TED Talk Response #6

TED Talk by Dave Eggers

1. One-on-one time is needed for students who are struggling, but teachers can't spend that time with students, So society needs a way to help these kids by providing that one-on-one time they need. To help address this issue, Dave Eggers and his friends came up with the idea to combine their writing center with a tutoring center. In the process they discovered that rrust gaps are important to notice and address. Their original approach (a board that said 'free tutoring') did not go down very well in the neighborhood and they had no students coming in. After adjusting their tactic, the idea took off. The main focus of this tutoring was to help children raise their grades through one-on-one attention. Their facility focused on not sterotyping their program by calling it somewhere where "kids who need help" go, but by characterizing it by the one-on-one oppurtinities it provides. They enjoy having everyone work together. Interns and students working side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder. Homework efficiency increases with the one-on-one attention, giving students more time to do their own thing in the evenings. An idea was developed that after writing at a high level, students will not reaturn to their old ways of writing. Meshing together creative fun, humor, tutoring and one-on-one attention creates positive results in students. Children blossom through writing and attention.  
2. His speaking is not very good. He is nervous and choppy and says "Uhh" or "Um" a lot. He strays off his topic a lot and speaks very quickly, so it is hard to understand him. He used a few words and phrases like 'transformative' and 'one-on-one attention', over and over again and kind of wore them out in the end.
3. The speaker's presentation style is pretty random. He skips around from idea to idea and retouches on many concepts over and over. He also shows many personal pictures of his experiences, which can help the audience get a first hand look at what he is doing.
4. What matters in this video is the combining of creativity, learning, and one-on-one time with students and what effects it has on the world around us. It connects to me personally because it can possibly change the way english is taught in school, with more one-on-one time. It connects to education in this same way. If it is proven that one-on-one time increases a student's grade, then more options for this type of teaching may be included in education systems. This idea relates to Daniel Pink's book, especially the chapter Symphony, where two ideas come together and work in harmony. In this case, it's creativity and one-on-one time. This effects the world because it exposed an effective way to help students succeed.