Blog Post #10

I am a very sensitive person so naturally I found myself emotional when watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture given on September 18, 2007. For this assignment we were asked to determine what we can learn from Randy, as future educators. As a future educator I have learned that motivation and perseverance are key when teaching. During this lecture Randy, a virtual reality instructor at Carnegie Mellon University whose goal is to use gaming technology to educate children, gives a back-story of what his life holds. He explains that he has tumors in his liver and was given 3-6 months to live. He has chosen to spend his last moments inspiring others and with this lecture, I believe, that is exactly what he did. In his video Randy discusses three things. First, are his childhood dreams. He says that "one thing we should not loose sight of is, the inspiration and permission to dream is huge". He explains each in detail and shows how he achieved each dream and what he took from those experiences. One dream of his, was to play in the NFL, and although he did not exactly fulfill that dream he explains that the lessons he learned while trying were far more valuable. He shares a quote that says "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted". He also talks about his dream of becoming a Disney Imagineer, which he did achieve. He explains that he was a professor at the time so when offered a position to write a paper for the Imagineers he approached the Deans of the college. During his quest to join the team he came in contact with two Deans who, as he explains, gave him the exact same answer of I don't know. However, one approached it with the mindset of I don't know but tell me more. Randy explains that there is a right and a wrong way to say I don't know. Randy says that the brick walls we encounter in trying to achieve our dreams are there to "let us prove how badly we want things".

He next discusses how to enable the childhood dreams of others. He decided to create a program of creating virtual world where he had 50 students, divided into groups and given two weeks to complete an assignment. Once the two weeks were over they were given a new group where they would start the two week process over. He says that after the first assignment was complete the outcome completely blew him away. He says he asked his mentor how to expect more from students who had already created top notch work. His mentors response was to tell his students that what they did was pretty good but that he knew they could do better. Randy says that that was great advice because he would be doing them a disservice by setting the bar for them. He explains that he saw that the achievements of his students were endless by not doing so. He says that the success of this class grew and became a school wide event once a year. He has now passed his program off to what he calls "better hands" and it has grown tremendously and is continuing to grow. He compares himself to Moses and says that he can see the promise land but he will never get to go there. He says that he is okay with that because he gets to leave this achievement as his legacy.

Lastly, he discusses the lessons learned throughout all of this. He says that along the way of achieving your dreams you must realize what helped you achieve them. He starts with the roles of parents, mentors and students. He says he was lucky to grow up with two great parents as role models. He says his parents gave his the freedom to learn and explore opportunities, and he encourages all parents to allow their children to do the same. He said he learned from his mentors and bosses and also his students. He talks about the importance of having fun and to never loose the child like wonder. He also says to remember to help others and that loyalty is a two way street. He says to never give up, tell the truth, be earnest, apologize, and focus on other and not just yourself. He also says, "don't bail: the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap". He goes on to give a list of things we should do in life. Finally he explains what he calls the "head fake" of his lecture. He says the lecture is not about how you achieve your dreams its about how to lead your life and that the talk was not for his audience it was for his kids.

There are many things to learn from Randy Pausch as future educators. Especially that we are to help students achieve their childhood dreams. More importantly though, Randy Pausch has given great life lessons that we all should try to live by. He is a very inspiring person and we should all follow his lead.