Blog Post #7- Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

First I have to say thanks for this assignment because reading or hearing this lecture has been on my list of things to do for about a year now.  I was familiar with the lecture from friends who had read his book and knew it was worth the time to hear it.  I was not dissappointed.

You know at the end of his lecture he asks if you figured out the head fake yet, one of his teaching strategies.  His lecture is structured in three parts:  his childhood dreams, helping others achieve their dreams, and lessons learned.  However at the end you realize that he has actually faked you out and that is not what the intent of his lecture was at all.  You are not there to learn about how to make dreams come true, but instead how to live your life.  Second, he says the lecture wasn't even for any of us, but for his kids.  I got the point, but I think you can still learn a little bit about dreams too.

As a professor from both Virginia and Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Pausch can't help but reveal a lot about his teaching style.  First, I noted his advice to bring something to the table.  I take that as make yourself valuable to people.  Along the same lines, he says we should do something to make other people excited.  I think it is obvious the Dr. Pausch was a prime example of how to be valuable and get people excited.  Not only will students learn better if they are excited, but in return your job is more enjoyable at the same time!  No one wants a miserable classroom.

Don't set the bar- some good avice for us novice teachers!  Dr. Pausch gave a great example of how a teacher could easily restrict the potential for success of his students.  He had an awesome class that went way above his expectations and then didn't know how to handle the situation.  The advice he got was not to set the bar if you don't know where it should be.  Tell them they can do better and they will.  That is something I feel is so important to remember with students.  They need to be pushed to achieve more.

Dr. Pausch tells us so much more in this lecture- teach people to work in groups, get someone to be self-reflective, help others, decide whether you are Tigger or Eeyore.  I think Randy Pausch head faked us another time with this lecture.  We see what a great professor this guy was, but he was so much more than just a good teacher.  He lived his life with karma in mind.  We could all stand to take something home from his lecture about just being a decent human being.

Want to listen?  The Last Lecture