Blog Post # 7

If there is a list of the top ten classiest farewell lectures, the one by Randy Pausch has to be in the top 3, because it is inspirational to everyone, especially those who are teachers and lifelong learners. The video, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, is certainly not the last imprint that Prof. Pausch will leave in the minds of people, since he left a legacy that enriched the academia and thousands of student who had the fortune of learning from him. Prof. Pausch's enthusiasm reminds me of the best teachers I have ever had and how much they influenced my life. Those are indeed the very best to learn from, and even though it was the first time I had heard of Prof. Pausch's last lecture, his message is one that I can clearly understand and begin to use as a student, and later on as a teacher. Incorporating his teachings in my own life will certainly lead me to be a more focused Project Based Learning (PBL) teacher. Those methods seem to produce the best educational/intellectual sharing tools that I have studied about since beginning college. Everything that Prof. Pausch talked about involved being a team player, and it certainly had a phenomenal effect on his teaching career and the way in which his students were influenced by it. An arrogant person he might have started off being, but by listening to his teachers, mentors, students, and those special in his life, he was able to become a great educator because he took their advice on his weaknesses and used it to improve his teaching methods.

Prof. Pausch taught computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, and that area of education is known to bring many minds together to complete a project. You can write a program for a video game, but you need a leader who can make a team that will cause that program to breathe life, such as graphic artists and other engineers. As in the "Building Virtual Worlds" demonstration, Prof. Pausch took his teaching experiences to show who was really behind the curtains - his students and his colleagues. Knowing that a teacher is the whole of his students and their

achievements makes you an accomplished educator is a great example by which Prof. Pausch lived and one by which we can all exemplify by being lifelong learners and selfless future teachers. He showed us that it is all about the right kind of teaching that will enthuse, motivate, and produce innovative learners, and how important it is for the "tribe" to be involved with teaching and educating those who have a desire to get past those "brick walls" our lives put up before us. A few words of encouragement from a teacher like Prof. Pausch make a difference in a student's life, and such a teaching method allows for the "dreamers" to find their niche in life.

Prof. Pausch quoted, "The best gift an educator can give is to get someone to be self-reflective," when he was talking about owning up to being critically evaluated. I think that being self-reflective is probably harder to instill in people than most of us think, and in my own experiences, even here in EDM310, it is hard for some people to look past their ego and see where good advice isn't meant to hurt them, but to make them better at what they do. By saying that "the best gold is at the bottoms of barrels of crap," simply means that no matter how much I might think no one is listening to you or me, it pays to be patient and continue to learn from even those people, and hope they get it one day. Teaching is all about helping your students and believing in them enough to hope they master the skills you teach them so they can make a difference. If students are taught to be earnest and truthful, accept their faults and take responsibility for them, and focus on others and not just yourself, then they will learn the values of teaching and learning the right way (Pausch, 2007). Being self-reflective can be a strong quality to incorporate into our careers as teachers and hopefully use it now while we are still learners.

I really started to appreciate Prof. Pausch's lecture near the end, when he began summing up his expectations for teachers and learners. His response to "What's your secret?" was the best example that we, as learners, can take away from the speech. Simply put, you only get out of it what you put into it. As I have learned from this class, being a procrastinator is an infectious disease that is best treated by putting in the long hours, doing the hard work, sacrificing a social moment, and wanting to learn more to one day be able to give it all back to others. The luck Prof. Pausch talked about can and will only apply if I want to achieve my preset goals, and the preparation for that moment of zen like he had will only be "my moment" if I do all I can to get ready for it. Knowing how valuable you are to yourself will help this

idea along, because others do see what you do and will rate you by the efforts you put into all they see you do. Prof. Pausch taught that everyone has the best inside of them, but it is sometimes difficult to get it out in the opeis way back to us. If I am going to be a great teacher, I have to be a great learner, and that means listening to great teachers and learning from them. I've included one of the last interviews done by Prof. Pausch because I was curious to find out if he was as great in the end as he claimed he was in the last lecture series - he was just that great and then some. I learned a lot of "keeping it real" for an entire life; not just when it is all peachy and keen. That is what really makes us successful in pursuing our childhood dreams, but only if we can see beyond that brick wall.



Sources: Carnegie Mellon University, Sunset Bay Academy, Cooling Graphics, Mauricio Vives, God’s Daily Work, and WSJ Digital Network.