Randy Pausch: Last Lecture

Last week for my EDM 310 class we were asked to do an assignment where we listened to podcasts done by students from last semester’s class. One of the podcasts that I chose was on the last lecture done by Randy Pausch. When I heard the students talking about him he sounded like a fascinating man. Automatically I knew that I was intrigued by his techniques and would love to learn from him. This week we were asked to listen to his last lecture which excited me because since hearing bits and pieces about him I had really wanted to see what his last lecture was really all bout.

Before watching the video I did a little research on Pausch to try and learn more about exactly who was delivering this lecture and listen to his story. Randy Pausch was known as being an extraordinary professor who touched the lives of many students not only through his words but his efforts to help them become all he knew they could be. He worked at four Universities in his time: Brown University, Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon and MIT. In September of 2006 he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. He had 10 tumors on his liver. Only 20% of victims of Pancreatic Cancer are able to have surgery to try and remove the tumors. Pausch was lucky enough to fall in that 20% range. He had surgery in late September. He was in rehab for months trying to get well. He was a strong man and hung on for a long while. Some days were better than others but eventually the cancer won and Randy Pausch past away in July of 2008. I really should not say the cancer won because really it didn’t. Pausch lived his life to the fullest until the end.

After learning so much about this amazing man I could not wait to listen to his last lecture. I was sure he would have something grand to say. At the start of the lecture Randy Pausch asked the question, “If you had to deliver one lecture before you died what would it be?” Well Pausch was about to deliver his last lecture so he would answer that question for himself. He starts by introducing himself and telling about his cancer. He states “We cannot change the cards that we are dealt just how we play the hand.” First he introduces the topics he wont talk about and number one is family because he says he is too weak to not cry. He then introduces the topics in which he will talk about. They are as follows: His childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, lessons learned and how we can achieve our dreams and enable others to do so. He begins by stating his childhood dreams such as being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL and being a Disney Imagineer. Pausch states that children should all have specific dreams, for instance instead of dreaming to be an astronaut he dreamed to be in zero gravity. He touched on each briefly. In some way or another Pausch achieved all his childhood dreams. He eventually got to ride in the vomit commit with his students where he experienced zero gravity. He did not play in the NFL but, football is something Pausch said changed his life. He spoke of one of his coaches named Jim Graham. Graham was a mentor for Randy. One thing he taught Randy was that you could learn how to play football even without a football because it is all about the fundamentals. This can be used in many aspects of life. Randy was taught never to give up and all about the head fake. If your wondering what the head fake is, it is a simple theory of Pauschs that we teach our children when they are young to learn indirectly. Another childhood dream of Randy’s was to become Captain Kirk. Well the closet he got was meeting him. This goes in the same sense with another childhood dream of becoming a Disney Imagineer. He tried several times and they did not want him. He decided that brick walls are in everyone’s way, not to stop us but to show us we can achieve anything. Randy learned that some brick walls more made of flesh. He forced his way into being connected to Disney. He became good friends with Jon Snoody and spent 80 hours working with the imagineers. He soon became part of the Aladdin VR project that was a big success.

He moves on by stating that he is so glad to be a professor. He first saw that he could enable the dreams of others when he met a student named Tommy Burnette. Tommy wanted to be apart of all the Star Wars movies. He worked very closely with Randy who put faith in him and he soon worked on all three movies as an undergrad student. Pausch soon made a class at Carnegie Melon called Building Virtual Worlds. Only 50 students were drawn to take this class. It became a big hit which is why they started ETC, which stands for Entertainment Technical Center. This is a 2 year program in which you could earn your professional degree. One thing worked on during this time was Alice. Alice is virtual software that is a novel way to teach kids how to make computer games. He stresses that the best way to teach someone something is to have them think they are learning something else. Pausch claims that Alice is his professional legacy. My favorite quote used by Pausch was to talk about Alice. He says, “I like Moses get to see the promise land but I won’t get to set foot in it, but that’s okay because I can see it and the vision is clear.”

Pausch starts talking about lessons learned. He thanks his parents for giving him such a special childhood. He says that others such as mentors, students and colleagues have a huge part of our lives. He feels as if he learned as much from his students as they learned from him. One last thing he says is we have ways to get people to help us. First believe in karma, tell the truth, apologize when you screw up and focus on others. He ends the lecture by letting everyone know that this talk was not for the audience but instead for his kids.

Wow! This man is amazing! I admire him just from a video. Pausch was a true educator. He believed in his students and took them places. I feel as if everyone could learn a little something from Randy Pausch because I know I did. Before I end my post I would like to point out one more fascinating thing about Pausch. He had a quote for everything. I would like to end by repeating a few of those in memory of Randy Pausch. “Don’t complain, just work harder!” “When people give you feedback, cherish and use it!” “When you do right good things will have a way of happening.” “When it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, simply ignore all they say and only pay attention to the things they do.” “Loyalty is a two way street!” “When you have held the most precious thing in the world in your hands its tough to hand it over, but hand it over to better hands than yours.” “Get someone to be self reflective!” “If you wait long enough people will surprise and impress you and when you are angry with them you have not given them enough time.” “Be good at something it makes you valuable!” People will show you their good side, because no one is all evil!” “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted!” This is just one way to show you how intellectual Randy Pausch.

South Fall 2008 Podcast Reviews

The pod cast I listened to was titled, Lessons from Life: The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch. Basically the question the students were asking listeners was if you had to choose one lecture to do before you die what would it be? Pausch was a very talented professor but sadly recently past away. He did lectures on a variety of topics. He had a dream to play in the NFL but the closet he ever got to meeting anyone famous was talking to some big wigs at Disney. His way of thinking was what our kids learn they learn indirectly. He used many techniques in his teaching. He took activities that students normally would not enjoy and turned them into something fun and educational. Another technique discussed in the pod cast was the brick wall. He told his students that brick walls are not put up to hold us back but to show that obstacles can be overcome if the desire is put into affect.
My favorite part of the pod cast was when the girls talked about Pausch’s technique the card game. Everyone is dealt a hand of cards and we all have to make the best of it because we cannot change it. The students who did the pod cast did a great job. They gave a lot of information and made me really want to admire Pausch. I could tell they were very nervous and there was a lot of pausing. The one thing I would change is probably how the title correlates with their pod cast. The tile ensured me that I would here much about Pausch’s last lecture before his death. Instead the students talk more about his life and many lectures he had done. Other than that I thought it was great! You should check the podcast about Pausch out!

The second pod cast I listened to was titled Bogging and Teaching. The students discuss how blogging can be used effectively by teachers and students and they also share information about usefull blogs. I agree with the first point of blog usage. Blogs are a very useful to not only useful in keeping in touch with his students but also with the parents. Many students brush off homework and tell their parents they do not have any. Teachers with class blogs typically update their blog daily so the students are always informed. The second student to teach made a great point about keeping parents up to date. She gives an example of a scenario where a parent was unable to attend a field trip but they were able to see a variety of pictures due to the blog. I thought their pod cast was awesome! They all seemed like they were very informed about the subject they were speaking about. I am sure they could have added more but as far as I am concerned they did a great job at convincing the audience on why blogging is a great tool in the education field.
As a future teacher I will be using blogs in my classroom. This semester was my first time ever to use a blog. I found it very interesting and useful. It made it so easy to keep in touch with Mr. Wakeman without actually having to schedule a meeting with him or send him an email to ask a simple question. Technology is becoming more and more advanced and as a student I feel privileged to have the advantage of keeping up with it at my fingertips.

At first when reading the blog posted on the fischbowl website I agreed with Fisch. He had a good point to what he was saying. Technology has become so far advanced today you will be left so far behind if you do not keep up with it. Teachers today should have many different qualifications than thirty years ago or really even ten years ago.

Today in school the board of education gives students so many expectations they are required to meet. Shouldn’t teachers have to meet these same expectations? I am a college student and have had quite a few professors that do not know how to work the computer but, they still expect their students to be responsible for learning all the information contained on it. That seems a little hypocritical to me.

As I said above I agree with Fisch’s opinion on being technologically literate. It is very helpful to have skills like this not only in the education field but for everything. However, no offense to Fisch, I feel as if he was a little harsh. Not all teachers need to be so technologically advanced. How do you think they learned so many years ago? I know I may sound a little contradictory revealing my opinion on this but what I am trying to say is not all teachers should have to be technologically advanced, some should tough. Isn’t that what computer teachers are for?

Despite my opinion being quite biased, I still enjoyed reading the post. Fisch has some interesting comments. However he may need to take a lesson in spelling for a while and lay off on those not so technologically advanced. I suggest everyone read the blog technilogicaly illiterate for themselves and formulate their own opinion.

International blog usage K-12

I would not call myself simple minded but I never really take the time to think about other places in the world. When we were given the assignment to find an International blog I thought to myself, “Where am I suppose to find that?” The same technology we are using today in the U.S. is being used all over the world. Many teachers are using blogs as a way to stay connected with their students. I am so intrigued by the fact that people so many thousands of miles away are learning in the same way that we are.

I found a blog for a first grade class in an American school located in Shanghai, China. The teachers name was Mrs. Toa. She calls her students Toa’s troops. Mrs. Toa uses her classroom blog as a way to keep her children internationally connected in more ways than one. The blog displays maps and weather reports from many countries around the world. The main use of the blog is for students to be updated about the class. She posts all upcoming assignments so the students know exactly what they are responsible for. This weeks post featured a video and picture from their Chinese New Year’s Day assembly and she tells the students what a fantastic job they have done. I can tell just from looking at the pictures and her comments to the students that teaching is her gift and she has a very special relationship with her students. To check out Mrs. Toa’s class blog you may visit http://www.teachers.saschina.org/stoa/.

I continued my search for International blogs. I came across a blog for a combined 5th and 6th grade class in Australia. The teacher calls himself Mr. C. When I first clicked on the blog I could automatically tell that Mr. C was a fun teacher. The first thing I noticed was a letter to his students talking about how much fun the New Year pool party was. How much fun would it be to have a pool party at school? I do not think my 5th and 6th grade teachers even owned bathing suits. Apparently in Australia you are in 5th grade for half a year and then you become a 6th grader because he gave them a challenge for becoming 6th graders called towers of paper. In the challenge the students had ten sheets of paper and a few other materials. They had to build a tower that would stand by finding the weakness of the paper. He included pictures on the blog of the students hard at work. Mr. C uses the blog to get the students involved in the class in an exciting way. He does not just post assignments but also stories, fun facts, videos and gives his interesting point of view on each. I think the way Mr. C’s class blog is set up really has the student’s attention. I think everyone should take a look at this blog at http://www.562008.edublogs.org/.

I feel as If I learned so much from the International blog search. The whole world is different and we could all learn a little something from each other. No matter where you go there is someone with the desire to teach and someone yearning to learn. These blogs display just how much teachers get involved with their class. To me teaching will be more than a career. I love children and by becoming a teacher I am willing to dedicate my heart and soul to the students I teach. I hope I will retain some of the useful knowledge I gained from exploring these blogs and deposit it into my classroom.

K-12 Classroom blog usage in the U.S.

Technology has grown in a considerable amount over the years. The students going to school at this day and time are way further advance when it comes to these new technologies than those students twenty, or even ten years ago. Many teachers, grades K-12, are trying to come up with new ways to stay connected with their students and also ways to keep them entertained while still learning. The computer has become almost a necessity and the internet is its runner up. A personal student blog is something new schools have been using in the classroom to retrieve the work and progress of their students. A blog can be seen as like a personal network for the classroom. The student can post their work and the teacher can keep track of it through the posting date and times. The other students are also allowed to read the work of others. This not only helps the other students come up with new ideas but to give their fellow students feedback on their posted work.

While surfing the internet I came across a blog used by a 5th grade class in Detroit, Michigan. The teachers name is Mr. Ambrose. He sees his class blog as a way to keep parents and students updated and connected from class and home. On the blog Mr. Ambrose tells the students everything they need to know about the class. He has many different categories in which to choose from. Parents and students have access to the blog. He posts important dates, assignments, rules, fundraising events and games the students can play for practice. For example this week his class will begin a unit on the solar system. He lists step by step what the students need to know and will know by the time the unit is over. From what I can tell Mr. Ambrose keeps his blog very up to date. He seems like the kind of teacher that not only wants to keep the students informed but also the parents which is very important to most. Mr. Ambrose is taking advantage of blogging in the classroom in a very positive way. To take a look and maybe get some ideas for your future classroom check out Mr. Ambrose’s class blog at http://www.classofambrose.blogspot.com.html/.

The next class blog on the web I checked out was a 4th grade class in San Diego, California. The teacher of the class is Mr. Kootman. When first clicking on the blog I noticed how colorful and user friendly it was. Mr. Kootman tells the parents and students all about himself, where he has been in his life and where he plans to go. He posts his weekly newsletters on the blog so everyone will be informed of upcoming events. He allows a different student to write on the blog each day to describe that day and all the activities done in room 40. Mr. Kootman then allows the other students to review the post and give their opinion. He uses this feedback as constructive criticism. In my opinion I think the way that the blog of class 40 involves all the parent is a great way to create a positive atmosphere in Mr. Kootmans 4th grade class. If you would like to learn more about his class blog you may go to http://www.kootmansclass.com/blogs.html.

I think these two blogs were great examples to look at if you are interested in uing a blog in your classroom. Both of these teachers were similar in that they were very concerned with parent involvement which I think is great. I am sure that I will be taking great advantage of using a blog in my future classroom to stay connected with my students. Another great website to look at for information about blogging that I enjoyed reviewing is http://www.supportblogging.com/.