Blog Post #10

What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

Randy Pausch was a professor and allumnus at Carnegie Mellon University. On September 18, 2007 he gave a one of a kind lecture. In Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture" he begins by talking about his childhood and what his childhood dreams were. His lecture is mostly about his childhood dreams and how he achieved them. Some of his childhood dreams were being an imagineer, playing in the NFL and being Captain Kirk from Star Trek. I really liked his statement "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted". I think this statement is something we can use to guide ourselves and remind us that we do not always get what we want but we should always appreciate what we get instead because it can be just as much or even more beneficial then the thing we wanted in the first place. One thing he mentions many times throughout his lecture is "brick walls". "Brick walls" are things that get in the way of something you want. He mentions in his lecture " Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." These "brick walls" are there to keep the people who don't really want something out and to help the people who do want it prove how badly they do. Another thing he talks about is "head fake". "Head fake" is when a student thinks he or she is learning one thing, when really he or she is learning another. Randy says, "The best way to teach someone something is to have them think they're learning something else". Randy also said, "The best gift an educator can give is to get someone to become self reflective". I can take these statements and implement these strategies into my teaching in the future. I really learned from the statement Randy Pausch's advisor gave him for his class. Andy van Dam said "You obviously do not know where the bar should be and you're only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere". This is great advice that I can use as an educator. Andy told Randy this because Randy was amazed by his students' projects and did not know what to do to encourage his students to do more. Andy van Dam told Randy Pausch to tell his students "you did good, but I think you can do better". This was a way to encourage his students to do more because even though Randy was amazed by their projects and thought they deserved an A in the class, he did not know just how well and high they could set the bar if he just encouraged them to do so.

After viewing his lecture, I want to find ways to encourage my students and give them assignments that are not only fun for them but that also still include the information that they need to learn. I want them to have so much fun while learning that they do not even realize they are learning something new. Everyone has dreams you just have to really want it to make those dreams come true. I think this is one of the best things I learned. As educators, we should make learning so fun that students forget that they are learning. We should throw away the idea that teaching is just standing in front of a classroom lecturing from a textbook and instead engage our students, utilize project based learning, and teach our students in fun and dynamic ways. He has shown me to work harder and find the best in everyone. He exposed at the end of the lecture that the lecture had a "head fake", it was not about how to enable the dreams of others or his childhood dreams but how to lead your life in the right way.

I think Randy Pausch really gave people a different view on life and I learned a lot from his lecture. He wrote his book and gave this lecture about living while he was dying from cancer. He is truly motivational and one of a kind. He is inspirational and has made me look at the "brick walls" in life as positive instead of negative and to make the best out of what you have. As Randy Pausch said, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand".