Blog Post #10

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

I had previously heard of Professor Randy Pausch and his story before I was given this blog assignment and I knew the great impact that he had made on so many people’s lives. When I first saw his last lecture, I thought that he was brave and very inspiring. I remember thinking how amazing and strong he was for never giving up! It was refreshing to watch his video on his last lecture again. His story is

amazing and his life lessons and advice are valuable and can be applied to all aspects of life. In his last lecture, Pausch begins his lecture by explaining to the audience in McConomy Auditorium that he has three-to-six months to live because of pancreatic cancer. Despite his terminal cancer diagnosis, Pausch is lively and strong. In his moving presentation, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about the lessons that he had learned through the journey of life and gave his advice on achieving personal and career goals. He presented his advice and life lessons through  telling about different times In his life. He talked about his own childhood dreams of becoming Captain Kurt, winning stuff animals, and being a Disney Imagineer. His speech included how he achieved his dreams and how you can achieve yours and enable the dreams of others. Randy Pausch’s lecture was inspiring and motivating! I learned so much from it as a student and as a future educator.

In Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, I took away so many things about learning and teaching. Pausch said that he was glad

that he became a professor and that this allowed him to enable the dreams of others. Being an educator allows you to enable and encourage  the dreams of students. In his speech,I also learned the power of using hands-on activities for students. In one of the assignment that Randy Pausch assigned to his students, they blew him away with the outstanding work that they did on their projects. Another thing that I learned about teaching and learning is to never underestimate the power and ability of your students. Pausch also talked about the importance of sharing the student’s work with others. In his speech he also talked about the importance of creating a sense of excitement with the students and allowing the students to create excitement for others. I learned several of others things such as having fun, make the learning experience fun for the students. The video was entertaining and Randy Pausch was an amazing person who impacted so many people.