is a bicultural institute joining the best of two cultures. We have an American culture program and we also have the curriculum from Guatemala. This is a private school where students who want to grow, learn a little bit more, and go further with the English language.

SR: How did you implement TED-Ed Student Talks into IGA? How did the program fit into what you were already doing?

CDP: We had a public speaking course here at IGA because we wanted students to develop oral skills and have them share their ideas to an audience. Then [I came across] the program on the internet, I subscribed and received a newsletter every week and it said “do you want to join the TED-Ed community?” and I was very excited to do that. So, I applied and when we got confirmed, had access to the materials and were welcomed to the community, we were very, very excited. Regina was the first teacher who helped me with reading, getting engaged with the materials, the worksheets, and working with the first group of students.

Regina Blanco (RB): Our role is to be coaches to the students and [this year] we worked with seniors to prepare their talks. We divided the Student Talks manual among the four units we have at the school, and at the end of each unit they have an oral exam based on the Talks curriculum. So within their courses, they have TED-Ed — they have philosophy, they have seminar, they have math, and within those courses we use TED-Ed. We had it as an extracurricular, but now that we also have it within the curriculum, they’re excited to work on it and have new class content.

Students participate in the Student Talks activities

SR: If you were to pick one standout moment from your time leading TED-Ed Student Talks, what would you highlight?

RB: Something that I really love is when we see our students standing up in the theater and projecting and sharing their life experiences. That is rewarding for us because this is a challenge for them. When they are able to share, are secure, and don’t have problems with the English presentation. Our students have a high level of English, but the critical thinking that they develop in the English language is incredible. When they share that, their peers in the theater think, “my god I want to be like them!”

Another thing that we really admire is that they develop the responsibility to attend and participate in the extracurricular. They have to be on time, and complete the tasks [after finishing a full school day], and sometimes they are tired and might not want to attend. But they develop the responsibility because it’s worth it to them. They develop that consciousness about the importance of attending every single class, and that is something remarkable. They start on the very first day, attend the whole year, and then they present the talk— and behind all of that is responsibility.

Violeta Morales (VM): It was really nice to see them present their ideas, talk about their experiences, and see that they were very proud after their presentation. They felt very happy and I was very pleased to see middle school students participating for the first time in this event getting so excited.

CDP: I would say that something remarkable for me is to see them empowered and overcoming the fear of standing in front of a big audience. We had 300 students in the theater. It’s not easy to just stand in front of 300 students and share your life experiences. So seeing each of them sharing a special story, their own story, that they wanted to present and that they wanted to motivate others with was really special. And celebrating ideas in the theater with the whole community. We closed the year with a very sweet taste [knowing] that we did a good job with them and that they learned a lot.

“Our students realized that to overcome their fear of speaking and sharing personal experiences, they had to practice, practice, practice. And now they feel more confident and excited to present.”

SR: We’ve talked about confidence, empowerment, and that important moment of being on stage. What other skills have you seen students improve the most going through the activities?

CDP: I would say empathy. Once they hear someone else’s story, they generate that link with the person. Many of them identify with each other’s stories because they have been through similar things, and then they feel they are not alone. They feel like they’ve been there, it also happened to them, and there is a way to overcome it. And I think this is one of the things the TED-Ed program provides, not just for the students but for the community. Because when we celebrate their stories [at the end of the year event], the whole community is paying attention, is engaged, is happy to see them, and many of them identify with the ideas and the experiences.

A student performs her final talk at the end of year event

SR: For you as facilitators, what has been the most challenging part about implementing Student Talks? And how did you overcome that challenge?

RB: When we start and during the process, the students have to learn how to stop and remember their past life experiences. And sometimes it’s not easy because they don’t want to go back to certain situations, but they have to take that time to look inside of themselves. At the end, they realize it is a worthy part of the process. Because through those experiences, positive or negative, they are better people. So, we have to work with them during those activities and help them see that they don’t have to be shy or nervous.

VM: I agree. Also motivating them, because some of them come to class and they are shy. We have to motivate them to continue speaking, and to share their experiences with other students. So we try to do that during the year and do activities for them to feel comfortable and happy to be in the program.

“Be passionate about the program. If you are passionate about the program [it] motivates the students, because you are motivated.”

SR: For somebody who is thinking about bringing the Student Talks program to their students, what tips would you share about how to approach it and set it up?

RB: It is important to highlight community. We work within communities and when they develop that sense of belonging, it becomes their safe place. And it’s easier to develop and form their skills. So that is something that is very, very important to visualize: the community that they might have. Making a safe place and a friendly place where they can be relaxed, they can share, and nobody is going to question them.

CDP: As a facilitator, it’s important to read all the materials to get engaged, but also to be passionate about the program. If you are passionate about the program then you’ll take the energy to the next level. And taking it to the next level motivates the students, because you are motivated and they see you being engaged with it. Something else we did was we gave them a pin, and having this pin is very important for them. They know that not everybody has one of these, and that they are special because they took on the challenge of being in the program. If they get one of these, they are brave for taking on the challenge of sharing, of learning, of growing. We gave them a pin and some t-shirts, and that gave them an identity with the community, with the program, with the institution. They feel they are a part of a whole and it makes them feel special, which is also key for this process.

VM: Adding to what you said, giving them pins and t-shirts after their presentation made them feel very proud. I think that helped a lot for this year’s students because many have asked me when the program is going to start because they want to participate. They really got motivated by seeing the other students and they want to be part of the same club.

CDP: A pencil, a pin, a t-shirt. As little as it seems, it’s something special for them. It makes them feel special. That’s a good thing.

IGA Students who presented their talks in November 2024

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here, here, here, and here.

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Mahrukh Bashir, a TED-Ed Innovative Educator, longtime Student Talks facilitator, and director of Millennia World School in Indonesia.

Here, she speaks with TED-Ed’s Senior Community Manager, Peter Maccario, about how she seamlessly integrated the Student Talks program into her school’s curriculum, created a collaborative, safe environment for the students to flourish and build their perspective and confidence, and shares some hard-won wisdom on bringing the program into other schools:

Peter Maccario (PM): Tell me about Millennia World School, your role, and the type of students that you service within your school.

Mahrukh Bashir (MB): I am the director of Millennia World School, with a team under me of principals, operations, research and development, and technology. At Millennia, we believe in empowering students to discover their best selves. Rather than focusing solely on academic achievement, we encourage children to pursue their passions and find joy in their learning journey. Our mission is to cultivate change-makers who are genuinely enthusiastic about making a positive impact in the world. We cater from kindergarten up to grade nine. The children are mostly Indonesians, locals, mixed races, mixed religions — it’s a school for everyone basically.

PM: You’ve been doing this for a very long time with your school, which is incredible. How did you implement TED-Ed Student Talks into Millennia and how does it fit into what you already do at the school?

MB: I have been using TED-Ed Student Talks since it started. I started TED-Ed as a club, but I wanted it to be more than a club, I wanted it to be part of our curriculum. When TED-Ed Clubs changed to TED-Ed Student Talks— when the first TED-Ed curriculum book was changed— it was a good opportunity for me to put it in the curriculum, and not to teach it as an extracurricular or as a club anymore. So then we started doing TED-Ed as part of student development; as a class which focuses on public speaking using the TED-Ed curriculum. It kind of fit in perfectly because kids liked it— it was public speaking but it was fun, and it wasn’t as structured as other subjects they had to do.

Mahrukh Bashir and students working on Student Talks activities

PM: What is the atmosphere of the class? And why do you think students like it so much? 

MB: I have asked my students “why do you like it? If we made it optional, would you still want to do it?” Most of my students said yes they would still want to participate in it. And I asked why. They said that it helps them look at things in a different perspective. When we start the [class], I tell my students that when you are going to speak, when you are going to choose a topic or subject for the talk, it [should] be something which is meaningful; an idea which is beneficial for other people. So they feel that they are able to contribute to the world in some way. And it aligns completely with Millennia’s philosophy since we focus a lot on social responsibility.

“Judgment-free expression has shown me how creating safe spaces for students can unlock their potential in unexpected ways.”

With [Student Talks] they feel like they are contributing to a broader audience because once their talks are on YouTube there’s a wider audience that sees it. I had a student who was facing body shaming from her own family, and it was very difficult for her. When she was thinking about her topic, this was not something that she really wanted to talk about. But then later she realized that there are a lot of kids who could be feeling the same thing, and would benefit from it. It was sharing something with others which made it feel that it could be more meaningful. I feel that when kids feel comfortable in that way, they want to do it. They are willing to put themselves out there even though I know that they are nervous.

Mahrukh Bashir with Millennia School’s Student Talks participants

PM: Is there one moment that really sticks in your mind as being the reason why you do this?

MB: There are multiple! One highlight is that I had this student who was absolutely scared to talk in public. She would do everything to stay away. Extremely smart girl but very scared even to be seen in public. So when she came to my class we started talking about it, and she asked if she had to do the talk. I told her that it’s completely up to her, we will work on it, we’ll go through the process, she’ll write the talk, and in the end if she doesn’t want to perform it, it’s okay. We can just publish her work as she’s written it. No pressure. And then she was okay. She worked really hard on it, we practiced speaking, and she did her research.

Then, finally it was one week before they had to do their talk. She came up to me, and said “I think I want to do it; but will you be disappointed in me if I back out at the last minute?” I responded, “I can never be disappointed, you have done amazing, and saying that you want to do it is a proud moment for me.” Then, on the day [of the talks], she comes and tells me she wants to be the first one to do the talk. So, I was like, “okay, let’s go!”

And she did it; she did it so beautifully. Her parents were in the audience and they started crying after her talk finished. She overcame her fear of speaking in public. This really gives me goosebumps every time I think about it. There was no pressure for her if she didn’t want to do it, and I left it to her. And that is one of the moments that I think really changed her, and she was able to overcome that fear.

“It gives them a lot of confidence. It tells them that they are capable of sharing something meaningful with the world.”

PM: What skills have you seen your students improve the most by going through these activities and the program?

MB: One of the skills I’ve seen developing in my students is confidence. Skills like research, collaboration, and feedback they also get from other subjects we are teaching them. But the confidence of coming up with the idea and then sticking to the idea, saying this is what I want to share, it’s my story, and my perspective. And then actually being brave enough to come up in front of an audience and speaking. So, for me, that is the skill which is developed most in the kids: being brave and having confidence.

Millennia World School’s Student Talk event

PM: What tips or words of wisdom would you share with a teacher, a director, or someone who is considering bringing TED-Ed Student Talks to their students?

MB: First, if you have not started TED-Ed Student Talks, what are you waiting for? You need to start as soon as possible.

Second, I would say don’t rush the kids. Let them go through the process of trying to understand what they want to talk about. Don’t push ideas or your own agenda. Let the topics or ideas come from the kids. It cannot be from the adults and I spend a lot of time with children on helping them come up with ideas. Let them marinate in their own process of generating the ideas.

Third, give children voice and choice. I feel that TED-Ed Student Talks is a platform which has been created to help children look at different perspectives and help them share their experiences with the world.

Lastly, let this be run by kids. You just facilitate and nothing else. Let the students do it.

I think that’s it. If you have not started it, please do start it. It’s one of the best things for children, because it gives them a lot of confidence. It tells them that they are capable of sharing something meaningful with the world.

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here, here, and here.

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Illana Raia, an entrepreneur who founded ÊTRE, an organization which connects girls with mentors across dozens of industries, and has integrated the Student Talks program into ÊTRE for the past four years.

Here, she speaks with TED-Ed’s Programs Manager Sasha Rudenko about her thoughts on how the program fits into the mission of ÊTRE and how it has helped girls bridge the middle school confidence gap:

Sasha Rudenko (SR): Tell us about ÊTRE, what the organization is, your role, and what students you serve.

Illana Raia (IR): We take girls directly into companies that they are interested in and meet female leaders face-to-face. It’s very girl-driven. We go into companies like Spotify and Google, we ring the bell at NASDAQ and we meet the women who work there. And we do this because, as our research from 2024 confirmed, girls’ confidence between ages 13 and 18 is dropping by 20%. But 91% of girls said that higher confidence is directly related to mentorship. So a big part of what we do— whether it is through company visits, books, or TED-Ed— is we bring girls into close proximity with amazing mentors so that their voices can be heard and their ideas can be explored in a bigger way earlier on.

Avery Nemo

SR: How did you find the TED-Ed Student Talks program? How did you implement it into what you were already doing with ÊTRE?

IR: A lot of the things that were defining girls, particularly in high school, particularly looking at college, suddenly went up in smoke [at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic], right? There’s no varsity soccer season. There’s no school newspaper. There’s no spring musical. From middle school all the way through high school, girls were losing the thing that excited them at school. And they were looking for ways to define themselves. I knew about TED-Ed and I reached out and I said, “Look, I’m not one school, but I work with a ton of schools.” I asked if it would be possible for me to get a license so that girls could continue to explore the things that they were closest to outside of school and we can work on the mentorship side. And TED-Ed said yes.

“Connection and community were key for girls at the [beginning of the pandemic], and TED-Ed unlocked their world.”

2021 was our first year and it was such a game-changer for our girls because they suddenly found that thing that they couldn’t do at school. They could talk to other founders and let the world know what their idea was. It gave them a different springboard at a time when everyone was so isolated and it immediately gave them a larger community. We pair each girl with a particular mentor and encourage the girls to think really big. The mentors we’ve had have been incredible. We had a 10-year-old from Canada write about protecting the environment and four women from the Jane Goodall Institute gave her suggestions, quotes, and talked to her about what her premise was. I don’t know that that would have happened before [the start of COVID]. They give the girls a little extra confidence to be able to get up and share their own idea because they bounced it off someone who’s already an expert.

SR: If you were to pick a standout moment from your time leading the group, what would you highlight?

IR: I’m going to give you two. First, from the mentorship side, something that really thrilled me is how the girls who have been through the program are now mentoring each other. We’ve got three girls, all under 16, mentoring each other within the Student Talks program. That completely surprised me.

Second, from a facilitator point of view, watching girls, from the rehearsal day to the performance day, come into their own. [A lot of] these girls have never been brave enough to try out for choir, or debate team, or anything else that involves getting on a stage. They might be shy or they’re nervous about their braces. And then they stand on that carpet and step up to that mic and it’s like someone flips a switch. There’s a different kind of confidence that comes because they’re talking about something they chose. They weren’t assigned this. They’ve been thinking about it for six months. They did all the writing. TED-Ed is special because it’s so student-driven. And that I’ll take that type of confidence all day.

“It’s not the ultimate grasping of the mic that raises their voices — it’s support from fellow speakers, the encouragement of epic mentors, and the step-by-step process that TED-Ed lays out that helps them find their voice.” 

SR: Aside from confidence, if you were to pick skills — soft and hard skills — that you’ve seen your students improve the most by going through the Student Talks activities, what would those be?

IR: TED-Ed lets them take on a really big topic. [Whether it’s] entrepreneurship or grief or climate change or cultural norms in their country, it’s different from a regular assignment than they’re used to. The expansiveness of thought is really great with this program— it lets them think big.

I love the feedback they give each other, especially in the beginning when we’re in those group settings before we’re rehearsing individual talks. They don’t know each other and yet they are really willing to listen. If you tell most people that middle school girls are going to be immediately collaborative and supportive, most people are going to roll their eyes. I only see that with TED-Ed. It affords a lot of collaboration and peer support, which is nice outside of your own school system.

The girls always surprise me with how well they do [with the activities] in the very beginning. They write beautifully. And I don’t know if that’s the girls who are drawn to TED-Ed or if it’s just that blue sky, say whatever you want aspect of it, which is different than regular homework.

Alena McQuarter

SR: Think about somebody who wants to start this in their school: what would you tell them? What has been the most challenging part about  implementing Student Talks at ÊTRE and how did you overcome it?

IR: For the first three years when we were only virtual, girls were busy. Making sure we could get everyone was hard. And so one thing I did every month was offering at least three meeting choices for each time zone. You can jump into any one of the [meetings], and they knew that they had to be in a meeting every month. If someone couldn’t make any of them, I made sure that I could meet one-on-one with her. If you’re facilitating the program for a lot of different schools and [trying to accommodate] everyone’s schedules, offer way more options than you think you’ll need.

Another challenge was that I was worried they were going to be really intimidated being on stage. We had a rehearsal day, and one thing we did was we put a bunch of red bean bags in one corner of the stage and divided the girls into groups of five. So when they first got to the stage, they were with a group. They all got on the stage together and then one by one they’d get called to the mic. Adding that little intermediate step getting to the stage I thought was helpful because this may be the first time a girl has ever been on a big stage. And it’s a big theater and there are lights and it’s intimidating. I would tell someone who’s starting it, if you see that [nervousness] at all, have them go up on stage in teams. Then at least they’re sitting among their peers, and they’re getting a few minutes on stage to look out at the audience before they’re up at the mic and they get more comfortable.

“That middle school confidence gap? I have witnessed TED-Ed bridge that gap again and again.”

SR: You’ve been doing this for four years. What tips or words of wisdom would you share with someone considering Student Talks for their students?

IR: I would say first of all, do it! It’s going to seem like a giant thing. It’s going to seem like there are so many requirements and it’s overwhelming. Do it. Anytime I had a question and I emailed anybody at TED-Ed, I got the information. That was really great.

I think the students have to really want to do it. If a parent comes to you and assures you that this child— who’s not saying one word— really wants to do it, the kids have to really want it. And those are the best talks. It’s a really enriching thing to add to your program, whatever your program might be.

Speakers at the ÊTRE talk showcase

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here and here.