TED-Ed

TED-Ed came out a little while back.  I took a look, and I dismissed it.  Then, @jtwillmann reintroduced me to the site and I saw some value.  It's still developing and like an awkward teenager some features could be improved.  But, I developed one of my first lesson and found a love for the process.

Why reinvent the wheel?  Just steal other teacher's wheels.  Huh?  Well, as a teacher, we can be overwhelmed with responsibility, and it can be difficult to find time to create perfect TED-Ed lessons.  That is why you can just recycle or reuse other teacher lessons by pressing the Flip This Lesson Button.   

I really liked Carolyn Mohr's lesson entitled, The power of a great introduction, but I can tweak the lesson to fit my students' unique needs.   Check out my first lesson from the "Flip This Lesson" option. I created this lesson from a Myth Busters clip, which was focused on Diet Coke and Mentos.  What student isn't motivated to cause an explosive reaction?

Like reaction that occurs when Diet Coke and Mentos are combined, an explosion went off in my head where I thought to link these TED-Ed mini-lessons to my classroom Kidblog posts or Edmodo posts.  Then, students can review these mini-lessons prior to attending or at the beginning of class.  These lessons could just be used to provide me with student responses, which allows me to glean student 

Take the tour by watching TED-Ed's multimedia enriched lesson, which explains their version of a "flipped" lesson design.  Watch the video below and tell me what you think below the video.  After watching some of the TED-Ed animations, I think it will be inspiring for students to create visually appealing projects.