Selected to further our diversity, equity, and inclusion work, the following TED talks are offered to help us reflect on and engage in conversation of how we understand ourselves and others.
- The videos will play from this page.
- Use the associated hyperlinked text to read the corresponding transcripts.
- Access to a transcript may help you select your sentence, phrase, and word for our discussion in the fall.
You are invited (and encouraged!) to add your sentence, phrase, and word in the comment section below as you watch and reflect. (Please be sure to include the title of the talk in your comment.)
Grace Lin: Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf by Grace Lin
Rebeca Hwang: The Power of Diversity Within Yourself
Liz Kleinrock: How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics
Zachary Wood: Why it’s worth listening to people you disagree with
Reshma Sanjani: Teach girls bravery, not perfection
Tanya Menon: The secret to great opportunities? The person you haven’t met
Steven Petrow: Three ways to practice Civility
LB Hannahs: What it’s like to be a transgender dad
Grace Lin: Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf
Sentence: Kids who always see themselves in books, need to be able to see things from other viewpoints.
Phrase: see outside themselves
Word: self-worth
*note – Grace Lin will be our visiting author in the spring!
Rebeca Hwang: The Power of Diversity Within Yourself
Sentence: So this episode launched a lifelong quest for my identity.
Phrase: my looks betrayed me
Word: reinventing
Liz Kleinrock: How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics
Sentence: “We’re big enough to know about these things because these problems are happening where we live. And we have the right to talk about them because it will be our life in the future.”
Phrase: truly terrifying teachable moment
Word: dehumanize
Zachary R. Wood: Why it’s worth listening to people you disagree with
Sentence: It’s my belief that to achieve progress in the face of adversity, we need a genuine commitment to gaining a deeper understanding of humanity.
Phrase: gain a lot from individual interactions
Word: backlash
Reshma Sanjani: Teach girls bravery, not perfection
Sentence: Most girls are taught to avoid risk and failure.
Phrase: not raising our girls to be brave.
Word: imperfection
Tanya Menon: The secret to great opportunities? The person you haven’t met.
Sentence: When we’re in trouble, when we need new ideas, when we need new jobs, when we need new resources – this is when we really pay a price for living in a clique.
Phrase: fight our filters
Word: kembali
Steven Petrow: Three ways to practice civility
Sentence: “Civility does not mean appeasement or avoiding important differences. It means listening and talking about those differences with respect.”
Phrase: the wall is the real incivility here
Word: civilist
LB Hannahs: What’s it’s like to be a transgender dad
Sentence: Now this work to develop a healthy relationship with gender for Elliot made me rethink and evaluate how I allowed sexism to manifest in my own gender identity.
Phrase: validating and at times transformative moments
Word: transparent
Rebecca Hwang
Sentence: During my childhood, I felt very much Argentinian, but my looks betrayed me at times.
Phrase – I should get a degree in “random studies.”
Word – tribe
Zachary Wood: Why it’s worth listening to people you disagree with
Sentence – For many, it was difficult to see how bringing controversial speakers to campus could be valuable, when they caused harm.
Phrase – no one likes being offended
Word – adversity
Liz Kleinrock: How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics
Sentence – And then you have Abby, sitting there completely bewildered because, in her mind, she doesn’t understand the weight of what she said and why everybody is reacting this way.
Phrase – I knew that this was far too important of a teachable moment to miss.
Word – assumptions
Reshma Sanjani: Teach girls bravery, not perfection
Sentence – But on election day, the polls were right, and I only got 19 percent of the vote, and the same papers that said I was a rising political star now said I wasted 1.3 million dollars on 6,321 votes. Don’t do the math. It was humiliating.
Phrase – where I didn’t worry about being perfect
Words – bravery deficit
Tanya Menon: The secret to great opportunities? The person you haven’t met
Sentence – When we’re in trouble, when we need new ideas, when we need new jobs, when we need new resources — this is when we really pay a price for living in a clique.
Phrase – creatures of habit
Word – hubs
Steven Petrow: Three ways to practice Civility
Sentence – And in part, that’s because modern usage equates civility with decorum, with formal politeness, formal behavior.
Phrase – civility translates into censure
Word – decorum
LB Hannahs: What it’s like to be a transgender dad
Sentence – Well, option one is oftentimes the easier route. Option two is always the more authentic one. And all of these scenarios involve a level of discomfort, even in the best case.
Phrase – I want a balanced environment for her to explore
Word – Healthy
Grace Lin: Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf
Sentence: Where the mountain meets the moon
Phrase: Books need to be mirrors and windows
Word: self-worth
Rebeca Hwang: The Power of Diversity Within Yourself
Sentence: Cultivating diversity within me and not just around me.
Phrase: Finding common ground
Word: Multiplicity/Identity
Liz Kleinrock: How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics
Sentence: give students the tools, strategies, language of how to think equity
Phrase: the right thing to do is often not the easy thing to do
Word: Accessibility
Zachary Wood: Why it’s worth listening to people you disagree with
Sentence: Never write off options that you disagree with or dislike because there is always something to learn from the perspectives of others even when doing so might be difficult.
Phrase: a journey of uncomfortable learning
Word: Deeper understanding
Reshma Sanjani: Teach girls bravery, not perfection
Sentence: Women have been socialized to aspire to perfection and they are overly cautious.
Phrase: Socialize our girls to be comfortable with imperfection
Word: Movement
Tanya Menon: The secret to great opportunities? The person you haven’t met
Sentence: Eliminate the transaction and instead strengthen that social tie.
Phrase: injections of unpredictable diversity
Word: social habits
Steven Petrow: Three ways to practice Civility
Sentence: civility – citizens willing to give of themselves for the greater good for the good of the city
Phrase: respectful engagement
Word: connection
LB Hannahs: What it’s like to be a transgender dad
Sentence: Love her and myself hard, with forgiveness and compassion, with tough love and generosity, give room for growth, to push beyond comfort in hopes of attaining a more meaningful life.
Phrase: journey towards authenticity
Word: authenticity