Blog Assignment #7

I thought Randy Pausch's video "The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" was very inspiring. This man has left behind such an amazing legacy. It is a shame that this man died at such a young age. I was surprised to learn in the beginning that this man had almost 10 tumors in his liver and, at the time this video was made, only had approximately five months of healthy living left. 

The metaphor Professor Pausch used about the brick wall really stuck out to me. He said that "Brick walls are there for a reason. Brick walls are not there to keep us out, they are there to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop those people who do not want it badly enough." I thought this was great. We have so many things that we have to overcome in life, and for someone with only five months of healthy living left to have such a positive attitude, its makes me think about the negative attitude I have had toward some things in life. 

He had students in one of his classes at Carnegie Mellon University work in groups on a series of two week projects to produce virtual reality videos. He said that after the first two week project that he was absolutely amazed at the quality of video that these undergraduate students created in just two weeks. He said he had to consult with his mentor because he did not know how to respond. After speaking with his mentor, he went back to class Monday morning and told his students that the projects were "pretty good" but he knew they could do better. I think this was the best way to respond. If students can "wow you" right off the bat like that, then the best thing to do is set the bar as high as you can get it. Positive expectations are directly correlated to student achievement. The higher you set the bar, the more students will succeed.   

Another thing Professor Pausch said stood out to me. He said that if you "wait long enough, then people will surprise you." I think this is especially important for us to remember as future educators. Teachers often make a snap judgment about students. I think that if we keep this video in mind that it could help keep us from doing this with our students. I was a little hesitant to watch this video at first because it was so long. But ten minutes into the video I couldn't turn away. This was an awesome video and I hope that more people have a chance to view it.