a few months ago
a friend of mine gave me some great
advice she said Gillian you need to
start your TEDx off with a story
everybody loves a good story this is
true and what I want to look at today is
why this is such good advice for TEDx
speakers for all educators to do that I
need to teach you a new word per thinker
I’d like to start by telling you a
little bit about my grade six math
teacher his name was Mr McKay and he was
a teaching wizard he evoked our sense of
wonder at the mathematical world we
lived in from the spiraling patterns of
our thumb prints to the mystery of crop
circles he helped us feel the majesty of
math and we learned about the stories of
so many different mathematicians that
year their stories inspired us we played
with math just like they did math
mattered to me I want to share with you
one unforgettable moment in that class
it was a class on reciprocals and here’s
a very boring
definition of reciprocals a very
forgettable definition if you’ve
forgotten it’s when the top and the
bottom number of a fraction switch
places well on this particular day and
you have to come with me to a classroom
in 1985 there’s colorful things on the
walls we all sat in rows and there was
chalkboard at the front well on this
particular day he asked me to come to
the front of the class I was already
there mind you because I was the
smallest kid in the class but I got up
and I turned around to face my
classmates he declared he was going to
turn me into a fraction it’s exactly
what he did he taped a three to my
shoulder and a four to my knees and he
put a black belt around my waist I was
3/4 but then and I don’t advise you do
this in 2017 he grabbed me around the
waist and he flipped me upside-down
I was 4/3 no I was 1 in 1/3 I’d never
grown so much in one day the thing is is
Mr McKay knew something about me that
other teachers did not he knew that I am
a perf incur dr. David crash coined the
term per finger he
observe that human beings never just
think they perceive and they feel and
they think at the same time they per
Fink
now this is profound because it puts
feeling at the core of human meaning
making now david crushes observations
align with recent research and effective
neuroscience that comes from the
university of southern california dr.
mary helen amor dino yang describes
emotion as the minds rudder emotion is
at the helm of human meaning making so
the things we most remember and
understand have affected us and here’s
the thing you are per fingers to the
reason you remember and enjoy stories is
because they make you feel feelings
teachers know the power of engaging
emotions so they do lots of things to
engage their students emotions in the
classes they’re teaching they might
reveal the heroic qualities and the
topics they might reveal extremes and
limits bizarre features dramatic
tensions they help students play with
theories and ideas and deal with
troubling anomalies these are all
activities that tie a learning knot they
tie up students emotion and imagination
with knowledge and a good knot holds
effective teaching has the same effect
dr. Kiran Egan describes effective
teaching as storytelling he says the
stories we most enjoy have features in
them that are cognitive tools cognitive
tools help us to think and remember
because they tie up emotion with the
knowledge so his work he describes in
detail theoretical and practical detail
different sets of tools that come along
with the body with oral language with
written language with theoretical
language with highly reflexive language
these are sets of cognitive tools
educators can use in any context pre-k
through graduate school to engage their
students emotions and imaginations with
learning this cognitive tools approach
to teaching is what we call imaginative
education so now I have one more story
for you and this time I am the teacher
it is 2015 and I’m teaching a 3rd year
course on classroom assessment in a
value
at Simon Fraser University I know my
students are perf incurs so I’m using
cognitive tools to engage them these are
three that relate to this particular
event first of all I always begin my
planning by seeking the story on the
topic I’m not making something up I’m
not creating a fiction but I’m looking
for the emotional core like a reporter
going down to get the story I decide to
reveal the highly problematic roots of
most artists of our assessment and
evaluation practices and that is they
come out of the desire to predict and
control human learning so we spend time
exploring that but I also have a giant
change of context my class partway
through will become an educational
conference and my students must engage
in a roleplay each one of them draws the
name of a different educational theorist
and they must come to class describing
enroll in first-person that particular
theorists ideas on assessment and
evaluation well one of my more timid
students let’s call her Trina she drew
the name of Elliot Eisner she’d never
heard of him and she asked if she could
instead of this role play write a paper
on Delia daizen er well I tried to
persuade her that she had lucked out
Elliot Eisner was a pioneer he had
unwavering belief in the power of
imagination and the arts just
transformed learning and he made a huge
impact in education in general but he
also challenged and took on the beliefs
of evaluation of his day so I suggested
to her Trina learn one or two things
that he says come to class and share
those in first-person she gave me one of
those looks and walked away
highly unimpressed I didn’t know if
she’d participate well the day of my
conference arrived and I was gobsmacked
first of all many of my students arrived
early that never happens second of all
many had props and costumes they arrived
in role I had Plato talking to Parker
Palmer on my left about grading I had
damien cooper Ken O’Connor and Maxine
green discussing the pros and cons of
assessment of as in for learning the
positive energy
the class was palpable and yet it hadn’t
even started but no Trina I figured in
fact this was too much for her well I
was wrong as I was about to start the
class cane in hand wearing a saggy baggy
gray suit and a skinny red tie in walked
Elliot Eisner and boy oh boy did he have
a lot to say so I ran into Trina a few
years later and she is now a teacher she
reminded me of that activity describing
it as one of the most engaging in her
teaching program but also one of the
most effective for really internalizing
and understanding different educational
theories so in conclusion we’ve been
told to keep emotion and imagination out
of school the misconception has bleep
has been that these are distractions for
learning but we know now that these in
fact are required for learning so
educators let me offer you some advice
always start with the story always seek
to make your teaching story like use
cognitive tools to engage your students
emotions with the content you’re
teaching use cognitive tools to unleash
the imaginations of the purr fingers
that fill your classrooms because we are
all four fingers thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
a friend of mine gave me some great
advice she said Gillian you need to
start your TEDx off with a story
everybody loves a good story this is
true and what I want to look at today is
why this is such good advice for TEDx
speakers for all educators to do that I
need to teach you a new word per thinker
I’d like to start by telling you a
little bit about my grade six math
teacher his name was Mr McKay and he was
a teaching wizard he evoked our sense of
wonder at the mathematical world we
lived in from the spiraling patterns of
our thumb prints to the mystery of crop
circles he helped us feel the majesty of
math and we learned about the stories of
so many different mathematicians that
year their stories inspired us we played
with math just like they did math
mattered to me I want to share with you
one unforgettable moment in that class
it was a class on reciprocals and here’s
a very boring
definition of reciprocals a very
forgettable definition if you’ve
forgotten it’s when the top and the
bottom number of a fraction switch
places well on this particular day and
you have to come with me to a classroom
in 1985 there’s colorful things on the
walls we all sat in rows and there was
chalkboard at the front well on this
particular day he asked me to come to
the front of the class I was already
there mind you because I was the
smallest kid in the class but I got up
and I turned around to face my
classmates he declared he was going to
turn me into a fraction it’s exactly
what he did he taped a three to my
shoulder and a four to my knees and he
put a black belt around my waist I was
3/4 but then and I don’t advise you do
this in 2017 he grabbed me around the
waist and he flipped me upside-down
I was 4/3 no I was 1 in 1/3 I’d never
grown so much in one day the thing is is
Mr McKay knew something about me that
other teachers did not he knew that I am
a perf incur dr. David crash coined the
term per finger he
observe that human beings never just
think they perceive and they feel and
they think at the same time they per
Fink
now this is profound because it puts
feeling at the core of human meaning
making now david crushes observations
align with recent research and effective
neuroscience that comes from the
university of southern california dr.
mary helen amor dino yang describes
emotion as the minds rudder emotion is
at the helm of human meaning making so
the things we most remember and
understand have affected us and here’s
the thing you are per fingers to the
reason you remember and enjoy stories is
because they make you feel feelings
teachers know the power of engaging
emotions so they do lots of things to
engage their students emotions in the
classes they’re teaching they might
reveal the heroic qualities and the
topics they might reveal extremes and
limits bizarre features dramatic
tensions they help students play with
theories and ideas and deal with
troubling anomalies these are all
activities that tie a learning knot they
tie up students emotion and imagination
with knowledge and a good knot holds
effective teaching has the same effect
dr. Kiran Egan describes effective
teaching as storytelling he says the
stories we most enjoy have features in
them that are cognitive tools cognitive
tools help us to think and remember
because they tie up emotion with the
knowledge so his work he describes in
detail theoretical and practical detail
different sets of tools that come along
with the body with oral language with
written language with theoretical
language with highly reflexive language
these are sets of cognitive tools
educators can use in any context pre-k
through graduate school to engage their
students emotions and imaginations with
learning this cognitive tools approach
to teaching is what we call imaginative
education so now I have one more story
for you and this time I am the teacher
it is 2015 and I’m teaching a 3rd year
course on classroom assessment in a
value
at Simon Fraser University I know my
students are perf incurs so I’m using
cognitive tools to engage them these are
three that relate to this particular
event first of all I always begin my
planning by seeking the story on the
topic I’m not making something up I’m
not creating a fiction but I’m looking
for the emotional core like a reporter
going down to get the story I decide to
reveal the highly problematic roots of
most artists of our assessment and
evaluation practices and that is they
come out of the desire to predict and
control human learning so we spend time
exploring that but I also have a giant
change of context my class partway
through will become an educational
conference and my students must engage
in a roleplay each one of them draws the
name of a different educational theorist
and they must come to class describing
enroll in first-person that particular
theorists ideas on assessment and
evaluation well one of my more timid
students let’s call her Trina she drew
the name of Elliot Eisner she’d never
heard of him and she asked if she could
instead of this role play write a paper
on Delia daizen er well I tried to
persuade her that she had lucked out
Elliot Eisner was a pioneer he had
unwavering belief in the power of
imagination and the arts just
transformed learning and he made a huge
impact in education in general but he
also challenged and took on the beliefs
of evaluation of his day so I suggested
to her Trina learn one or two things
that he says come to class and share
those in first-person she gave me one of
those looks and walked away
highly unimpressed I didn’t know if
she’d participate well the day of my
conference arrived and I was gobsmacked
first of all many of my students arrived
early that never happens second of all
many had props and costumes they arrived
in role I had Plato talking to Parker
Palmer on my left about grading I had
damien cooper Ken O’Connor and Maxine
green discussing the pros and cons of
assessment of as in for learning the
positive energy
the class was palpable and yet it hadn’t
even started but no Trina I figured in
fact this was too much for her well I
was wrong as I was about to start the
class cane in hand wearing a saggy baggy
gray suit and a skinny red tie in walked
Elliot Eisner and boy oh boy did he have
a lot to say so I ran into Trina a few
years later and she is now a teacher she
reminded me of that activity describing
it as one of the most engaging in her
teaching program but also one of the
most effective for really internalizing
and understanding different educational
theories so in conclusion we’ve been
told to keep emotion and imagination out
of school the misconception has bleep
has been that these are distractions for
learning but we know now that these in
fact are required for learning so
educators let me offer you some advice
always start with the story always seek
to make your teaching story like use
cognitive tools to engage your students
emotions with the content you’re
teaching use cognitive tools to unleash
the imaginations of the purr fingers
that fill your classrooms because we are
all four fingers thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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