Blog Post 6

Last Lecture: Achieving Childhood Dreams
Randy Pausch
     Randy Pausch gives advice directed to his children and to others.  The main points that I can take away from his lecture are so many.  He expresses what to do about brick walls in your life.  Never give up on your students.  Teachers should tear that brick wall down and never give up on a student.  Teaching is to make something really hard seem fun.  Team work in the classroom is essential for learning.  Every child has the ability to bring their point of view to the table. Learning is neither right or wrong.  Through this, you are giving them the ability of critical thinking skills. Children should respect authority while learning from them.  Pursue your dreams, and see them through. Even if you have road blocks in your life, have the strength to get through them.  Tell children to work through their problems, and give help to them.  Try to be a good person, and help others.  I think it is important to give students the tools to be good people.  Sometimes, we get bogged down with course work and forget about fundamentals for being human beings.  Giving constructive criticism to students so they can be reflective is another lesson.  Let them realize that everyone needs to grow and work on themselves and their work.  There are so many others lessons to take away from this lecture.  Being an educator, we give them knowledge, but we help them grow as a person as well.
     Mr. Pausch speaks of his colleagues, and the things he takes away from each person.  Helping people along the way can also be used in the classroom.  Show gratitude to others.  I also think it is important to get along with other adults and let children see that.  They may see chaos at home, and the adults fight all the time.  This shows them a different side of adults.  Children can think of their classroom as their community or family.  As in Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, Mr. Esquith shows that their classroom is like family.  They are a community of learners and to respect everyone.
     Pausch began his final lecture by showing topics that he wasn't going to cover.  Cancer, family, religion were the things that he didn't discuss.  Mr. Pausch wanted to cover his childhood dreams and the lessons he had learned.  He has such a positive outlook on his life and what he accomplished.  Mr. Pausch showed many family photos of him growing up and how he had great parents.  His mom introduced him as a doctor, but not the kind that helps people.  His accomplishments were many, but he had a list of certain ones he wanted to do in life.  He wanted zero gravity, and he got it.  He brought virtual reality to the table for the project Zero gravity.  Then, the World Book Encyclopedia article was written.  This was Virtual Reality. Winning stuffed animals seems trivial, but he did it.  He won so many huge animals at fairs and brought them on stage.  He wanted to be an Imagineer for Walt Disney.  Did it!  He was one of the makers of The Magic Carpet Ride and The Pirates of the Caribbean Ride.  He also created programs for virtual gaming for all children, called Alice.  His life was full of great contributions in technology.
     The summary of Mr. Pausch's life is empowering.  He had accomplished all of his dreams except for two, to be Captain Kirk and to be an NFL player.  He takes the positive points away from each.  Learning the fundamentals at anything are essential.  The power of enthusiasm makes you work and do better.  Even though he didn't get to play, he still loves football for great role models.  These coaches gave him life lessons. Of course, he couldn't be Captain Kirk, but he finally had the chance to meet William Shatner.
     I will be honest, I wasn't sure about the video.  I was just watching because I had to in the beginning. Randy Pausch's life was more than what anyone could wish for.  He masked the life lessons talk for the lessons he wants his children to know and use.  He had me crying at the end.  He took a lecture at Carnegie-Mellon University and turned it into basically a family talk.  His final thought is to never give up on your dreams.