Sunday, March 4, 2012

Blog Assignment 6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Randy Pausch giving his
Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University where he taught computer science and human-computer interaction. The video that I watched of his was "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". Sadly, Pausch died not long after this video was made due to complications from pancreatic cancer at the young age of 47. "The Last Lecture" was originally made for his children, but it has reached millions of more people. I thoroughly enjoyed all 1 hour and 16 minutes of it! Randy Pausch was an excellent speaker and did a phenomenal job of keeping his audience engaged. I have previously watched a little of this same video and his video on time management, and I still find both of them to be fascinating every time I watch them.

Even though Pausch filmed this video after he was told he had pancreatic cancer and only had a few months to live, one would have never known that from seeing how he acted and how much energy he had. He said that he was determined to have fun every day that he had left, and I think that is exactly what he did. He began the lecture by stressing how important it is for children to dream and to fulfill those dreams. So, he shared the dreams that he had as a child and how he accomplished them. For example, he wanted to experience zero gravity so, he was giving the opportunity to go to NASA and get in a machine that allowed you to experience 25-30 seconds of no gravity. This is just one example of the many dreams he had, but wanting to be a Disney Imagineer was his hardest and most sought after dream of them all.

Pausch had such an amazing outlook on life that anyone could ever wish to have. When I become an educator, I hope to have at least half of the perspective that he had on life. I want to show my students how important and crucial it is to dream and to never give up on their dreams. One of my favorite things from his lecture was when he was talking about the "brick wall". He said that brick walls aren't there to keep people out, but to remind them of just how much they want something. Brick walls are just obstacles that we each have to face and overcome in order to get what we really desire. If we hit a brick wall and give up, then we didn't really want that something in the first place. This was really good to me because I have never thought of brick walls that way before, but I will always remember this and remind my students of it every time they want to give up. Giving up will not be tolerated in my classroom.
the word dream spelt out

Pausch gave great advise to students on how to achieve their personal goals and careers. Pausch taught a class for about ten years where his students had to each make their own virtual tour or world. They had about five projects each semester that he gave them two weeks per project to complete. He was so blown away after the first assignment that he didn't know what to tell them in order to make them strive to work harder on the next one. So, he decided to tell them that their projects were good, but he knew that they could do even better. That is exactly what his students needed to hear because every two weeks, they would make projects that were even beyond Randy Pausch's imagination. Even though I am going to be a math teacher, I want to assign fun and creative things to my students that will help and encourage them to learn more than I thought they ever could. I believe that every student has the capacity to learn no matter what background or disabilities they may have, and I will strive to use technology and fun ideas to help my students get the best education possible.

No matter who you are, this video will inspire anyone. It makes one want to dream big dreams with the confirmation that they WILL achieve them. As a teacher, I will use things from this lecture and from Pausch, in general, to educate my students. Everyone can find something interesting from "The Last Lecture" that will show them how to dream the impossible and make it a reality.

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoy watching Randy's videos as well. I think, because of the situation he was in, he made the material he presented much more valuable and meaningful. I like how you have goals to never let your students give up. I think that is something all teachers should strive for! Your writing is superb and enjoyable to read. Great job!

    "Dream the impossible and make it a reality." Awesome quote!

    -Ashlea Leytham

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