The impact of creating TED Talks with my students
I am Jinni Forcucci,
I teach at Sussex Tech High School in
Georgetown, Delaware,
and I am an English teacher.
So when I get back from doing my talk in
New York, I was like–
“I did that!”
You just don’t know you can do it,
and I did it!
“But what keeps me going back, are those
moments when as a kid educator,
we deliver information
that then turns to awareness,
and then that becomes acceptance, and then
that turns to community and family,
and when I see shifts in perspective,
and my room becomes a space
where children can thrive,
I will remain committed to this work.”
So I come home and felt this ability to
say to these children,
who are living in Sussex County, Delaware,
“Your narrative deserves
to be highlighted,
your research needs to be heard,
your message is vital,”
and then to say, “They let me do it, I’m
from Felton, I live in Rohoboth,
I grew up the same way you guys did,
and look what I got to do.
It’s your turn. Period.
It’s your turn to change the world.”
And it flipped a switch for them.
Now all of a sudden they were imagining–
we talked a lot about
“Who needs to hear your message? Is
this for your peers? Is this for parents?
Is this for other educators? Is this for
physicians? Is this for voters?
Who needs to hear this?”
And all of a sudden it became authentic
and real,
and their commitment…
I’ve been teaching for over twenty years,
I have never seen commitment like this
for a completion grade,
with no penalty if they didn’t do it.
They did it.
So for teachers, please know that you’re
allowed to exist in that space of
self-judgement and fear and discomfort,
and “I’m not good enough to do
this, or I don’t want to–”
but when you overcome and you make it
through that space
the reward on the other side…
it’s overwhelming,
and then it just makes you
a better teacher.
I think that sometimes as professionals,
other people don’t get to see our work
as teachers–
it’s a very lonely profession.
And our kids love us,
and man that love is real,
and it’s important and it is
rejuvenating and energizing,
but our peers don’t know
what we’re doing.
And the pride that I felt that day,
I think pretty much can carry me through
the rest of my career,
and I’m really not exaggerating on that.
That’s a fuel that’s going to fire me
for a very long time.
Having the experience myself
with Masterclass,
following it through, I know that I can
keep doing this better and better.