ted talk final script

II. Fully Developed TED Talk Script

You have already created an outline for your TED Talk and you received feedback from us. Considering that many of the books we selected for you have been challenged in libraries and schools across the U.S., is there anything you would add or change now that you have considered issues of censorship, book banning, and the right to read? There is no requirement that you address censorship in your TED talk– just food for thought.

As your final assignment for this course, you will now fully develop your TED Talk based on one of the following sets of literature you previously selected:

Theme across the mini collections

New books identified for the presentation

You need to thoughtfully consider the course content (textbook readings, articles, videos) and how you applied critical frames to the reading of your collection of books.

Your close reading, close viewing, and close playing of selected works of children’s literature has hopefully inspired many possible ideas for this talk.

Here are the necessary components you must include in your TED Talk:

1. A creative, purposeful title for you talk.

2. Your main publicity advertisement or blurb for the talk. (Think of this as a brief, 2-4 sentence summary statement of your talk on a program guide or web site)

3. A full transcript of your talk. Feel free to use the TEDx speaker guides listed in your resources when developing your talk. An 18 minutes talk is approximately 1000-1500 words. The minimum word count for this assignment is 1000 words. Indicate in your transcript the places where are you planning to show images. For example (Start showing slide_01 for 10 seconds here).

4. Visuals (4-8 presentation slides, images, or videos) You can embed these slides on your text or add them separately at the end of your transcript. If you add your visuals separately, make sure to indicate the places you would share these slides in your transcript. Please note: slides or projected images during your talk can be helpful for the audience, but they are by no means necessary or relevant to every talk. Ask yourself: Would my slides help and clarify information for the audience, or would they distract and confuse them? Some great examples of slides can be found in the talks by Dan Phillips, Jarrett Krosoczka and Rick Guidotti on TED.com. The most important rule for slides: Keep it simple.

The ted talk has to be about three children literture books i chose the theme ethnicity and racism this is an example of what the final ted talk should look like.

How Children Grapple with Death

Blurb: Death and dying are an inescapable reality that is universal to all
human beings, regardless of cultural and spiritual backgrounds. It is
essential for everyone to have a concept of death, but these concepts may
be particularly cryptic to children’s minds. That is why I invite you to
this Ted Talk, so we can look at ways death and all it entails can be
discussed with and understood by not only children, but also the parents
and young adults who may wish to better communicate these ideas with their
family and friends.

Full Transcript:
I’m here today to talk about Death. To many people, just the word conjures
palpable feelings of melancholy, grief, loss or regret. Some may find the
topic anxiety-inducing and uncomfortable. Even with the experience and
wisdom of adulthood, death is a difficult topic. So how can we even begin
to discuss this concept with children? Somber start, I know, but by the end
of this discussion I hope we will all look at death in a more joyful and
celebratory way that can even be expressed to and understood by children of
all ages.

The truth is Death is a reality that all living beings must accept.
Regardless of spiritual and religious beliefs that may include some kind of
eternal afterlife or rebirth, death still means some sort of finality. Some
may believe this loss is only temporary, but to all it is a permanent end
in this plane of existence that we call life on earth. Death is so
universal that not only do all cultures in the world today hold some sort
of burial or mourning ritual, but even animals and archaic human species
grieve and mourn the dead. Elephants upon encountering a dead member of
their species, will huddle around the carcass and remain there for days in
displays of mourning rituals. They will pat the corpse with their trunks,
rubbing and sniffing against the deceased, gently touching their fallen
bones and tusks. These Calcium and Ivory trinkets are often taken as a
memento by grieving family members. There have been many instances of
mourning elephants who carry 100-pound tusks for up to half a mile in
commemoration. Other social creatures such as apes, otters, wolves, orcas
and many more have similar familial bonds and displays of grief upon
encountering the dead of their species. In 2018 an Orca mother who lost
her calf was observed pushing the lifeless body of the child (with some
help from the rest of the pod) for more than 1,000 miles over the course of
2 weeks before finally leaving her daughter to rest. Even ancient human
species that would be considered “cavemen” such as our ancestral relatives
Homo naledi and archaic Homo sapiens from as long as 300,000 years ago
would bury their dead in a ritualistic way, with handcrafted parting gifts,
jewelry, burial chambers, and red dyes made of ochre.

It is evident that we as living creatures are hardwired in our DNA to feel
grief, sadness, lethargy and depression in response to death. It is
difficult enough to cope with this reality as an adult, but the issue is
magnified when trying to teach these ideas to children. When a child comes
into contact with death “their immediate reaction to grief is often
somatic, like a stomachache or a headache.” Studies show that before the
age of five, most children view death as a “kind of sleep that is temporary
or reversible.” and it is not until sometime just before the age of 10 that
children learn to view death as “permanent, irreversible, inevitable, and
universal, a state from which no one is immune.”

Luckily there are many tools that can be used to help us discuss this
difficult topic with children. The tools I’m referring to are books,
specifically children’s picture books. Children’s literature refers to
“collections of texts that are specifically written and/or illustrated for
and/or about youth as well as texts that are not specifically written
and/or illustrated for and/or about youth but which youth choose to read,
view, and/or write. Adults are welcome to read children’s literature too.”
This means that children’s books are not just for children, but also for
the young adults and adults who are reading them too.

For example, let’s take a look at Grandad’s Island by British Author and
illustrator Benji Davies. This picture book is about a child named Syd who
must accept the fact that his Grandad who he loves and spent a lot of time
with is no longer going to be with him. In this story, Benji uses minimal
word count with beautiful and colorful pictures to force the reader to
focus on these large captivating images over the comparatively small text.
Though the text is still important as it guides us along on this journey,
as well as opening up dialogue between the characters, the focus is
certainly on the imagery. Death can be a scary concept for young minds, so
Grandad’s Island uses a ship voyage to a lush, fun, tropical island as a
metaphor for death and dying. Syd’s granddad takes him to his attic that is
filled with treasures that he has collected from around the world. Though
the story does not go into detail about what these items are, the pictures
paint a 1,000 words. Readers can contemplate the many hours of history
lessons and stories Syd’s grandad likely taught his grandson that bonded
them and strengthened their affection. As Syd and his Grandad sail to the
island, the sky is clear and the sea is bright to symbolize their happiness
getting to spend time together. When they arrive at the island, it is shown
as a magical tropical paradise. Grandad is able to walk, run, and jump
freely, and leaves his cane behind as he says he no longer needs it. After
much fun together, when it is time to go Grandad tells Syd that he is going
to stay behind. As Syd sails home alone, the sky is dark and cloudy, and
the sea is rougher, as a metaphor for his sadness that he is no longer with
his grandpa. After some time, Syd returns to grandpa’s attic. Grandpa is no
longer there, but all of his treasures are, as well as an envelope which
contains a picture of Grandad at his island. The author, Benji Davies,
successfully communicates the concept of the loss of a loved one in a
positive and peaceful manner. Dying is just a voyage that you are able to
take surrounded by your loved ones, and death is a peaceful place, not a
scary one. It is important to take time to mourn and grieve as is
illustrated by the stormy ride home, but after some time passes we should
celebrate how they lived, and the legacy they left behind, like all the
memories in grandad’s attic. Another advantage of this book is that it
talks about the concepts surrounding death such as loss and grief, without
explicitly referencing death. This may make it easier to open up the
discussion with your children on why their relatives may no longer be there
one day, without directly having a conversation on death if you feel the
child is too young.

Badger’s Parting Gifts by British author and illustrator Susan Varley is
similar to Grandad’s Island in that it uses colorful images and
storytelling to portray death as more of a celebration of life. In the
story, the old Badger is coming to the end of his life, and all the other
creatures of the forest must come to terms with his death. Just like the
previous story, the weather is used to symbolize the mood of the characters
that are still alive and must mourn their loss. While Badger is alive, the
forest is sunny, green and thriving. After he dies, a heavy snow blankets
the woods, symbolizing the cold sadness that blanketed the characters. Much
like Syd’s Grandad, Badger finds his death to be a freeing experience. He
finds himself in a tunnel where he is able to run and jump faster and
faster, no longer in need of his walking stick. He feels himself fall, but
it does not hurt, and then he is free, like leaving his body. Back in the
woods, the snow and sadness pass, and the critters come together and
remember Badger in his life. The mole recalls how Badger had taught him how
to make papercrafts. Frog recounts that he had learned to skate thanks to
Badger, so does Mrs. Rabbit who learned her gingerbread recipe from him.
Now Whenever the animals think about Badger, instead of sadness they smile
because they remember the good times. This story demonstrates an excellent
lesson on how children can view death as a freeing experience to the dying
individual and as more of a celebration of life, not just a mourning of the
lost. Unlike Grandad’s Island, death is explicitly mentioned so readers
should be prepared for any potential follow up questions from their curious
children.

A final picture book we can look at is Duck, Death and the Tulip by german
author and illustrator Wolf Erlbruch. With Death in the very title, we get
the sense that this story will be more explicit with its references to
death and this quickly turns out to be true. In the story, death is
portrayed as a skeleton, which is familiar to many cultures who may use
symbols such as the grim reaper or skulls to portray death. However, rather
than being a scary portrayal, it is a child-like skeleton wearing a cute
dress. This allows death to be symbolized in a familiar yet comfortable
way. Unlike the previous two that focus on how death affects those still
alive, this story unfolds as a conversation between death, and a duck who
is dying. The duck comes to terms with the fact that it will one day die
when he meets this personified death. Death says he is always close by just
in case something happens like a nasty cold or a bad accident. Duck says he
doesn’t like to think about that sort of thing, and goes for a swim in the
pond. Death soon gets too damp and asks to leave. The duck asks if he is
cold, and warms death with his wings and feathers. This made death feel
nice, as it was not often that people are warm to him. After waking up the
next day, the duck was thrilled to still be alive. Rather than go to the
pond, as usual, he decides to climb a tree with Death. They talk about
potential afterlives reminiscent to heaven and hell and what the pond he
frequents will be like after he is dead. At the end of the book, the duck
asks for warmth from Death, and he offers it. Death takes the dead duck to
a river to float away, with a tulip laid across his chest. The story
wonderfully symbolizes how although it is uncomfortable to think of death,
just as duck is uncomfortable with it, it is important to develop a warm
relationship with it, so when the time comes, as it does for everyone, it
will be a peaceful warm acceptance. The images in this book may be
considered as more “mature” or macabre, but they brilliantly capture the
reality of death. Even the way the duck lies in the river with the tulip is
similar to funeral services we attend. Additionally, since afterlives are
mentioned, the parent can choose to steer the direction to one of religion
if that is what they wish.

These are just three of countless books that deal with the topic of death
that you can use as a tool to open up a dialogue with children on death and
all it entails. I challenge you to find a picture book that tackles a
difficult topic like death, and see if you can incorporate it into a lesson
plan for a child you know, whether it’s your son, daughter, niece or
nephew. And if you don’t have a child that is close to you, read one
anyway. Remember children’s books are for adults too if you can enjoy them
and find some purpose in it. I hope after listening to this you have a
newly found respect for children’s literature as well as the importance of
using these tools to bring up uneasy topics to talk about, such as death.