Blog # 7

"The Last Lecture" By Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch is a brilliant teacher and a very inspirational person. I knew about him well before this assignment, I read his book The Last Lecture a few years ago and throughly enjoyed it. Hearing his speech however reminded me of how influential he really was and continues to be. I think he approaches teaching in a way different from most of those around him. He does not like textbooks, he does not like sitting in a classroom, he is what I would refer to as hands-on, a go-getter, innovative and fun! Teachers across the world should strive to be these things everyday. In this one hour lecture, (which is such a small glimpse of his entire career) we can clearly see how his approach brought such great happiness, determination and dedication to his students. He created bonds by thinking outside of the box. When he wanted something, he went for it and wouldn't give up until he got it. With the exception of playing in the NFL but like he said, he got more out of not accomplishing this goal. It was the fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

During this video he made a few statements that made me put it on pause and think for a few moments. The first which was in the start of the lecture, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." I like this, I think there is a great deal of truth in this statement. I'm sure at times we have all not been satisfied with where we are at, how our life is going and so on. The kicker however is that we have the power to rise above and change it! Playing the victim in life is easy but it won't ever get you to where you want to be. Randy Pausch also mentioned that it is important to have specific childhood dreams. I agree with this, I always had dreams and they did change a slight bit overtime they all had the same general idea of working with children in one way or another. Which is why I am confident now that teaching is exactly what I want to do. I also think he is a bit of a rare case to have had such specific dreams, six to be exact and to accomplish five of those is truly amazing. You can clearly see he was a smart child eager and wanting to learn all he could from a very young age, which allowed him to start pursuing his dreams at an early age.

Another quote that made me stop and think was, "experience is what you get, when you didn't get what you wanted." I took this as, don't be disappointed things didn't turn out as planned, look at the bigger picture, the opportunity at hand and take the experience for what is was. Feel honored to have had any experience at all, others may not have been as lucky. One of the things I think I like most about Randy Pausch is the way he approaches a problem. He stays clam, there has to be a way to fix it, make it better and overcome it. I will try and carry this with me when I become a teacher. Nothing is impossible for him and his students and his enthusiasm has a waterfall effect down into the eager mind of his students.

Another thing I will keep with me after watching this video was when he asked the question (talking to the audience/me) "how can I enable the childhood dreams of others?" As a future educator I think that puts me in a pretty good place to be a positive enabler. I hope that I will have the right words and actions to allow my students to dream big and work hard to accomplish their goals. Another statement he made, that teachers don't always know how high "the bar" should be set for their students. He said this after realizing his students did an extreme amount of work in a short amount of time with unbelievable results on a certain project. We must push our students, make them work and see their sense of pride and accomplishment once they see a finished product.

Near the end of the video he sang to his wife which was very touching. He also recapped and said; never lose the childlike wonder, help others, never give up, show gratitude, don't complain just work harder and be good at something it makes you valuable. Truer words are hard to come across. Randy Pausch is a teacher that I find to be one of the most influential I have heard and read about. I hope that I can have as much passion and enthusiasm for my students as he did for his.