Blog Assignment #8

What I Learned About Teaching and Learning from Randy Pausch

For this week's blog assignment, I feel very inspired by the message given by Randy Pausch. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, it surprises me how resilient and strong Mr. Pausch was before his death. Instead of choosing a negative outlook on his diagnosis, he was positive.

"We can't change it. We cannot change the cards we are dealt—just how we play the hand."

In his last lecture, Mr. Pausch tells about his childhood dreams and how he accomplished them, helping others reach their dreams, and even how to accomplish things you dream about. The main point that I got out of the video is that one should always follow their dreams no matter how difficult they seem and exude confidence in their decisions while taking risks. I personally found Mr. Pausch's story to be quite interesting, and it makes me even more excited to enter my dream career of teaching. It has always been a goal of mine to encourage my students, but after hearing the Last Lecture, I feel now that it is even more urgent to motivate my students as much as possible. Not only did this story motivate me to motivate my students, but it motivates me to explore the other aspects of my life that I may not have been paying as much attention to. It made me think of my childhood dreams and if I really wanted those things, or if I just thought I did.