Blog post #10

In the video,Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, I was absolutely surprised by the passion Randy exhibited throughout the whole lecture. When I imagine a man who is very sick and don’t have long to live I picture the total reverse of Randy. I visualize a man who is feeling sorry for himself and sitting at home thinking of what to do or what could have been. I admire how he comes right out and tells the class all the facts and how he is very accepting of what has happened to him. This lecture is about Dr. Pausch’s childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and lessons learned.

Randy Pausch's childhood dreams were: Being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals at the fair, and being a Disney Imaginer. He was able to experience zero gravity with a student group. He never played in the NFL but he did play football and learned several valuable lessons from it. He did write for the World Encyclopedia, and he became like Captain Kirk by being a leader in a virtual reality project. He worked on a virtual reality program at Disney. It was a virtual Aladdin flying carpet ride. They asked him to become a permanent “imaginer”, but he said no and became an imaginer consultant. Dr. Pausch achieved many of his childhood dreams but not all of them but that did not stop him or even bother him. The most outstanding part of the lecture that he talked about was about the brick walls he speaks of. He says “brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things”. Usually when I notice a ‘brick wall’ I turn around and go the other way thinking that what ever I was trying to accomplish was not suppose to happen. After hearing what Dr. Pausch has to say about “brick walls” I have a new perspective of obstacles. If you want something bad enough, you should go after it. Just because there is something standing in your way does not mean there is not a way around it, you just have to find it. This is very inspiring and I could definitely use this theory.

The next thing Dr. Pausch talks about in his wonderful lecture is helping make the dreams of others. He touched the class he taught at Carnegie Mellon University. What I took from him on teaching his class is that they were having fun while learning. While in the middle of their projects they were actually learning the systems they were using without even knowing it. I find this very remarkable and helpful. I think this is the way learning should be because a lot more students wouldn’t dread going to school. I have had teachers before that are so boring and only lectures and that makes you absolutely dread going to their class everyday and you shouldn’t feel like that. I also feel like if they are having fun while learning that they will learn a lot more and not even know it and not dread going to school or to one of their teacher’s classes.

In the last part of Dr. Pausch’s speech, He talks about lessons learned. The character of parents, mentors, and students help us accomplish our dreams. The thing that stood out the most to me in this part is how he said that our students will shape us. It is unbelievable to think that we learn more from our students sometimes than they learn from us. This video was astonishing and I am so glad I had the opportunity to watch this video. It motivates me to be the best teacher I can be. Shape their futures, promote their dreams and believe in them, even if no one else does. Most of all we have to have fun and help others.