Welcome back teacher friends. I'm so glad you're here. Okay, so this is a follow up from last week's episode where I did a deep dive into the top five TED Talks for educators updated for 2024. There were some oldies but, but goodies. And some new ones and I got great feedback on those. I want to assure you that yes, TED Talks are still alive and well.
And if you love bite sized content they are perfect. So this week I am following up with the episode that I promised on the top ti Oh my gosh. I struggle over saying top five for some reason. The top five TED Talks for people. special education teachers. Now, disclaimer, they're for all teachers. One, because they, I picked ones that really do a great job of busting some misconceptions that we have, and I feel that it's misconceptions about all kinds of students that we have in all classrooms, whether your school is huge on inclusion, whether you have students who have undiagnosed special needs, like there's something in these talks for every teacher.
Inspiration, information, some, some. classics and some more updated ones and I'm going to get right to it. I will see you on the inside. Welcome to the Balance Your Teacher Life podcast where we talk all things avoiding educator burnout, setting healthy boundaries and achieving better work life balance.
If you're passionate about education, but tired of it consuming your whole life, you have found your home in the Podcast Universe. I'm your host, Grace Stevens, and let's get going with today's show.
Alright, before we get started, let me just say, I don't say it often enough, how happy I am that you're here, how grateful I am to have this opportunity to speak to you, And really, thank you for investing in yourself. It's what we need as educators. And if you get value from this podcast, it would mean the world to me and hopefully something to them.
If you were to share my podcast with a colleague, with a friend just let them know, hey, I find this lady helpful. And That's it. That's all I got to say on that. If you share the love people, share the love. Anyway, all right. So in no particular order, I am going to go through my updated list of the top five TED Talks for special education teachers.
And as I said, they are all about good teaching for all students and about awareness and they're good for all teachers. But here's what we're Particular order. Okay, one isn't better than the other. The first one we're going to start with is just because it makes you smile. It is a young kid. He's a student.
I'm gonna guess he's about nine, ten. You know, I taught third and fourth grade long enough that I should know around what age he is. His name is Cole Blakeway and it was a TEDx. talk and it was we are all different and that's awesome. Oh my gosh, this will just make you smile. Okay, here's the subject of his talk is he talks about celebrating differences, that everybody is unique, But what is really charming is he describes a beautiful friendship with Stephen, who is a 44 year old man with autism spectrum disorder.
And he goes back and explains that Stephen was his mother's friend in school and how they made their friendship and how Stephen had said to his mother. If you're my friend, I will call you every single day. And it has been, yeah, like 30 something years. And he has followed through with that. But it is a beautiful friendship and it's a beautiful take on just accepting people just as they are.
And I just love Cole's real sincerity when he says, we don't need to fix this, the spectrum disorder. It's just nobody needs fixing. Stephen is perfect as he is. And it, I'm choosing it just because it'll put a smile on your face. The talk is about six years old, I'm guessing. And so I don't know, obviously Cole isn't an adult yet.
But I'm going to tell you, when he grows up, I sure hope he decides to be a special ed teacher because he really has the attitude you need for it. And the whole talk is just amazingly charming. So that is my first pick. We are all different and that's awesome by Cole Blakeway. All right, now getting a little more serious.
We'll kind of go from one rhythm to another. Wig, the next one is a classic. Now I, talking about autism spectrum disorder, I tried to find some more recent ones, but I couldn't find anything that I really loved more than this classic. And if you haven't seen it in a while, you know, go back and watch it. It has stood the test of time.
And that is Temple Grandin's Ted Talk, which is the world. needs all kinds of minds. You might know her. A movie was made about her life. She is amazing. She was diagnosed with autism as a child. And in this talk, she shares how her mind works, especially her ability to think neurotypical people.
Transcribed by https: otter. ai
Brains might miss, right? She makes this case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum. So visual thinkers, patent thinkers, verbal thinkers, all kinds of geeky kids, right? And she really gets in there explaining how she was able to help. Solve these problems of cattle getting upset and why they were getting upset.
She could see things from their perspective. It, it, you have to watch it. She is charming and it is just a classic. And one thing I do want to say, and that I haven't noticed. The only thing, most of these talks have, have stood the test of time, but you know how things kind of, you know, our jargon changes and everything else.
And it was sticking out to me a little bit that, especially when I was doing the research for this and looking at different TED Talks that were maybe a little older, how many people talked about Asperger's which is high, Functioning autism, as we may know, and so now we don't, we don't call it that anymore.
Bunch of reasons. We all know that the you know, autism is a spectrum. And so we call it an autism spectrum disorder and people are on the spectrum and the other thing that the, one of the risks, so it is more. Referred to as higher functioning autism you know, you may know that Dr. Asperger, which I didn't know until somebody was like, oh, no, we don't call it that anymore was actually involved in Nazi Germany and doing experiments with kids.
So not, you know. We don't want that as opposed to child, right? So anyway, just if you go through and you listen to some TED talks and you hear people talk in terms still of Asperger's, I know it can make us kind of you know, give us a little cringe for a minute, like, Oh no, we don't call it that anymore.
But anyway, all right. Nothing to take away from this talk. So coming in at number two, the world needs all kinds of minds. Temple Grandin, and I'm going to, of course, if you go to the show notes, or I'll also make a blog post for this, it will have all the links to the TED Talks. Okay, so those are the first two.
Now, first one was just fun, made you smile. Second one, very just very, very inspiring and educational. The third one, I'm not going to lie. It, it's kind of tough. It is completely impactful. Part of the reason is the subject matter. So I'm going to tell you a lot of times I encourage teachers to watch TED Talks with their students.
If it's, you know, age appropriate, I think they're a fantastic learning tool. And so many wonderful ones. Maybe I'll do an episode of the favorite ones to watch with my students. But this one, you know, we use. To very you know, polished professionals who are at the top of their game. And this is not that
And it is, like I said, it is very impactful. And so, coming in at number three, we have how we Suppress Genius. and create learning disability with Scott Sonen. Okay. So it is his story and his story has a happy ending. He is named one of the top 24 trainers in the world by Men's Fitness Magazine. He's one of the most six influential martial artists of the 21st century by Batman.
magazine. He, you know, he's a five time world martial arts champion. He's an award winning producer. He's an author. Really he's done very well for himself, but he is talking about how he had to overcome dyslexia that was so severe that we, he was homeless. Hospitalized in a children's psychiatric institution.
And it's not just that yet to overcome learning disabilities. It was that he's looking at the link between early exposure to violence, humiliation. and shame and how that affects and indeed causes learning disabilities. He was consistently, you know, in school struggled, but was just mislabeled as deliberately disruptive.
And yes, was institutionalized. He struggles to, he's very articulate, but you can see he really struggles to get through his his talk in something that really just really made me gasp is when he said, please don't mistake my poise for indifference. So it's a testament to, you know, firstly, it's educational about this link between early trauma and that how that affects learning.
I think we're more you know, this is an older talk and I think now that, you know, trauma informed teaching is now you know, much more prevalent. But it's really inspiring really just because it's a testament to the fierceness of a mother who wouldn't give up on their child. That's what struck me is that when an educational system was unable to help him in a productive way, you know, his mother stepped in and just would not give up on him.
And clearly he is a highly, you know, accomplished, successful adult. But you can see that the trauma still lives there. And so like I said, it is a tough watch, but it's a very good educational one. Only, you know, don't watch it with your kids. So that's number three. And that is how we suppress genius and create learning disability with Scott Sonen.
And that was at a TEDx in Bellingham, I believe 10 years ago. All right, let's change paces here. I really came for you know, I wanted to get some diversity in there. So coming in at number four is a, is a newer one for me. I had made a list a few years ago and I said I would update it. And this one really got me again.
Of course, I wasn't going to waste your time with, you know, mediocre Ted Talks. This one is Brooke Mattson and she's reframing. The label of ADHD. I, I find it a really inspiring talk. Obviously she does have ADHD. She wasn't diagnosed until she was in her thirties. And I think that's incredible.
She said how she struggled with it and, you know, having a label stuck on her. Imagine if you were a child and you had that label label. But anyway, she goes through and she really taught, first off, she gives this incredible list. of visionaries, highly successful people in the world who Or had ADHD.
So this is her whole kind of thesis statement here is she's introducing us to all these revolutionary creatives who had ADHD and saying that they likely would not have achieved all All that they did without having these ADHD superpowers. She wants to reframe it that there's nothing disordered about, you know, ADHD.
Um, and that is needed to be really super innovative. And to explore. And she, in the talk, she talks about the many misconceptions about ADHD. And I find it fascinating how she's really kind of talking about like just reframing everything. So she's really talking about, you know, reframing kind of going from distractive, unfocused, you know, procrastinating daydreaming.
She goes through all of these things, these labels that she'd had. And trying to really understand that she's not really, you know, deficient in any way. What I loved is when she said, we have more thoughts than we have time to pursue. Right. And also when she really talks about having, you know, ADHD being the perfect brain for being like a CEO or an athlete, like reframing this kind of impulsive behavior that we sometimes label students with ADHD as just understanding that that dopamine hit that they, that they get from something new and exciting that actually gives other people stress, actually gives them a positive dopamine hit.
So anyway, I really think it's an interesting talk and I can only really, it makes me really, understand better students who I've had in my room when I think over the years so many, you know, it's so funny over 20 years so many students I've had and many of them, you know, labeled with ADHD and how it manifests differently, you know, in girls than it does in boys, but It makes me laugh to think back to my own childhood when it wasn't really a diagnosis and to look back at kids who I, I sat next to in class, I was always the quiet, calm one.
So, you know, you know who that kid always needs to sit next to, right? I am looking back at probably how many, you know, of my peers. Probably had ADHD tendencies or autism spectrum disorders. And you know, we're just undiagnosed. It's not something we talked about in the seventies. So anyway, her speech, ADHD redefined by Brooke Mattson is coming in at number four.
Okay. And for number five, something completely different and something you might not have thought about before, but something that really. Do it out to me. Especially as the person giving the speech is deaf. is a teacher. Okay, so she is a teacher. And so coming in at number five, I really encourage you to watch is I'm Not Your Inspiration.
Thank you very much by Stella. And this is an oldie, but goodie. I remember seeing this, I want to say maybe 10 years ago, and it really had a profound impact on me. She's a comedian, a journalist, and she was also a teacher and she just happens to go about her day. in a wheelchair. And what she in fact doesn't like is that people automatically turn her into a noble inspiration, right?
And this is what she wants to get over. She actually calls it, you know, I'm, I'm reluctant to use this word because I don't know if it might get Might get flagged somehow in the podcast app, right? And she talks down, she says there is a habit that disabled people call inspiration P O R N. Again, I didn't want to say the word in case it, it sparks some kind of, you know, explicit like a tag.
That's this tendency that we have, right? Is to look up at people who are, who have overcome. Oh, they've overcome difficulties. And in this funny talk, she, she talks about when she was in school and a local, I don't know, some newspaper or somebody wanted to give her some award for overcoming and being inspiring.
And like. Her parents said no, like she hadn't really done anything remarkable yet in her life. She was just living her life and come back and give her an award when she's done something remarkable. The insinuation being that just the fact that she managed, you know, to go to school and have friends and do all the things that all her peers were doing was remarkable because she happened to be in a wheelchair and have different disabilities.
So Anyway, it's a very interesting look on that. It opened my perspective and I think even more, you know, like 10 years later from this TED talk, I think now how prevalent memes are even more than back then and I, yeah, now I really frame it through that, you know, when you think about people following TikTok or other things, like, you know, we shouldn't be making automatically assuming that people are heroic when they are, you know, when they're living their life with a disability to them, maybe that's all they know.
And you know, to me, I always think, do you really have a choice? So she really feels like she doesn't like it that if you objectify one type of person for the benefit of other types of people, right? That there's really this feeling when you look at, you know, this inspirational picture of, of, you know, somebody who's in a wheelchair or somebody who's, you know, in the Special Olympics, like she feels that it's kind of an unspoken thing.
Well, you know, no matter what else is going on, it could be worse. I could be that person, you know, but what if you are that person? Do you really want people to kind of Either pity you or worse, just put you up on a pedestal because, you know, like I said, you've got no other option. So it's a very interesting perspective.
I encourage you. I'm not as articulate as she is and not as funny as she is. And it's only nine minutes long. That's the beauty of a TED talk, right? A lot of them coming in under 10 minutes. So coming in at number five, I'm not your inspiration. Thank you very much she's Australian, I love that. Stella Young.
Okay, so that is my top five list, again, for special education teachers, sure but really for all teachers. For all teachers, for better understanding, for inspiration for all things. Now, if you have Some TED Talks that you think are fantastic, that are pertinent specifically to education, and you know, there were not ones I've mentioned, go ahead!
Hey, send me an email, grace at gracestephens. com. That's pretty easy, I read all my emails, I reply to them all, right? Not a lot of people can say that. I do. So let me know. I always love to find new ones. Alright, so that's it for a couple of weeks here. We kind of took a little break from the personal development because, you know, it's summer.
A lot of you are traveling, have other plans. Hopefully you're not thinking too much about how you can improve your teaching and how you can overcome burnout. Hopefully you are just living your best life and enjoying your family and being present in the end. All the things. So these were a couple of lower key episodes but whatever you are doing, I want to remind you, you can create your own broth, you can bring your own sunshine, and I cannot wait to talk to you again next week.
