Blog Post #8

Randy Pausch's lecture, The Last Lecture, is upbeat and entertaining. He takes his life experiences and turns them into life lessons that we can all learn from. His lecture starts out with explaining his childhood dreams. The first one is to be an astronaut. This is where Pausch introduces "brick walls." As Pausch states, "They let us prove how badly we want things." That was one of the brick walls Pausch mentions. Despite at first being told no, Pausch pushes until he is able to achieve his dream, of experiencing zero gravity. His next dream was playing for the NFL. This experience was one of my favorites. Learn the fundamentals. Walk before you run. Not only that, never give up on anyone. When you stop criticizing, you stop caring. As an educator you need to always encourage your students to succeed. As a student, your biggest fan will be your biggest critic.

Pausch has a great example on how to be a learner. We already know that to be an educator you must be a learner. You must continue to expand your knowledge and want to know more. Pausch's experience with being an Imagineer provided a great example of how to be learner. One person Pausch met with said to him "I don't know" while the other said "I don't have much information...I want to learn more."

"You guys did good, but I know you can do better." Never set a bar. Always believe that there is room to do more. That's what Pausch's class did. They did more and it turned into this great thing. Parents, teachers administrators, all came to see his student's final products. In a later story Pausch mentions as an educator the best thing to do is have your students become "self reflective." This can be done through peer reviews and then not just throwing it away but giving it back to students to see where they stand.

There was a lot to learn from Pausch's last lecture. At the end of his lecture, Pausch turns his lecture around and asks the audience have they figured out the head fake yet. The head fake of his lecture was not about how dreams are achieved but how to lead a life. Pausch's lecture taught me to never give up as an educator or a learner. Never stop caring about your students and never set a bar. Brick walls are going to be there in life, but they are there for a reason. They will keep those who don't want something as bad as you out. They show how dedicated you are. Pausch may have passed away, but he has changed lives, and he has now changed mine. On a side note, I will be buying his book, The Last Lecture.