Blog Post #10

TWO THUMBS UP & a round of applause for Randy Pausch. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon. Pausch received the news that he had about 10 tumors in liver & was told that he has 3-6 months of healthy life to live. After receiving this news, he was able to participate in a series at Carnegie Mellon called the Last Lecture.
Naturally, when I looked at the length of the video I thought, great, just what I need, to sit in front of the computer listening to a someone speak for more than an hour. Now, I do not regret a single minute of this video. I laughed, I smiled, I questioned things I hadn't before, and yes, I even cried. How many of us can honestly say that they received some less than exciting news that could threaten their life and turned it into a positive journey? Pausch did exactly that. He took the time to rethink of all the things he dreamed of doing and revisiting his childhood and incorporating all of that into his last lecture. It was a ery empowering and motivating speech.
What did I learn about teaching and learning? Pausch made mention to the importance of parents, mentors, and students working together. If you create a tight knit unit between your parents, students, and faculty, your classroom will succeed. In my opinion, one component does not work well without the other.As a unit, we can all learn from one another through suggestion, and trial and error. Pausch also spoke on his experience with a pilot program he was a part of and at the end of their assignments he would ask them to complete a survey. I think it is important as a teacher to get feedback, positive and negative, to allow room to make changes and become more effective educators.