Blog Post 6

Randy Pausch last lecture: Achieving your childhood dreams

Randy Pausch is such an amazing man! I was amazed by every second of it and learned a lot from it. If you have the chance to watch it, DO IT! Randy was so positive about everything going on in his life whenever he gave this speech. I cannot imagine standing up in front of hundreds of people giving his last lecture. This lecture was about his childhood dreams, enabling dreams of others, and lessons that his learned throughout his life.
Randy had several goals as a child. He did not achieve all of them, but he learned a lesson throughout every one of them. Being a child I also had several dreams. Although I have achieved most of the ones I have set, I learned a lesson from most of them also. Pausch stated, 'Experience is what you get when you did not get what you wanted', this could not have been said any better. Being a first year teacher is sometimes difficult and everything will not go as planned and will seem like everything is falling to pieces. If I gain experience from something that goes wrong, I will remember what was done the first time and what needs to be done the second time to succeed.
Pausch mentioned ways that we could enable other's dreams. At the university Pausch taught at he was a pioneer of a virtual world class. He taught students how to create their own virtual world. This was never done at the university. He said that whenever you pioneer something, what will go wrong-does go wrong. Pausch made this class fun for his students and it made their learning experience better. I want to make learning fun for my students so they will want to come to school. If school is fun for student then they will not realize that they are actually learning new skills everyday and in return they will want to learn.
Two of the lessons Randy learned during his life were, learn from your students and have fun. It is important to listen to your students, because more than likely you will learn something new from them. Having fun while doing your job will allow you to enjoy your job and look forward to making a difference in your student's life.