Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

What an awesome video! Randy Pausch is an incredible speaker. In spite of him living the last months of his life, he delivered a message about thinking of others and helping others live out their childhood dreams. He states, "It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how to lead your life...The dreams will come to you." If we as parents, teachers, mentors, lead our lives to serving others and thinking about what we can do for them, our most far fetch and simplest dreams will come to us. What if everyone had a positive persepctive on life like Randy does? Can you imagine how different the world would be? What if we put others dreams before our own? And then helped them accomplish those dreams?

He gave this lecture for his children. He doesn't say that it's for them until the end because it can apply to all people. He wants us to think outside of the box. Pausch says, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." In those times that we keep hitting a brick wall, we're learning and showing how badly we want something. Pausch says, "Brick walls are there for a reason; they let us prove how badly we want things." It's not always easy to get what we dream about or want, but in those moments, we are testing ourselves to see if that's really our dream or want.

I believe we learn best from when we are knocked down and motivate ourselves to get back up. We may be criticized along the way but those who criticize us are also the ones who believe in us. "If they aren't correcting you, they've given up on you", says Randy Pausch.

Lastly, Pausch gives a few points about teachers learning from their students. I believe this 100%. If we are going to be teachers, we must also be willing to be learners. There may be some cases where the kids can show us a faster or better way to complete a task. The videos that we've watched in EDM 310 prove this. A teacher must put their pride a side and have an open-mind. We must give the children an opportunity to share what they know.

Thanks for this assignment. It was one that made me realize there's so many ways of going about doing things. For example, the "head fakes". He says you don't make your son play football to just score a touchdown, but for perseverance and team work. Teachers, let's not forget what's really important in life. Having smiles on our faces and being open to new ideas is key. And lastly, when we are knocked down, don't be afraid to get back up and show the world how badly we really want it.