Books Are My Super Power…And They Can Be Yours, Too | Kitty Felde | TEDxUCLA

i am a superhero now you may not think it to look at me and i admit spandex is not my best look and the only spider webs i ever handled are the ones in the corner of the dining room but i am a superhero my superpower i can get kids to talk to me about their lives about their fears about their hopes and about their dreams and today i'm going to share my superpower with you my secret weapon books now i am pretty good at interviewing people i mean i hosted a talk show in public radio for nearly a decade i covered capitol hill for years getting politicians to open up to me these days i interview kids on a podcast about books now you may ask yourself why is talking to kids so darned important i mean especially if you're not a parent and you're not a teacher and the only encounter you have with kids is yelling at the one sitting behind you on an airplane to stop kicking your seat well at least pre-pandemic but kids approach the world with real honesty they view the world through a sharper lens they have wisdom and insight and all you need is a way to get it out of them yeah well there's the rub most of our conversations with kids are fairly shallow as in how school fine end of conversation well if the only thing you can think to ask a kid is how's your day you are missing massive opportunities to learn the answers to much larger questions as in how's your life and by considering the answers it allows us to ask ourselves how's my life i want you to put yourself in their shoes turn back the clock to the time when you were double digits that time when you were almost but not quite a teenager and the good news this time is you don't have to worry about acne i can distinctly remember being 11 years old and the only question an adult would ask me was how school drove me crazy inside my head i was saying ask me something important i mean ask me how i can fix my neighborhood so kids on bikes won't get hit by cars ask me how i can raise money to fight cancer ask me how i can get the guy down the street to vote in the next election i mean if only an adult had asked me really important questions had had treated me like i had half a brain in my head i would have told them anything and everything so how do you break the ice books create a safe space for the magic to happen a book gives a child agency the permission to talk about the unexpected the important the things that are closest to their hearts and minds i mean you already know this to be true look at your own book club you get together there's wine there's cheese and crackers there's something fattening you shouldn't eat but you do and you start with the book talking about the plot and the characters you talk about the things that made you mad the quality of the writing the things that made you cry and then at some point in the conversation that evening it takes a left turn you veer off on a tangent and suddenly you find yourself talking about the things in your own life you talk about your college-educated daughter who is working 26 hours a day carrying cable on an indie film and your husband who will not give up his flip phone and then you find yourself confessing to this group of readers that deep down in your heart you have always wanted to write a memoir this this is the power of books the magic books allow us to explore the parts of our lives that really really matter they give us the tools the permission the agency to talk about them and it's the same way with kids now on my podcast i go into schools and libraries and talk to kids about middle grade novels we start with the plot and the characters but just like in your book club at some point in the conversation it takes a left turn and it's my motto to follow that left turn because it's there that the conversation opens up and kids start talking about what's really important to them like the future like their families like life and death my favorite unexpected conversation happened in an elementary school not far from the u.s capitol i walked into the school library and there was a group of five fifth grade boys climbing the walls i mean literally climbing the walls the librarian had to go in and pluck them off the bookshelf and plunk them down on the bean bag chairs and i said to myself this is not going to be good the book was a novel in verse about brothers in basketball so we started by talking about poetry and hoops and at some point in the conversation the boys started talking about family their own families their relationships with people in their own family one boy said you know he could hardly wait until his older sister went off to college but then when she went he felt really sad and he didn't know why and then another boy piped in and said you know his father worked for amtrak and he really worried about him because he had to go up on ladders to change the lights because nobody else could do it as well as he does and he worried that his dad would fall off the ladder and break his arm and then these five tough little fifth graders broke into an acapella song they wrote inspired by the books now i can't promise that a kid in your life is going to suddenly break into song because of a book but a book can open the door to conversation it can make it safe to talk about the things that really matter it can allow you to crack open the hearts and minds of that young person and scoop out the wisdom that could change your life a book is a safe way to open the door to the passions and worries that deep down all of us share whether we're 9 or whether we're 99 conversations that start with a book can create a relationship with that next generation that allows you to peek into the future and perhaps even influence it so go pick up your own secret weapon call your local indie bookstore and and speak to the person very nice person in the children's department or call your local public library and talk to the children's librarian and ask them which novel is it that kids just can't stop talking about which is the one that flies off the shelves and then get a copy and actually get two copies one for you and one for the kid in your life and read it and let the child know that you are reading it too and then tap into your own superpower set up a zoom call or fingers crossed get together in person and talk about that book start with the plot and the characters and then listen for clues what what small thing in that book does the child want to talk about and i'm sure it is something that you will barely remember and then ask questions what did you think of the main character did you identify with them what about the parents in the book were they fair in their treatment of the kids what magical power do you wish that you had the ability to fly to be invisible to read minds and and why do you want that special magical power and listen for the left turn and i promise you it will happen it'll lead you to discover what's really important to that child what wisdom that young person has to share with you listen for it it could change your life and when you share your own bit of wisdom be honest treat the child's opinions with the same sort of respect that you expect from the outside world by listening carefully to their out-of-the-box opinions their unexpected ideas you're also respecting the child who has them you're giving them the gift of confidence of practicing critical listening and thinking skills you're giving them the gift of your attention your time and most important of taking them seriously a book can be your secret weapon to create deep profound conversations with another human being who just happens to be three feet tall you have the super power to turn shallow chit chat into a lifelong connection this is my super power and now it is yours you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 2,388

Keywords: Book, Early education, Education, English, TEDxTalks

Id: i7mMeIU20N4

Length: 10min 41sec (641 seconds)

Published: Thu May 27 2021