Blog #7

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

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was a very informative and moving lecture. Randy talks about his experiences and journey to achieve his childhood dreams. He talks about everyone being able to achieve their dreams. He talks about brick walls being put up to stop you from achieving your dreams. He puts real life experiences into his lecture to make an impact on the audience, but the twist at the end made your heart melt. The lecture was not for the audience, it was for his kids.

Educators can learn from Randy by his experience with his brick walls. He gave an example about going and seeing Dean Wormer about getting approval to go work with the imagineering team at Disney. Dean Wormer told him he was not going to let him go work with them. Even when randy told him he was going to take an unpaid leave of absence to go work with imagineering, Dean Wormer informed him he he would not approve the leave. Finally Randy asked him if he thought it was a good idea. Dean Wormer told him he did not know in a way that a leader should not talk to any one. Randy then went to Jean Block, the person with the authority to make the decision on his work with imagineering. When Randy asked Jean if he thought it was a good idea, Jean told him I do not know, but tell me more. Jean show a perfect example of what educators should do when they do not know the answer or simply when a student is asking them a question that their not interested in. Educators need to build the confidence in their students. They can simply do this by listening to their idea, asking questions and encourage their thinking.

The most important thing an educator can learn from Randy is his passion to teach and his positive personality. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and given three to six months to live, one month prior to this lecture. Instead of feeling anger and desperate for a cure, he chose to live the rest of his life educating people and staying positive. He had a realistic perspective on life and knows you can not change the cards that are dealt, but you can chose how your going to live your life. Educators should always have a positive attitude on life and be a positive role model for their students. I just hope if I am ever diagnosed with any type of cancer, I will stay as positive and passionate as Randy Pausch.