Here’s a good career-path gut-check question to ponder over the summer (just in case you were looking for one). By now most educators are familiar with TED Talks, the influential, Web-distributed presentations in which innovative thinkers share their ideas and inspiration. But could you deliver one? Doug Johnson thinks it’s something every teacher should consider, even if only in a hypothetical sense:
Could you give a TED talk inspired by a personal passion for what you do? What would it be about? What would others learn from it? What makes you look forward to the next day even after a rough time at work? What do you take time to reflect on? What's your obituary going to say mattered to you and why the world is a better place for your having been in it?
If you don't know what your TED talk would be, I'd think hard about my career choice, my priorities, my life. Especially as an educator.