Sunday, October 9, 2011

Randy Pausch giving a lecture

Blog Post 7

I want to start by saying that listening to Randy Pausch speak given the situation he was in was inspiring.   You know that his message is genuine and truly what he feels is important.  The importance of dreams I feel is often understated.  No matter how far of a reach they may be, it is important for people (especially kids) to have dreams and goals.  I think Randy Pausch’s claim that having specific dreams is important is very accurate.  We need to have something specific we can aim for.

In order for kids to dream, we have to give them permission to dream as teachers.  We cannot stifle the thoughts of our students no matter what age.  I think we can help direct students and guide them to achievable goals but we also have to allow them to dare to push their limits.  That is how we will truly have students that achieve their maximum potential.  They may not become the next rocket scientist but they will hopefully work to achieve things that they would not have otherwise.

Also we cannot be discouraged by roadblocks we meet along the way.  “Brick walls” as Paush puts it are to show us how bad we really want something.  As teachers we are going to run into brick walls while working with students.  Also, students are going to run into brick walls while striving for their dreams.  Brick walls are to show us how bad we really want something. 

Paush’s idea of a feedback loop I think can especially apply to teachers.  People need guidance and insight when making decisions in their life.  Children need this guidance just as much if not more.  I know personally I would take the advice of a few friends very seriously, to the point of trusting almost anything they say.  We need to be this positive feedback for the children in our classrooms.  We need to tell them it is ok to strive for their dreams.  We need to tell them that they need to have dreams.  Without dreams and goals, we have no direction.  We also need to trust in those goals and dreams, and trust that the plan that is laid for us will be accomplished.  God Bless! Thanks for reading.







2 comments:

  1. I know about the inspirational side about his speech. I have seizures so seeing someone who is way worse off than I am is proof to me that I need to work harder to make myself better and to realize that there are always some who are worse off then I.
    His ideas through the whole video were great simple and true. My favorite part was the head fake because I am a fan of saying one thing and having a more meaningful message to give. All of his ideas were great though I originally thought that a hour and fifteen minuet video was going to be a pain but I had no problem watching the whole thing.

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  2. Hey David,

    I think that you said it well when you talk about giving students goals that are reachable and also pushing students to be challenged. I am glad that we have brick walls. If we didn't then what kind of world would we live in?

    Good post David,

    Stephen Akins

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