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.

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.

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In the fall of 2021, TED invited leaders and educators from around the world to participate in COUNTDOWN, a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis.

JeJuan Stewart, a leader in the TED-Ed Student Talks program from Georgia, answered that call by hosting TEDxYouth@Snellville, a COUNTDOWN event in her community. JeJuan shares her experience and advice for hosting a stellar, youth-centered TEDx event that focused on the problems and solutions of the climate crisis.

Why did you decide to host a TEDx COUNTDOWN event?

Our initial ideas were to:

1. Bring Black and Brown youth together around the issue of climate change

2. Expose them to Black and Brown climate change activists in our community

3. Share our EAGLE 7 TED-Ed Club experience (within the TED-Ed Student Talks program) with them so interested students could join our Club for the following school year

Event lineup

Tell us about your event!

Our event took place at the Emory University School of Public Health. The location was provided by the sponsors of the Black Public Health Students at the Rollins School of Public Health and was hosted by Snellville residents Briana Boykin, non-profit founder and former member of Black Public Health Students at Emory RSPH, and Joshua Stewart, who performed spoken word during the event.

Talks were given by several climate change community activists, including three Black founders of organizations:

1. Environmental justice activist and founder of Millennials 4 Environmental Justice Diamond Spratling spoke about the wonders of the environment

2. Environmental educator and organizer of Black Birders Week Sheridan Alford spoke about birds as an indicator species to the environment

3. STEM educator and leader Horace Buddoo spoke about why K-12 education is our best hope for action on our climate dilemma

4. Health scientist from Michigan Public Health Sabina Emerenini spoke about cardiovascular disease, environmental health and her experience as a Black woman

5. Founders of BLKHLTH Matthew McCurdy and Khadijah Ameen spoke about how environmental justice is racial health justice

6. Program Director of Eagles Educational Services/SFAYC John Reed spoke about carbon footprints and teens
   

7. Head of the Chad Livsey Project Chad Livsey spoke about community activism and his passion for maintaining clean communities through conducting Pop-Up environmental clean ups throughout Metro-Atlanta

Before the event, I spoke to each one of our speakers about their topic and determined how and if they would be relatable to high school students. I encouraged them to consider approaching their work from the position of empowering students. What would they say to their younger selves? How do they see youth impacting climate change?

TEDxYouth Countdown

How was your TED-Ed Student Talks group involved?

Our EAGLE 7 TED-Ed Club Students were involved in the promotion through social media for the event. They assisted with registration, set-up, and sponsored tables throughout the event. They earned volunteer hours for their time. Through supporting this event, they have a better idea of what to expect in the future, as well as ideas to help them design their own Talks for the Spring event.

What was the greatest success of the event?

Seeing everyone engaged and excited about the content. We also had break out discussions for everyone to meet each other and speak with the sponsors at their tables. Most of the after-event comments were centered around how we can continue the dialog and engage even more youth in the conversation for future events.

Why is it important for educators to be involved with the climate crisis

Educators are a critical component to this because they can bring balance and wisdom to the table by the way they facilitate discussions and enable youth to develop into the servant-leaders they can be.

Annisa Morgan of Dollarsat10

What advice do you have for someone interested in hosting a TEDxYouth event?

For those of you who want to step in to the experience of hosting a TEDxYouth event, I offer these words of advice:

1. Plan early. Give yourself time to review the links and supports that are available on the TEDx site. There are so many resources, chats, and videos to help you.

2. Create a planning team and delegate the tasks. Use a project managing system to help you keep up with communications between team members (IE Slack, Asana)

3. Connect with local TEDx organizers in your community. They can be a huge support for speakers, logistics, sponsors, and more!

4. Pay for videographer, editing services, and marketing services if you are able to! Alternatively, if you have access to a school with an audio/visual instructor that can provide you with student assistants for the event, it can be like a great “On-the-Job-Training” experience for them.  It will allow them to earn credits for school, volunteer hours, and experience for their portfolios.

5. Have speakers sign their paperwork prior to the event. (Ideally, during the 1st meeting!)

6. Enjoy the journey. Have a sense of humor and stay humble. Your patience will be tested and once you get the first TEDx event completed, take a deep breath and pause. Because believe it or not, you may find yourself applying to do another!

Interested in learning more? Check out TED-Ed Student Talks Program, COUNTDOWN, and how to host a TEDxYouth Event.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JeJuan D. Stewart is entrepreneur, parent coach, community leader, STEAM advocate, and a retired anesthetist of Snellville, GA. As the CEO of EAGLE 7 Consulting, she is committed to empowering all to give, lead and excel through servant-leadership development and training. EAGLE 7 TED Ed Club was started in 2014 in an effort to empower youth voices and provide access to underrepresented students of color to TED Ed Clubs.

Practice an act of radical empathy — try to put yourself in the hoofsteps, pawprints and undulations of other creatures and appreciate all the ways of being and doing that exist on this planet.

We are not alone. On Earth, that is. While it may seem laughably obvious to say that, in many ways we humans act like we’re the only inhabitants. After all, our built world overwhelmingly prioritizes our one species above all the others that occupy the planet.

How often do most of us stop and consider how other living beings experience the world?

Almost never, says Alan Hook, a design researcher at Ulster University in Northern Ireland: “We understand the world from a very fixed human-centric point of view … so [we] can’t really understand what it must be like to be a different creature.”

Meet some human designers who are breaking down the barriers. In Ireland, Denis Connolly and Anne Cleary have created a series of meta-perceptual helmets that allowed wearers to view the world through the stereo vision of a hammerhead shark or the separately rotatable eyes of the chameleon. To get as close to being a goat as possible, UK designer Thomas Thwaites (TED talk: How I built a toaster from scratch) built himself a prosthetic goat legs and a prosthetic rumen (goat stomach) and took to the Swiss Alps to graze on grass.

Hook says, “Whenever we think about design, we talk about it as a process of empathy.” Trying to step into the hoofsteps, pawprints, undulations and tracks of other creatures can allow us to consider how the world — including our human world — appears to them.

Hook became interested in this question thanks to a horse that lives near his house. His two children, he says, were “very concerned about whether the horse is too hot or too cold, whether it has enough to eat, and what the experience of the horse is like.” This prompted him to devise what he calls “equine eyes,” a way for his kids to interact with the world from a horse’s point of view, which differs from ours in significant ways.

Hook says, “They have their eyes on the side of their heads … and those large eyes work like fisheye lenses, which means that a horse can actually see 350 degrees around it. So it can see everywhere apart from its back.” Because horses cannot see red, Hook’s prototype eyes used cameras and programming to strip red from the visible spectrum.

Of course, you don’t need a fancy device to see from another perspective. Try this with the animals in your life — crouch down in the living room and assess it from your dog’s or cat’s point-of-view. Or look at the non-human residents who live in your neighborhood — the birds, insects, rodents, lizards and squirrels — and ask, What is life like from their eyes? How might it feel to move like they do? Eat like they do? Follow their routines? How much do they accommodate we humans as they go about their daily business?

It’s a refreshing mental break — and an exercise in empathy. While we can’t yet fully understand what it’s like to live in another body, we can start to notice the infinite ways of being and doing there are in our world.

Watch his TEDxBallybofey talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Halton is Assistant Ideas Editor at TED, and a science journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

To jump-start a workout habit, start out with small amounts, suggests wellness specialist Lauren Parsons.

Among the sources of everyday guilt, right up there with “not eating enough fruits and veg” and “not saving enough money” is “not working out.” As a wellness specialist and personal trainer in New Zealand, Lauren Parsons has heard every excuse for why people don’t exercise. The most common? “No time.”

To which, she asks: “Do you have time to brush your teeth every day?”

She estimates that brushing one’s teeth twice a day takes around four minutes. By incorporating exercise into our routines in manageable, four-minute chunks, we can build the foundation for a more active life.

OK, let’s be realistic: Four minutes is not going to transform you into Lionel Messi or Serena Williams (TED conversation: On tennis, love and motherhood). However, some studies have shown that “snacking” on exercise can be worthwhile — that brief, intense bursts of activity still have health benefits.

“There are so many different ways that you can snack on exercise,” says Parsons. “It could be that while the kettle boils in the morning, you do some push-ups on your kitchen counter [or] … when you’re at the playground, you play with your kids.”

During the work day, go for a brisk four-minute walk down the hall or up a few flights of stairs. On the weekend, grab the mop or vacuum, go to Spotify and choose a “workout” playlist (under “Browse”), and clean to the beat. Or, while brushing and flossing your teeth, do a set of squats.

Parsons’ only requirements for a worthy snack: It should raise your heart rate, strengthen your muscles, or both.

Having been diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant, Parsons wants to reduce preventable diabetes by encouraging more people to exercise in ways they can fit into their lives. (Editor’s note: Type 1 diabetes is never preventable, while most — but not all — cases of type 2 diabetes are preventable.)

“I’m not saying you should do only four minutes of exercise a day,” explains Parsons. “Longer workouts can give you even more benefit, but the thing I hear most often when I share this concept … is that it sounds doable.”

Every healthy person you can think of — from Serena to the neighbor you see power-walking even through downpours — got started somewhere.

Are you ready to do it?

Watch her TEDxOneonta talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Halton is Assistant Ideas Editor at TED, and a science journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

Honey bees can show us the power to be found in thinking small, says beekeeper Marianne Gee.

New month. New day. New leaf. So you’ve woken up and decided you’re finally going to take on the big, big problem that’s been weighing on you — perhaps it’s shoring up your public libraries, helping homeless dogs and cats, or fighting climate change.

Yet as much as you’d like to act, you’re stopped by some persistent, piping doubts: “Where do I start? And even if I do something, will it really matter?”

When it comes to climate change, for instance, the greatest minds in the world are struggling to come up with solutions. Meanwhile, you’re someone who struggles to bring your reusable bags to the store.

But maybe it’s time to look elsewhere for inspiration — like the humble honey bee.

They can show us that thinking small may be the best way to think big, according to beekeeper Marianne Gee, who lives in Ottawa, Canada.

The lifespan of a worker bee ranges from six weeks (in the summer) to twenty weeks (in the winter). Most of her brief existence is spent gathering nectar to make honey.

According to Gee, “a bee in her lifetime makes only 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey” — a tiny fraction of the hundred pounds of honey that a typical colony needs to survive. “The most remarkable thing isn’t that she does the work; it’s that she doesn’t even do it for herself,” she adds. A bee won’t directly benefit from the honey she makes; instead, it will allow future generations to thrive after she is gone.

This too is how we can change the world — by not worrying about the size of our contributions and by letting our efforts join the actions of others.

Gee herself was distressed by the pesticides and diseases that were harming the world’s honey bees and ruminated about what she and her husband could possibly do to fix the ailing agricultural system.

One day as she was tending her hives, she realized, “I am insignificant, but my 1/12 of a teaspoon counts.” She found purpose in starting an urban farm, helping people plant garden plots on their rooftops and schoolyards, and teaching novice beekeepers.

Keep making honey. Your 1/12th of a teaspoon counts.

Watch Marianne Gee’s talk from TEDxKanata here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Halton is Assistant Ideas Editor at TED, and a science journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

At the Butte County Library in Chico, California, there is a seed section. This is the Chico Seed Lending Library (CSLL), a collection of seeds donated from gardens and farms around the region. At CSLL, advanced and burgeoning gardeners can borrow the means to grow everything from muskmelon to sweet peppers, and learn the traditional art of seed-saving in order to return seeds to the library for other growers.

The library was started after seed-savers Sherri Scott and Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper started to see big crowds at their annual Seed Swap event — and more of their neighbors growing their own food. At Seed Swap events, gardeners bring and exchange seeds saved from that year’s growing season, and over the years, attendance at the Chico Seed Swap exploded, Scott says at TEDxChicoSalon.

“Each year, we [saw] more and more people bringing seeds that they saved back to share with their neighbors,” she says. “But we wanted greater access to seeds for the community and we wanted more education on how to correctly save seeds.” So Scott and Ladwig-Cooper reached out to their local library to seek if they could set up a year-round resource for seed-savers — and a permanent seed collection open to the public. The librarian there was excited — so they launched CSLL.

The seed library is designed to preserve the best of local seeds, Scott says, those from plants that are the “tastiest,” “best-growing” and “resilient,” — those that thrive in the Chico ecosystem, Scott says. She hopes that it will also aid in protecting rare plants, the fruits and vegetables that don’t show up on supermarket shelves.

One of these plants is the Bidwell Casaba melon, a melon closely connected to Chico’s history, as it was developed by Chico resident and Califorina congressman John Bidwell in the early 19th century.

The Bidwell Casaba is one of the several local melon types protected by seed-savers who grew the plant despite its lack of commercial appeal. “The stores won’t carry it because it’s soft; it bruises easily; it’s not easily transported and it’s not easily marketed,” Scott says. “It almost went extinct, but luckily some seed historians and melon enthusiasts rediscovered it.”

Chico Seed Lending Library invites locals to “adopt a crop” to keep regional fruits and vegetables alive, and provide seeds for their neighbors. “Community seed projects are the missing link we need to [sustain] our local food system,” Scott says. “If you don’t have a seed swap, seed banks or seed libraries in your community, it’s really easy to start them.”

To find out more about seed libraries, watch Scott’s TEDx talk. To find out more about seed science, watch this TED-Ed Lesson. 

Art credit: TED-Ed. Author bio: Hailey Reissman writes for TEDx Innovations Blog.

To learn something new every week, sign up for the TED-Ed Newsletter here >>

Journalist Anna Lelik took on her first investigative report when she was just 17. She was looking into online censorship in Central Asian countries — including in her home country of Kyrgyzstan — and was worried she wouldn’t be taken seriously as a journalist. Luckily, her first big interview was over the phone, she says at TEDxYouth@Tallinn, so her interviewee couldn’t see that she had just graduated from high school.

Lelik was writing for Kloop, a youth-powered news outlet in Bishkek. “Most people at Kloop [are] young people,” she says. “Most of the stories for the website are done by young people aged 15-25.”

When Kloop first started, it was hard to get “grownup journalists” and the public to take them seriously, Lelik says, but everything changed once the site started covering the Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010. “The other media — with the grownup journalists — only covered the official side of the story [with] the comments of the state — or [they] kept silent, while protestors stormed local administration in the provinces,” Lelik says. Kloop journalists were on the scene during these clashes, Lelik says, and the internet turned to these young reporters for coverage of the events.

“Hundreds of thousands of users visited our website [during the April revolution],” Lelik says, “and step by step we started gaining more trust.” Soon, Kloop was being quoted in outlets like the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Associated Press. It became the fifth most popular news website in Kyrgyzstan.

As Kloop grew, it began to take on more in-depth investigative reports, live broadcasting, and news video. One of their reporters discovered the illegal construction of mansions in a green park, Lelik says, by flying a drone camera over Bishkek. Another story focused on the unfinished construction of a hydroelectric plant and the bids for construction that went into its planning.

In 2016, the president of Kyrgyzstan mentioned Kloop for the first time in a public speech. It was a critique, but Lelik says she thinks that’s the best compliment they could get — and a sign that the country takes Kloop seriously.

To learn more about Kloop, watch Lelik’s TEDx talk. To learn more about journalism, watch this TED-Ed Lesson. 

Photo credit: Bektour Iskender. Author bio: Hailey Reissman writes for TEDx Innovations Blog.

To learn something new every week, sign up for the TED-Ed Newsletter here >>

Think TED-Ed Clubs only operate during school hours? Think again. TED-Ed Clubs come in all shapes and sizes. From the classroom, to the internet, and everything in between, here are 6 unique ways to use the TED-Ed Clubs model:

1. Host your Club at a local library
Clubs don’t necessarily have to meet at a school. Seek out community organizations like your local library to host your Club. Aimee Vann of the Ouray Public Library in Colorado adopted TED-Ed Clubs in her library’s public programming, and it’s thrived ever since. “The library setting is great because all of the library resources are at a student’s fingertips,” says Vann. “Students are not only learning about their TED topic, they are learning important library literacy skills they will be able to use in the future.”

2. Turn your passion for theater into a Club
If your school has a theater program, why not use the Clubs curriculum to supplement it? That’s what theater teacher Isabel Moraes did with her students in Casablanca, Morocco. Isabel’s theater students were very interested in learning about public speaking and body awareness. Isabel also wanted to find a way to show her students that they can make an impact in the world — so when she found TED-Ed Clubs, it was a perfect fit for her class. As a Club Leader, she tailored the Clubs program to complement her students’ passion for theater: “We focus a lot on stage presence, purposeful gestures on stage, and audience involvement,” says Isabel. Now that students are structuring their talks, “we are also discussing the similarities to play scripts and how we can use elements of drama to make a talk even more effective,” she adds.

3. Lead a virtual Club for homeschooled students
Believe it or not, not every Club meets face-to-face. You can run a TED-Ed Club right from your computer. For example, School of the Minds TED-Ed Club allows homeschooled students from all over the country to come together and discuss their ideas. Led by Carissa Leventis-Cox, School of the Minds is one of several virtual TED-Ed Clubs. Currently there are a number of active Club Members in School of the Minds, including kids from California, Illinois, New Jersey, Nebraska and South Carolina. How do they communicate? “Facebook with the students, via posts, comments, and videos,” Carissa explains. She adds: “I like the video component because students start to feel comfortable being in front of a camera.”

4. Try a student mentoring structure in your Club
Try implementing a mentoring structure with your Club that allows students to learn from each other. In this model, older students are able to develop key leadership skills, while younger students go through the TED-ED Clubs curriculum with the support of more experienced students. “The older students in the club serve as group leaders when the students split up into smaller groups to discuss the talks,” says Club Leader Erin Tarr of Champaign, Illinois, who combined her TED-Ed Club with Be the Benchmark, a teen mentoring club. “These smaller groups then form a stronger bond, and are also encouraged to share their high/lows of the week and keep the mentors informed about the details of their life.”

5. Start a Club to improve your English skills
Is English your second language? Start a TED-Ed Club to practice English while developing and sharing your ideas. Many English language schools have integrated the Clubs program into their studies to sharpen their language skills. For example, Bojana Golubovic of Nis, Serbia leads The American Corner Nis TED-Ed Club. “Students have their explorations in English, as well as preparing and giving speeches. English is a language they learn at school, two days a week,” says Bojana. “With TED-Ed Clubs workshops, they are developing speaking and writing skills in non-native language. They are also learning about American culture and how to appreciate cultural perspectives through language.”

6. Organize a community TEDx event with your Club
Suzan Brandt, a technology specialist at Mountain Brook Junior High in Birmingham, Alabama, took her Club to the next level by starting a TEDx event in the community. She’s taken the TED-Ed Clubs program and turned it into a pipeline for students preparing to present talks at their local TEDx event. “Our goal of the MBJH TED-Ed Club is for everyone to submit a TED-Ed talk and be ready to present at TEDxYouth@MBJH. In addition to TED-Ed Club members serving as speakers, we have invited other youth from neighboring schools to speak as well. We include adult speakers who are from our community or who have an idea to share that will benefit the audience, which includes youth, families, and community members.”

Ready to start your own TED-Ed Club? Apply here today!

Author bio: Victoria Tripsas is an intern at TED-Ed. Art credit: iStock.

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Which TED Talks do students love? We asked TED-Ed Club Members around the world to share their favorites. Below, check out 9 great talks recommended by and for young people:

1. Cameron Russell: Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model
This talk is a great reminder that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Amelia Browne, a student in San Francisco, writes about why it inspired her: “Her story allowed me to further my understanding of the privilege and opportunity I’ve been given by today’s society. I was able to better comprehend how I use those qualities to create change for the generations to come so that there is not inherent privilege, and instead compassion and acceptance.”

2. Takaharu Tezuka: The best kindergarten you’ve ever seen
This TEDxKyoto talk is a top pick among TED-Ed Club Members. An Ji Soo, a high school student from China, says that it made her “think about the nature of education and have a critical view of it.”

3. Drew Dudley: Everyday leadership
TED-Ed Club Members love this funny talk. San Francisco student Isabella Scal believes in the message Drew Dudley is trying to spread, and says: “Small acts of kindness can change someone’s life, and each person in their own way positively affects the people around them. This talk has made me appreciate my peers and elders so much more because I know that they help(ed) to shape me into the person I was, I am, and I will be. I was so inspired by his talk that I told my friends and family how much I value their presence in my life, and I will continue to cherish their love and support unconditionally.”

4. Angela Lee Duckworth: Grit: the power of passion and perserverence
Several students recommend this talk. Koshi Joshi from Georgia says that this talk had a powerful impact on her, by teaching that “learning comes with effort and hard work, and that working hard is the key to success.” Meanwhile, Juwon Pade from Connecticut agrees with ”the idea that hard work and determination make a huge impact.”

5. Julian Treasure: How to speak so that people want to listen
Julian Treasure’s talk is another top pick by students. High schooler Karol Dobrowolski from Poland says that she took Julian’s advice — and it helped her prepare to give her TED-Ed Club talk.

6. Susan Cain: The power of introverts
Argentinian student Rachel Fan describes how Susan’s talk empowered her to start a TED-Ed Club at her school: “Susan Cain’s talk validated my feelings and experiences and empowered me to embrace my introversion, even if our culture does not. With the understanding of introversion from her TED Talk (and from her book, which I had read before seeing the talk), I gained a new way to understand the people around me, and developed an improved attitude about my own personality. Her eloquent, well-organized and confident presentation further proved her point on the power of introverts, and also reminded me not to use introversion as an excuse for not participating in important discussions and events. Furthermore, a part of why I started a TED-Ed Club at my school was because of my strong positive impression of TED Talks from when I watched Cain’s talk in class.”

7. Casey Neistat: High school stories
Californian high school student Nathan Cao says that Casey Neistat’s TEDx talk influenced his outlook on life: “Casey Neistat’s talk taught me that as I am fortunate to live in the United States and go to a great school, I must seize this opportunity to help someone else who does not receive the same luxuries that I do. This has fueled my love for community service and helping others. I often volunteer at the senior home and the homeless shelter. At the moment, I am starting a club at my school that will help the refugees who are in dire need of our support. There is so much that I can do to improve the lives of people who need it most.”

8. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story
Texan student Alisha Somani explains how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk helped her to realize the power of perspective: “One perspective is what shapes people into being closed minded and ignorant of the world around them. This TED Talk inspired me to learn more about current events so that I would not become one of those ignorant people who thinks that everyone is the same as them and everyone has the amenities and opportunities that they do.”

9. Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids
This talk is a favorite for teachers and students alike, as Adora Svitak reminds us why it’s so important to listen to youth voices.

To celebrate and amplify youth voices in your community, start a TED-Ed Club.

Author bio: Annie Brodsky is a university student and occasional intern at TED-Ed. We at TED-Ed Blog think she’s fabulous. Art credit: iStock.

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