TEDxKids@NBCC: Our Curriculum (help yourself!)

Using a word like curriculum sounds rather formal, as we really intend for this to be a guide to inspire and adapt for your own TEDx kids/youth situation. This is a six week model with the sixth “class” being the TEDxKids event itself.

We recommend keeping your student logistics to a minimum. Don’t try to be a hero and collect a perfectly balanced group of kids from every school, neighborhood, etc. Work with a group or a teacher with whom you have a relationship and give those kids an experience of a lifetime.

Please use the links to read the more complete description for each week.

Week 1: Narrative Storytelling
Objective: Show how a traditional story is structured. Get kids up and talking.
Exercise: part 1- read a classic fairy tale; part 2- have the students redesign parts of the story and immediately share their new versions
out loud to the class. Can work in small groups of 2-3.

Week 2: Illustrative Language
Objective: Show how a story comes alive with vibrant descriptors. Get kids in front of class talking.
Exercise: Introduce with plain photo / fancy photo of an object and discuss what each “feels” like; then invite kids one at a time to narrate a TED talk (where sound is muted)
At home activity: work on a story with descriptions of a piece of imagery provided to each student.

Week 3: Idea Generation
Objective: report out on homework from week 2; introduce how they can begin their ideation for the topic of their talk.
Exercise: Ask them to volunteer things they are passionate about, challenge them to be meaningful. Pass out story board of suggestions and discus what else may be included.

Week 4: Public Speaking Basics
Objective: introduce the dos and don’ts of public speaking
Exercise: have kids introduce themselves from the stage or venue they’ll be using for the TEDxKids event. Share the storyboard of verbal and nonverbal basics.
Then have them share the idea (in a circle, not on stage yet) they are considering for their talks. Encourage them to articulate a problem and solution, not just a topic.

Week 5: Talk it out, Introduce visuals
Objective: start them to feel the deadline of having their talk ready, advance the call to action in their talk and any visuals.
Exercise: have them stand up and tell the class their talk jn it’s current form (it will be rough to non-existent). Have them pick the order of their talks. Demonstrate how they may use a picture or other image to reinforce a point. (we didn’t do this well beyond telling them- I encourage a better approach)

 

Week 6: Practice, Rehearse and Deliver!!!!