Blog Post 7

Our blog post assignment this week was on Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. To begin with I would like to say that Randy Pausch was a completely amazing speaker. He was very humorous that got the most out of life and really enjoyed what he did for a living and wanted to make sure that everyone else got enjoyment out of learning just as he did. What I thought was interesting about him was the fact that at the beginning of the video he comes out and says that he has cancer and he is completely upbeat about it which makes me look up to him. I really hate that he is not around to give such amazing advice. RIP Randy.

One of the things that he talks about in the video is "brick walls". What he says about brick walls is that they are put there for a reason; they let us know how badly we want things. I think that is key because it lets us know, "this is what it's going to take to accomplish your goal. Are you willing to do what it takes?" By having dreams we are automatically going to have brick walls, and the only thing that matters is how we react to these brick walls. This relates to not only myself, but also my students. I should want them to dream and help them as much as I possibly can to help them accomplish their dreams. Another thing he says about this is even if you aren't able to accomplish a dream is "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted which I think is very important.

The next important claim he makes is that our students can surprise us. He tells us that if we wait long enough people will surprise and impress you. The reason he says this is because he knows nobody really wants to let you down. In the video he talks about a project he made his students do and they didn't live up to what he thought they should do, so what he tells us to do is to not set certain bars for expectations. Another thing he speaks of is giving our students a "head fake" which means give your students the idea that you want one thing, but they end up impressing you in the end because they just want to be successful in your eyes.

This video has opened my eyes to life in general. Dr. Randy Pausch had cancer and he met it head on and wasn't scared of it, embraced it, and enjoyed the time he had left. The main thing that he left in my mind was the whole idea about "brick walls". If we persevere we can accomplish anything, because all they are there for is to see how bad we really want something. Some of the advice that I really enjoyed from him was what he said at the end of the video. That was to never lose childlike wonder, help others, to let brick walls show our dedication, don't bail, when you do the right thing good things will happen, cherish and use feedback, and finally to not complain and work harder. I think that right there sums up Dr. Randy Pausch.