Sunday, March 3, 2013

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch Last Lecture

Randy Pausch is a computer science professor with a gift of being an amazing inspirational speaker. He learns that he only has a a few short months left of his life, but this does not define or change him. After watching his lecture it is obvious that he did not allow the cancer to consume his life. Towards the end of his lecture he says "I don't know how to not have fun." This should be the case for everyone, especially educators. He is such an inspiration to me, and made me realize how precious and short life can be.

Randy PauschHe addresses many topics to help you fulfill your dreams as well as help others. The first one is his theory about the infamous brick wall that we all seem to encounter at one point or another. When Pausch says "brick wall" he means something or someone that prohibits you from fulfilling your dream. He says they are there for us to prove how badly we want something, and that is very true. The brick wall may be frustrating at first but in the end it proves how passionate you are about your dream, and that nothing will stop you. He proves this when he finally experiences zero gravity.

Another point from his lecture that was very important to me was his statement about making mistakes and receiving criticism. He says that when you screw up, and no one says anything it means they have quit caring. This reminded me of peer editing. Most of the time when someone gives you constructive criticism it is to help you succeed because they do care. This statement will be extremely beneficial to me as a new teacher. I am going to have difficult times, and I won't always be perfect. There will be things I will try and I will fail. I hope that in my future teaching those with more experience do care enough to help me realize when I have screwed up. I believe it is important for me to realize and correct my mistakes to make me a better person, student, and educator.

I have watched this video at least three times now, and every time I learn something new or hear something I missed. I recommend everyone to watch this video, and as I said especially educators. I have recently started writing down some of my life goals. I have both short term and long term, and a lot of educational goals. I realize now that I may not be able to realistically complete every goal, but I will never GIVE UP!

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Mary! This was a very well written post! I think the point he made about the brick wall is brilliant. We all encounter many "brick walls" in our lives, and it's up to us how we respond to them. We can either give up or persevere, and Pausch teaches us that we should always persevere until we achieve our dreams! And of course as teachers, we will make a lot of mistakes and hit a lot of brick walls in the span of our careers. And it's our duty to learn from our mistakes and help our students through their mistakes and brick walls, as well!

    I agree that this is a video that everyone should watch. Good on you for recommending it to people!

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  2. Learning Never Ends! Dr. Pausch has been an inspiration to me and a lot of others. I am glad you are one of those people.

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