Photo by AJphotoart, Andri Josef
I still remember the first TED talk I watched online. Sir Ken Robinson’s TEDTalk was talking about education and the killing of creativity by schools. I loved it! Finally, here was someone who was talking about education in a language I understood and actually wanted to listen to. Imagine my excitement when I realised that not only would that same talk be part of #TEDxNicosiaSalon 5th March 2016, most importantly standing before me would be three speakers, all educators, using the same hopeful language. Innovators in the field of education who dare to question do in fact exist in our local community and on Saturday 5.3.2016 they had plenty to say. As a mother with a son about to hop on the education carousel I wanted to be impressed. And I was.
All around the globe, salon events involve a small group of individuals who are able to interact with the speakers and explore a chosen subject through discussion. At the TEDxNicosiaSalon event, held at the beautiful ARTOS Foundation, the atmosphere was positively charged with quotes such as ‘system has to change’, ‘learning is difficult’ and ‘education should go hand in hand with humour’ being spoken.
Eleni Protopapa, a young and tenacious history teacher was the first speaker. She spoke about the importance of humour in education. How original, I thought. I am always maintaining that life needs more humour but laughter as part of an education? The point she was making was not that education is a laughing matter, obviously, but that it can break down the barriers between teachers and students. By humanising yourself, students will appreciate you more, she said. I don’t remember a single teacher I had being funny so that explains a lot about my attitude towards them. Humour equals human, Eleni said. Aren’t teachers humans? Don’t humans make mistakes? We should bypass mistakes and allow teachers to be humanised. Laughter and humour can be a useful tool when used at the right moment.
Next up was Thadd Correia, a drama teacher. Every time I hear the words ‘drama teacher’ I can’t help but smile perhaps because as a byproduct of public school education in the 80s growing up I had never seen a drama teacher. Back then I had only ever heard of drama teachers existing in the movies. Thadd spoke about the importance of owning our narrative and the need to stop giving our children a set narrative. They are only set to become doctors and lawyers, he said. Having a strong narrative and showing them that there are other options helps create and strengthen self-confidence. And we all know how important that is when it comes to kids. By allowing children to participate in drama classes we are allowing them to try out different roles, entertain ideas and not throw anything out.
Last but by no means least was my favourite speaker. She looks like a principal and walks like a principal but she definitely doesn’t talk like one. Deborah Duncan, Principal of the Junior and Senior School questioned education. What is it for, she asked. Is it not to grow individuals, independent learners and not just functioning members of society who can memorise chemistry but never learn it at depth? She talked about a learning pit where both strong and weak can interact, motivating each other to learn. She talked about growth minded persons versus fixed minded persons which basically means that students who were encouraged to ‘grow’ their brains did so, increasing their intellectual abilities therefore doing better at school. She talked exactly the way I want my son’s educator to talk.
I left the small gathering where big ideas were being discussed feeling hopeful because through TEDxNicosiaSalon I realised that innovation and education can actually coexist.
And how exciting is that!
‘Catching the TEDxNicosia bug’ by Eleni Antoniou, TEDxNicosia blogger
