Blog Assignment 7

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch is very inspiring. I personally could not have done what he did when he gave his last lecture. He led a very fulfilling life and he accomplished many things. After watching this video, he is someone that I admire and look up to.
Mr. Pausch starts off with telling us his childhood dreams. He then begins by telling us how he achieved all of his childhood dreams. One of his dreams was to play in the NFL. Although that dream did not come true, he did get the chance to play football throughout his childhood. Mr. Pausch learned a lot of valuable lessons from playing football. In the beginning of his lecture he shares many reasons why it is a good idea for children to play on sports teams at school. It doesn't matter if the child is great at the sport, by playing the sport they can learn good sportsman ship, how to get along well with others, how to work in groups/teams, and how to work hard towards goals. Mr. Pausch calls this 'head fake' learning. His definition of "head fake" learning is indirect learning, for example, playing a sport because it's fun, but then, gaining a better knowledge of how to get along well with others. I have never thought about "head fake" learning before, I think that it is a great to get children involved in things that will also teach them valuable lessons.
Later during his lecture, Mr. Pausch talks about some of his experiences involving "brick walls". He explains that "brick walls are not there to hold us back but to show us how bad we want something" I have never thought of brick walls in that sense. Mr. Pausch makes a very good point though, don't give up because one thing gets in the way, keep trying as hard as you can and you will eventually get to where you wanna be. One of his personal "brick walls" that he dealt with was when he was trying to become an Imagineer for Disney. When he first tried to pursue this dream he was initially turned down. However, a little later in his life he was able to have this dream and he was given the opportunity to work on a virtual reality project for Disney. Mr. Pausch had a dream and he never gave up, because he never gave up he was able to have his dream come true. He is a great example to all of us with dreams.
Mr. Pausch also speaks about how he was trying to get sabbatical so that he could go and do the project with Disney. When he was trying to do this, he went to the Dean of his department. When he first asked about it, his Dean was angry and rude to Mr. Pausch because he did not know anything about it or what he was talking about. After talking with him he then went to the Dean of Sponsored Research who also knew nothing about what he was talking about. However, the Dean of Sponsored Research was very open minded and wanted to learn more about the project with Disney. There is a huge lesson that can be learned from this. Just because you may not know something, do not be close minded about it, be open minded and want to learn about it. I will admit that I myself can be a little close minded at times. I was a little close minded about this class when it first started. I thought "oh this class isn't going to help me, this class is stupid". I was VERY wrong. This class has taught me A LOT and I take back everything I initially thought. I am very open minded to all of the things in this class because I know that they will help me in my future as a teacher.
Mr. Pausch ends his lecture with stating that there are two "head fakes" to learn from this lecture. The first "head fake" was that the lecture is "not about how to achieve your dreams but how to lead your life", I was a little surprised when he said that because what I got form his lecture was ways on how to achieve my dreams. After hearing that, I thought about it and realized that he is right. This lecture is definitely about how to lead your life, Mr. Pausch says that "if you lead your life the right way then your dreams will come true". Lead your life by excelling in whatever you do and never giving up. He then revealed the second "head fake" which was that "this talk wasn't for you, it was for my kids". When he said that I was really "wowed" Mr. Pausch obviously cares for is family very much. This lecture is about his life, his dreams, and his achievements. His children will learn a lot of valuable things from their dad when they watch this lecture. In my eyes, Mr. Pausch is an awesome person. He achieved a lot of amazing things in his life.

I am a HUGE Cinderella fan. Since I was a little kid I have always loved her and the movie. This quote is one of my all time favorite quotes. :)