Blog Post #7 - What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was very inspirational to me. Chasing and even achieving your childhood dreams can make such a difference in your life. In his lecture, Pausch tells that he has been diagnosed with an incurable cancer and he only has a few months to live. So he makes the best of it and gives one last lecture to his students and many others. Unlike most other people being told that they only have a short amount of time left to live, he is in high spirits and he doesn't let it bring him down. Instead of being depressed in his final days, he is happy and enjoying life. He spent his last days the same way he lived his life: having fun. He was told by President Cohen to tell his students to have fun, and Randy said "that's like a fish talking about the importance of water. I don't know how to not have fun, I'm dying and I'm having fun." When he said this, it really spoke to me. There is no excuse to not find fun in anything. As a teacher, it is our job to make learning fun and enjoyable for our students. There is no reason why it shouldn't be fun.

His teaching style is very interesting and enjoyable to watch. I have had many teachers whose lectures were boring and I would often find myself dozing off or daydreaming, but I wouldn't mind sitting through a few of his lectures because he makes it interesting and easy to pay attention. He gets his students engaged in what he is saying and it keeps them interested and focused on the topic. He also uses many visual aides and props to keep his audience's attention. As college students, you wouldn't think that giant teddy bears or costumes would interest us anymore, that was only for elementary school. Wrong. Connecting what you are talking about to a real life item makes the lecture come to life. He used pictures as demonstrations and that also draws in more attention than just reading bullet points off of a slide. Also, he was constantly moving around and being active, and not just staying in one place. When a teacher moves around while teaching, the students' eyes tend to follow him/her and they generally pay more attention. I really liked his way of lecturing, it was very different than what I've experienced lately in college.

Another interesting point that he brings up is the concept of the brick wall. Many times when you are chasing a dream or a goal, you run into a brick wall. It is not there to keep you from achieving your dreams, it is there to make you prove how bad you want to achieve these dreams. If you give up after hitting a brick wall, then you didn't truly want to achieve that goal. If you want it really bad, you will keep working and break through that brick wall. I found this concept to be very eye-opening; I have hit my brick wall and I have thought about giving up, but now I know that there is something on the other side and I just have to break through. After watching this video, I feel more confident and excited about chasing my childhood dream because I know it is possible, I just have to get past the brick wall. It has always been my dream to become a teacher, and I couldn't be more excited about this path I am going down. Randy Pausch's story and his last lecture are very inspirational and could be life changing to children (or even adults) who are afraid to chase their dreams.