Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams was absolutely phenomenal. His lecture taught the lessons of life that aren't often taught in classrooms. Pausch's lecture taught the lessons of life. This is a lecture that I have bookmarked in my favorites because no matter how old, educated, or whise I become, this lecture will always be of some inspiration and instruction for my life.

One thing that Pausch speaks about is Brick Walls. He says that "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how bad we want something. Brick walls let us show our dedication." These sayings couldn't be more spot on if I had read them in the new testament! Brick walls are something that we all hit in life. Brick walls allow us to stumble and fight harder. They force us to correct our mistakes want to prove our worth to others.

Pausch talks about "bringing something to the table." Pausch says that if you're good at something then it makes you valuable. Being valuable makes you more competitive. I've always belived that being good at something shows the fighter within yourself. Being good at something doesn;t necessarily mean that you were born with talent or inherited genius-like smarts. Being good at something means that through all odds and negative things that are thrown your way, you still make it your goal to become good at something. This is a concept that I plan on drilling into my students brains when I become a teacher. Grades can neither define or defeat a person. Grades should be used as simply motivation for students to want to do only their very best at a subject or talent.

"Always help others" is a topic that we can all relate to but we dont always want to cooperate with. Pausch says that we should always help others. Helping others creates good karma. I've always been taught that we should help others and never look for anything in return. If something good comes out of helping another person then that is simply a blessing. Helping others is something that we as humans should always strive to do more often. We all need help. When someone helps us then we are always more than appreciative but we dont always feel the need to return the favor. That is the part that we all need to work on.

The topic that I felt most connected to was when Pausch talked about "experience is what you get when you didnt get what you wanted." This is something that I have often thought about but ive always felt like that was an excuse for failure. This is something that we as future educators will have to teach our students. My mother always tells me that if you don't get an experience out of everything that you attempt to accomplish, whether good or bad, then the goal is pointless. Sometimes we recieve bad experiences, which are usually the ones that teach us the best lessons. Other times we recieve good experiences, which usually encourage us to do better but keep up the good work. Experience is something that life will teach us the bulk of. Pausch talks about experience in his lecture alot expecially when he talks about getting into graduate schools and how he went to visit and experience the feel of the colleges. Everything in life is an experience we just have to stop and embrass the experiences.

Pausch's most touching subject was when he says "focus on someone else instead of yourself." This is something that I struggle with as im sure most 21-year-olds do. We tend to want everything for ourselves. We dont intend to step on other people's toes when we go out to get what we want but we often feel as if nobody else cares but us about our future. We all should focus on others and help them. Pausch says that if we live a good life then the good karma and blessings will come full circle to us.

Overall, this was a great assignment and it definitely gave me some great pointers on life. It also taught me some great life lessons that I intend on passing to my students as a future educator.