Blog Post 8

      What can we learn about teaching and learning?
       By: Randy Pausch
       " Really Achieving Childhood Dreams"

       In Randy Pausch final lecture he said, I am not in denial about my condition, so he humored the audience by doing push ups before he really got started with his lecture. He let the audience know that he was really in good shape. He spoke about really achieving your childhood dreams. His list of childhood dreams include: being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, winning and collecting stuff animals, being captain Kirk, author world book Encyclopedia and a Walt Disney imagineer. I would like to write about three of his childhood dreams.

       He never got to play in the NFL, but he learned from his coach that having a good foundation was more important than just throwing a football. Randy was really pushed and screamed at during practice. The assistant coach, Bradley, told him if your not doing well and no one corrects you its time to get concerned; that means they have given up o you. The coach pushed him to achieve. Not going to the NFL was not the most important thing, but getting the NFL experience was more important. This was what  brought out his good character and hard working ability. 

       One of his childhood dreams involved meeting his childhood idol Captain Kirk. Captain Kirk didn't always make the right decisions, but he had great leadership abilities. One of those abilities was the ability to never give up; because of this Kirk was able to lead his crew to many victories.

       Randy also talked about how he always wanted to be a Walt Disney imagineer. He filled out an application to work with the imagineer program, but he was denied. He made a statement about going pass the brick walls, he said they were there just to see how bad we really wanted what we wanted. He also enabled childhood dreams for others. He started a class building virtual worlds. He had 50 students, 5 projects a semester, they also used weak computers, but it happened. His first project for his class really impress him, he wanted to see, if they could do better. He talk to another professor to see what to do. Randy basically let him know don't set a boundary, push for more. To me this is(PBL) Project Based Learning. There was a message that Dr. Strange left for us on our blog that reminds me of this, he said you did great, but you can do better.

       Randy had a project where kids were having fun learning something hard. He also said the best way to teach someone is to allow them to think they are learning something else. He also believed in learning from students. His lessons learned list are things I won't forget, always help others, loyalty is a two way street, vouch foe people you believe in, tell the truth, be earnest, apologize when you screw up, focus on others not always yourself, show gratitude, don't complain, wok hard, be prepared, and find the best n everyone. At the end of the lecture he said it was basically how to lead your life , and the talk was for his kids.