Reimagining Classrooms: Teachers as Learners and Students as Leaders by Kayla Delzer (Transcript)

Kayla Delzer

Here is the full transcript of Kayla Delzer’s TEDx Talk on Reimagining Classrooms: Teachers as Learners and Students as Leaders at TEDxFargo conference.

TRANSCRIPT:

On the first day of school this year, I had a little boy, get up in my face and he screamed at me. He said “I hate school. I hate teachers. I don’t want to be here.”

I remember taking a calm breath, finding my biggest smile and I got down on his level and I said “I promise you’re going to love school this year.”

If we take a look at classrooms over the past 70 years, we are seeing the same type of classrooms, and the same type of learning environments standing up to 70 years. It is my goal to continually revitalize learning and the classroom.

This is a picture of my classroom this last school year. I see classrooms differently. These are some of my students. I see my students differently, and I see the way that they learn differently. The results I get are incredible.

As teachers and educators we must embrace the students of today to reimagine tomorrow. First, we must wonder how we can release the power. For as long as schools have existed, teachers have been the main source of knowledge in the classroom. Teachers are the gatekeepers for everything that happens in the classroom. We are in charge of everything students do or don’t do.