Randy Pausch seems to be somewhat comical. I love his opening statements to this lecture. His approach to his chronic situation is phenomenal. I admire how he comes right out and tells the class all the facts and he is very accepting of what has happened to him. Like he said, ‘you can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand’. This lecture is about Dr. Pausch’s childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and lessons on how to use what we have heard to achieve our dreams and enable the dreams of others.
The next part of Dr. Pausch’s lecture is about his child hood dreams. He goes through a list he had compiled of many different dreams he had as a child and then proceeds to tell how he accomplished them and some he did not. The most outstanding part of this portion of the lecture is about the brick walls he speaks of. He says ‘brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things’. Most of the time when I notice a ‘brick wall’ in my life, I turn and go the other way thinking that what ever I was trying to achieve was not suppose to happen. However, Randy Pausch says differently. I have a new perspective of obstacles, or brick walls as he says. If you want something bad enough, you should go after it. Just because there is something standing in your way does not mean there is not a way around it, you just have to find it. This is very inspiring and I could use this concept very easily when becoming a teacher. I am sure there are lots of bumps in the road on the way there and while being an educator. This is also a great concept to teach students.
Next, Dr. Pausch talks about helping enable the dreams of others. He touched on the class he taught at Carnegie Mellon University. What I took from him on teaching his class is that they were having fun while learning. Basically it was like they did not know they were learning at all. While in the middle of their projects they were actually learning the systems they were using without even knowing it. I find this very interesting and helpful. I think this is the way learning should be. I hope to portray this strategy in my classroom one day. I hope to be able to have my students so engaged that they forget the fact that they are actually learning, but they think they are just having fun. I also think that we might learn more while having fun!
In the last portion of his speech, Randy talks about lessons learned. The role of parents, mentors, and students help us achieve our dreams. One thing he said, and I have heard it before, is that our students will shape us. It is crazy to think that we learn more from them sometimes than they learn from us. Sometimes I think we need to be more like them in a sense. They are full of life, always having fun, and as Dr. Pausch says in his lecture, ‘you have to choose if you are an eyeore or a tigger’ and I think we should all be tiggers. Most of all we have to have fun, help others, show gratitude and do not complain. “It is not about trying to figure out how to achieve your dreams, its about how to lead your life” –Dr. Randy Pausch.
Watch this inspiring lecture here.
