Blog Post 7

Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch starts his lecture off by telling his audience that his dad always taught him if there is an elephant in the room, introduce it. Randy told the audience that about a month ago, his doctors told him that there are 10 tumors in his liver and he had around 3 to 6 months left of good health. Randy said something that really inspired me. He said that, "we cannot change the cards we are delt, just how we play the hand." I thought that was very interesting and a good way to handle hard times.

Next he told the audience about his childhood dreams. His dreams were: being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, authoring an article in the World Book encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals, and being a Disney Imagineer. Randy got the chance to be in zero gravity. He was in a group that won a contest to be able to experience zero gravity. At first, NASA was not going to allow Randy to participate but he negotiated with them and got to fulfill his childhood dream. Another dream of his was to play in the NFL. Randy didn't get to experience this dream and he thinks that it was for the best. Randy believes that football taught him fundamentals and hard work. Randy learned through football that when someone is criticizing you, it only means they are trying to help. But when the criticizing stops, then that just means that they have given up on you. Randy believes that brick walls are there for a reason; to allow us to prove how badly we want things. Another dream was to win stuffed animals. Randy said that when you are young you always see big, buff guys with the stuffed animals walking around the theme parks. Randy made it a goal to win many stuffed animals and brought them on stage to prove it. 

Pausch had techniques like never lose the child-like wonder, help others, have loyalty to others, and never give up. Pausch always wanted to push his students to the best of their abilities. His students surprised him when they turned in their first assignment. He didn't know what to next so he simple told them that their work was good but they could always do better. So every time after that, the students impressed him more. Everything that Pausch's students did was a project-based assignment. He believed that most of what we learn, we learn indirectly or by "head fake".

When first watching Pausch's lecture I was so annoyed that I had to watch an hour long video. But when I really payed attention and got into the video, it was so interesting. The hour lecture flew by and I learned so much from it. I believe in everything Pausch had to say and I try to live by his words everyday. I think that helping others is such an important role in someones life. With becoming a teacher, I will be able to help my students every day. Having loyalty in others in another important technique of Pausch's. I think that being loyal helps the trust between people and can also help someones outlook on life and the every day activities some people perform. The main technique I can relate to of Pausch's is to never give up. I realize that there will be struggles in life and people will always try to stand in my way of succeeding but if I can have my mind set on a certain goal then I know I will succeed as long as I never give up. I think that teaching my students Pausch's techniques then they will have a better chance of succeeding at whatever comes their way as well. Pausch says that if you wait and be patient, then people will surprise you. I need to keep this in mind when teaching my students that way they know that I will support them and help them to never give up.