Blog Post #8

After watching the video Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, I believe I have obtained some new knowledge on how to teach and how to become a better learner. Randy Pausch spoke about indirect learning, which I believe is a wonderful way to teach. Pausch chose the topic of football in order to teach about indirect learning. "Indirect learning is a lesson that you learn within a task that you perform such as teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, etc.", said Pausch. What I found intriguing is that Pausch allowed the audience to believe that his lecture was about achieving childhood dreams and goals, but at the end of his lecture he asked, "Did you figure out the head fake?" Pausch states that the lecture was not about achieving your dreams, but it was about how to lead your life. Pausch used his own lesson of indirect learning to teach the audience more than what they thought they would be learning about. I believe indirect learning and fun within lessons is a great way to achieve amazing results from students.

 

Pausch said, "We learn from our students." He is absolutely correct. I believe that assessing your students is a great way to learn how much they have learned from you, the teacher. But, it also allows you to learn from them. "Brick walls are there for a reason: to let us prove how badly we want things and to give us a chance.", said Pausch. "Give people more time and they will almost always impress you.", said Pausch's undergraduate advisor Andy van Dam. Let students show you what they know first. Why start teaching when you have no idea how much knowledge your students have? Let students be creative and the might just do something beyond your imagination. I fully believe that we should let our students thrive in as many ways as possible. Students should also continuously improve. Pausch says, "After someone stops trying to help you improve or tell you are doing wrong, then you will know that they have given up on you." No one should ever be given up on; everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves capable of the task or lesson to be learned. Randy Pausch taught me so much from his video lecture and made me think about what I am going to do once I graduate and step inside my very own classroom to teach.