Blog Post #7

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch 
  In this, his most famous lecture, Professor Pausch talks about why it is so important for us, even as adults, to fight to make our dreams a reality while still helping others achieve their dreams too. And he did this while only having a few short months to live. Not once was he sad or in denial of what was to come but instead summed up why he was there in this one sentence: "We cannot change the cards we are dealt just how we play the game". Of his lecture I found three parts that I want to use both in my own life and in my own classroom. The first is his story about how Coach Graham rode him hard during practice one day telling him over and over and over what he was doing wrong, making him to it again and not once did he stop. Afterwards another coach came up to him and said that what Coach Graham did was good because if no one is telling you what you are doing wrong anymore it means that they have given up on you. He meant that all day long Coach Graham was telling him that he was not giving up on making him better. I want to use this in my own classroom because I want to create a place where when a students' mistakes are shown they say "okay, show me how to fix it" and not "why should I care?" This can also be linked to his teaching that brick walls are a good part of our lives because they allow us to "prove how badly we want" it and that these challenges help to make us better. When many see a wall in front of their dream most leave, some try and give up but only a small few work together to get over it to prove that they wanted it bad enough that they fought to get it. I also want to show others through my own actions that even when a dream is hard you still need to try because whether you fail or succeed you will be placed where you need to be at that time. Professor Pausch learned this when he was not hired as a Disney Imagineer but later helped to create the technology they used in their Aladdin-Magic Carpet Ride and helped them on other projects for the next ten years; this shows that even when you fail you need to keep going because you do not know if that dream is really dead.
  The second part that I want to use with my students is where he talks about how his friend Tommy made his dream of working on the next Star Trek movies come true with hard work and that he wanted to see if this drive to achieve could be replicated. He did a project where groups of his undergrad students would do whatever they wanted as a project by using Virtual Reality but when they came back after two weeks their work was better than he ever imagined. When he asked what should he do next he was told to tell them that while what they did was good, they could do better because when you set the bar you set a goal that when it is met many will stop trying. So the students kept working and at the end of the year they presented everything to the school but before they could the Dean polled who was in the audience. Every department was present. Soon it became a yearly event where the students could experiences what it felt like to show a work that made others happy and excited. I want to help my students find this joy while teaching them about leadership, bonding and to push themselves to be better than what you are now. I hated it when a teacher always said "good job" whether you did a little or a lot of work but the teacher who kept saying "do better" I learned to respected. Not because they pushed others to be better but because it helped us learn what we needed to do to make our dreams and goals a reality by asking us to take just one more step.
  The last part that I want to include in my classroom is the concept of hidden teaching where he said that he was the Mad Hatter to his "Alice". Alice is a program that teaches children how to make movies and games. What the children did not know is that while they were playing on their computers they had been tricked to learn a complex system of programming. He has used this all of his life and shows a link between those in authority and the chances of the ones under them having a dream come true. He talks about how his parents helped children in other countries go to school and that they taught him to keep helping others too. He talks later about being taught by his bosses and students to work better with others, to use what others enjoyed to teach them what they do not like and to tell others to have fun no matter what is going on in their lives. This is very visible in his "loyalty is a two-way street" part when he vouched for his friend Dennis to the Dean because he believed in him and years later Dennis is carrying on Alice even after Professor Pausch is gone. He gave Dennis his loyalty because he believed and trusted in him which helped Dennis learned to trust in himself and now he is doing wonders all around the world. By giving his trust to one he has helped to change the world for the better.
  In conclusion, I learn that my actions or inaction can alter how a child sees themselves and if they will fight for their futures. I need to work harder to help those around me and to fight with them so that they can do the same for others. If ever someone wondered if the phrase "phase it forward" was true then they should look at those touched by what Professor Pausch has done. With The Last Lecture he shows that you need to listen to others, use what you are being told, teach what you have learned and keep going even when you have reached the bar. But his "head fakes" that this lecture was about living your life and to teach his children one more time was by far the best example of the type of person you want to be at your own "Last Lecture".