Transformational Leadership; TED Talks: Sadie M.

While I definitely agree with the idea of this article, I'm not sure how well the argument is presented. Although the author uses examples of multiple TED Talks to support her idea, she does a better job of summarizing the videos than of convincing her audience. Some of the ideas really don't make sense to me at all. For example, in the section about conducting, the author uses many strange analogies that don't really fit: saying that teachers are responsible for how kids "play" together in the classroom just as musicians "play together" in a orchestra. While I understand that concept, what does it have to do with gifted children? She also explains that because music is a creative art form, teachers should be like artists and have room for creativity in their interpretation of classroom standards. This seems like a very weak idea to me. On other points, she simply does not elaborate. She uses terms like "various classroom management strategies" without explaining what and how. Similarly, she talks about taking risks as educators, but does not give a solid definition or example. A point she explains well is the idea of looking to others with expertise in a certain area, using examples of Thomas Edison and General McChrystal. However, I feel that this is a lot easier said than done. How likely is it that a teacher is able to bring someone into the classroom to elaborate on a certain subject? While videos and other methods of "bringing others on board" might be used as an alternative, the teacher still must have a certain level of expertise on the subject to be able to answer students' questions. In all, I do think that the author makes an interesting argument, but I do feel that it could have been better supported. I do understand that it is difficult to write a paper about videos when the reader may or may not have watched them. Still, I think the author could have gone into more detail about how exactly these videos would inspire teachers to change, especially compared to traditional proffessional development.