Weekly Program - Focus on Teachers

 
Until recently, many teachers only got one word of feedback a year: “satisfactory.” And with no feedback, no coaching, there’s just no way to improve. Bill Gates suggests that even great teachers can get better with smart feedback — and lays out a program from his foundation to bring it to every classroom.

Why you should listen

Bill Gates is the founder and former CEO of Microsoft. A geek icon, tech visionary and business trailblazer, Gates' leadership -- fueled by his long-held dream that millions might realize their potential through great software -- made Microsoft a personal computing powerhouse and a trendsetter in the Internet dawn. Whether you're a suit, chef, quant, artist, media maven, nurse or gamer, you've probably used a Microsoft product today.

In summer of 2008, Gates left his day-to-day role with Microsoft to focus on philanthropy. Holding that all lives have equal value (no matter where they're being lived), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has now donated staggering sums to HIV/AIDS programs, libraries, agriculture research and disaster relief -- and offered vital guidance and creative funding to programs in global health and education. Gates believes his tech-centric strategy for giving will prove the killer app of planet Earth's next big upgrade.

What others say

“When Gates looks at the world, a world in which millions of preventable deaths occur each year, he sees an irrational, inefficient, broken system, an application that needs to be debugged. It shocks him -- his word -- that people don't see this, the same way it shocked him that nobody but he and [Paul] Allen saw the microchip for what it was.” — Time

Next...

What do rap shows, barbershop banter and Sunday services have in common? As Christopher Emdin says, they all hold the secret magic to enthrall and teach at the same time — and it’s a skill we often don't teach to educators. A longtime teacher himself, now a science advocate and co-founder of Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. with the GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, Emdin offers a vision to make the classroom come alive.

Filmed October 2013 at TED@NYC

Christopher Emdin: Teach teachers how to create magic

 
Rotarians are focused on education around the world, but sometimes we need to take a closer look in our own backyard.  There are often opportunities to mentor students, mentor scholarship recipients as they transition from high school to college, donate to after-school programs, purchase dictionaries or other books (such as the Dolly Parton Imagination book program).  Perhaps we can also consider how to impact the teachers with communication tools to motivate students to learn.  Learning is a gift and Rotarians are challenged by RI President "Ravi" to "Be a Gift to the World".  Gifts take many forms, some tangible and some inspirational.  Let's share our gifts, whether it be monetary or the gift of our time or talent, to promote education of the next generation.