Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Randy Pausch begins his lecture by "addressing the elephant in the room." He tells his audience that he has cancer and was told he has only months to live. Despite this, he demonstrates how healthy, and happy, his is. While he is undoubtedly a wonderful speaker, I was immediately captivated because of his bad news. Pausch then presents a list of childhood dreams which was filled with whimsical things such as "being in zero gravity" and "being a Disney Imagineer."
As Pausch continues on with his lecture he displays a humorous and thought provoking anecdotes with each dream that he addresses. A particularly memorable statement was made in regards to his dream to play in the NFL. After his football coach was being especially hard on him he was told that it was a good thing. He learned from this that if he is ever making a mistake playing poorly, if no one says anything they have lost hope. I think this translates to all aspects of life, most noticeably education.
Another inspirational statement he makes is "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want something." He said this after being rejected to work as a Disney Imagineer. This is something I would like to teach my students. Pausch remains eternally optimistic and humorous while speaking of his downfalls and rejections. More than that, he always seems to look on the bright side. Out of everything negative he has experienced a new lesson emerges. Pausch takes his "brick wall" blocking him from working at Disney and turns it into something to encourage his audience.
Pausch ends his last lecture with two memorable "head fakes." The first is that is isn't actually a lecture about how to achieve one's dreams, but it is about how to live one's life. He speaks of finding the best in people and working hard. Pausch also claims to believe in karma. The second "head fake" is that this final lecture wasn't actually for the audience. It was for his children. His lecture was inspirational and chock full on life lessons. As an aspiring teacher I hope to present my students with these life lessons and hope they get as much out of it as I did.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching Mr.Pausch's video. I was amazed to know he has cancer and looks normal. He made some really great points in his video and I think, I will show this video to my brother so that he can get his own point of view from it.
Great Post!!!!
Teacher every lesson like a head fake-- let them think you are teaching math, but help them discover self-confidence. Let them learn reading, but show them how imaginative they are. Let arguments turn into meaningful character building discussions.
ReplyDeleteGood summary post. I would have like to see you relate it to your own experience more closely. However, by looking at your other posts-- just keep up the good work!