Sunday, June 30, 2013

Blog Post #10

What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

There are so many things one can learn from watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. This video is his last lecture before he died of cancer. His goal through recording this was to pass on all the lessons in life he learned to not only his children, but people around the world. As many say, he wrote the book on living while dying. Although he did not always succeed, Randy Pausch had an incredible outlook and understanding on life even when the odds were not in his favor. Here are just a few lessons from his lecture.
Your critics are the ones still telling you they love you and care.

Show gratitude. Gratitude is a simple but powerful thing.

Don’t complain, Just work harder.

Never underestimate the importance of having fun.

All of these lessons are so important to embrace especially for Teachers because they work with children everyday. As a teacher we are not just there to make sure students learn, but to motivate them, help them grow, and most importantly to set them up to achieve their goals. My favorite quote from Randy Rausch is,

"If you’re going to have childhood dreams you should have great parents who let you pursue them and express your creativity."

During this specific lesson he talks about how important it was that his parents let him decorate his walls with math formulas, despite the negative impacts. I know this was meant for parents, but I believe this is a very important lesson for teachers to learn as well. It does not matter what type of home life a student has, as a teacher you can make a difference by giving students the support they need to dream. As a future teacher I plan to let my students go wild with learning. I want my classroom become a totally cool learning zone with their favorite topics surrounding them, just like Randy's room as a child. I want to be able to give them an opportunity to find and surround themselves in their own personal niche and run with it.

quote

4 comments:

  1. Maggie
    I enjoyed reading your post. The lesson "Never underestimate the importance of having fun" I thought was one of the most important lessons he talked about. If a person goes thorough their whole life and does nothing but hard work he may be successful at work but that does not mean he is happy in his life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your quote you posted! Also, it made me smile that you brought up the "coloring on the walls". That part of his lecture really stuck out to me. I don't know if it's because I have a child, or why, but I loved that he said that. Why not let children "color on the walls?" I think this definitely can be used not only as a parent, but as a teacher. I hope to have an attitude similar to his in my classroom. My daughter is only three and I try to think like that with her now. I catch myself telling her no, and after I'll think, "Why didn't I let her do that? It wouldn't have hurt anything!" I want my students to know that they can "color" on my classroom walls!

    ReplyDelete
  3. A very powerful statement. I hope you read it every year and put to work the things you have shared and the many other things about learning and education that Dr. Pausch shared with us in his "Last Lecture".

    ReplyDelete
  4. Powerful post, thoughts, and image! Great take on Dr. Pausch! Keep up the good work.
    Carly

    ReplyDelete