Blog Post # 7

 

    Dr. Randy Pausch is a truly inspirational man. I love his quote "It's not about the cards we are dealt, but it is how we play the hand which we are dealt." Dr. Pausch certainly left a great legacy to follow. Pausch would make and excellent role model for anyone to follow. Pausch had such passion for people and teaching. His lecture is perfect evidence of this idea.
    Randy begins his lecture by presenting his childhood dreams. A couple examples of his childhood dreams include zero gravity and playing in the NFL. Pausch did not exactly fulfill his childhood dreams in the exact way you would think, but he points out that dreams can become reality in some shape or form. Randy decided he wanted to help others achieve their dreams as he did. Pausch is an individual who made it his goal to put others before himself. He was very passionate about helping others. This an excellent mindset to have in the classroom. A good teacher has the intention of putting forth the time and effort to ensure their students are successful. As educators, it is our responsibility to not only help students discover the goals they wish to achieve in life, but we must also to guide them in the right direction to achieve their goals.
     Randy stressed the importance of taking the time to dream and putting people before materials. These are only a few important points taken from Pausch's lecture , but these are points I defiantly intend to use in my future classroom. I have always been one to think of others before I consider myself. I like his idea of the "head fake". It's similar to what we would call "telegraphing" our next move in the halftime show in marching band.This would happen if we started to lean a certain way before the count which that move was to be made arrived. Pausch used this idea as an educator to get students to learn before they even realized it.I like this approach to teaching and I think it could be very useful in the classroom. This approach allows for fun to be incorporated into the lesson. This is an excellent way to get students excited about learning.Students don't even realize that they are learning until they are already engaged in the activity.
     A student is more likely to retain what they learned from a fun hands-on activity rather than just monotonically following along in a textbook. I did some research of my own to discover more about Dr. Randy Pausch. I was amazed by his strong will to push on. He never let his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer stop him from being the inspirational man which he was. It is people like Dr. Pausch whom we should hope to be like. Randy certainly left some big shoes to fill, but this only makes his work even more inspirational.