Blog Post #6 Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture is the most inspirational video I have ever watched. It is definitely one that can move you to tears more than one time. There is so much that everyone can learn from the way that Dr Pausch lived his life. As teachers there is also a lot that we need to learn. Through his entire lecture he leaves us tips on how to be better teachers even if that was not his intentions.
Dr Pausch talked about reflection. He wanted his students to visually see where they were falling short and to think about these things. He wanted them to analyze and critique themselves and he felt that through self evaluation that they could readily commit to the changes that would make them better. He also talked about not setting a bar for your students. By setting a "bar" or cap for your expectations, your students have a limited goal to reach and few will be challenged to go as far as they are possibly capable of going. He also encouraged freedom of creativity so it was his practice to challenge his students to come up with their own projects with almost no set rules or limits to their creations.
Dr Pausch believed that having fun was very important.  He said that he had fun his entire life and planned to have fun each of his last days. I think that he accompished this. He was teaching until his last days. He was doing what he loved to do and it was fun. He made a point that students need to have fun. They need to feel a sense of excitement and they need to see people excited about what they are doing. In many of his Virtual Reality classes he left the door open for anyone who was interested in the student's projects to come and watch. He involved the audience in the presentations and the feeling of excitement in the room was compared to that of a football pep rally. He believed that the best way to teach someone was to make them think they were learning something else. "Fake them out" is the way he put it. If they are doing something they enjoy doing and having fun then they will be able to learn the hard stuff without realizing it.
I think Dr Strange may have been faking us out a little with this assignment. He asked us to pay attention to Dr Pausch's teaching techniques but I think he wanted us to get the bigger message to push ourselves and to never give up. Dr Pausch had many inspirational statements that he made that I think should be posted at the beginning of every high school or college handbook. I will include a list of what I feel are his rules to live by. I always want to be able to have these close at hand. I can't believe that I had never heard of Randy pausch before taking an educational media class. I think as teachers we owe it to our students to share his inspiration with them. If you have not watched this video, please take the time, by doing so you will add some meaningful content to your life.