Blog Post 6

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams 

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture was very inspirational for me to watch.  The hour that it took to watch flew by and my attention was grasped the entire time.  He was very positive and motivating.  If you have not watched his Last Lecture yet, then I encourage that you do so. 

He begins with addressing that he has multiple tumors on his liver and has only been given a few months to live.  With that being said, you would think that he would be depressing or unmotivated.  However, he was stayed positive and had a great sense of humor.  He really wanted to encourage everyone to achieve their childhood dreams.  He showed the list of his childhood dreams and explained how he was able to achieve all of them throughout his short life.  He explained that there will always be “brick walls” in the way of achieving your goals, but those are just there for us to prove how badly we want something.  These “brick walls” keep out those who don’t want something badly enough.  Randy Pausch is an inspiration.  He never gave up and was able to make all of his dreams come true.  Though he had many “brick walls” along the way, he accomplished all of his dreams.  He should inspire everyone to make their dreams come true and to never give up.       

Randy Pausch had some great teaching methods.  He really shows how to be a good and effective educator.  I think that all teachers should model after him.  I like the idea of never setting a bar on what you expect out of your students.  As, I saw from this video he told his students that he knew they could do better (even though he was extremely impressed with their work).  They kept trying harder and harder and created some truly magnificent work, which he shared at the lecture.  One thing that makes him such an effective educator is the fact that he is always having fun and enjoys what he is doing.  He added a little humor when he said that everyone needs to decide if they are a Tigger or an Eeyore.  This is very true if someone is trying to educate others and seems miserable, the message won’t be conveyed properly.  Always have fun!

I have learned a lot from watching Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture.  I feel that I will be a better educator if I use him as a guide.  I believe that this is a lecture that everyone needs to watch at some point in their lives, especially educators.