Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Dr. Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor, gives this last lecture after finding out that he is suffering from pancreatic cancer and is has 3-6 months to live. If you have not seen the video, I highly recommend that you watch it because it is such an inspirational video. The lecture received so much attention on YouTube, that Dr. Pausch co-authored a novel with the same theme of the lecture, titled The Last Lecture, that became a New York Times best-seller. He talks about his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and how we can achieve our childhood dreams and/or enable the dreams of others. As a teacher, I can use these lessons in enabling the dreams of all of my students, one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching. One of  my high school history teachers, Coach Donald, inspired me to become a history teacher, so I hope that I can have the same impact on my future students. 

As Randy Pausch discussed his dream of playing in the NFL, which didn't happen, he mentioned "head fake" teachings. My dreams are to teach history and coach football and baseball, so this section really stuck out to me. Coaches teach fundamentals of football and it is all about the fundamentals and techniques. He told a story about one of his football coaches, Coach Setliff,  who taught them the power of enthusiasm by placing each player in a position that was completely the wrong position for them (placing all the short players in the receiver position) for one play. That one play gave Dr. Pausch the opportunity to succeed on the football field because the single play confused the opposing players. However, the teaching technique that I gained the most from in section of the video was the head fake, or learning through indirect experiences. Parents sign their children up for sports hoping that they will learn through their indirect experiences. The children, through their head fake learning, are taught  teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership and perseverance. As a coach, I hope that my players will come out more with the head fake knowledge than the knowledge of plays and proper techniques.

After discussing his football dreams, Dr. Pausch shifted focus to his dream of becoming a Disney Imagineer. He talked about meeting with two men: a Dean at the University of Virginia and Gene Block. He shared his dreams of taking a sabbatical and working with the Jon Snoddy and the Disney Imagineer team on an Aladdin Virtual Reality project. When he asked the Dean if he thought the sabbatical was a good idea, he responded saying "I have no idea if this is a good idea". When he asked Gene Block if the sabbatical was a good idea, he responded saying "Well, if you're asking me if it is a good idea, I don't have very much information. All I know is that one of my star faculty members is in my office and he's really excited, so tell me more". Both the Dean and Gene Block had the same response, "I don't know," but Gene Block's was said in a much better way. How can I use this knowledge in my classroom? Well, when I have a student who comes up to me and discusses his/her dreams, I should show interest in their dreams. If I don't know the answer to my students' questions, I should respond the way that Gene Block responded to Dr. Pausch. Because of Gene Block's positive response, Dr. Pausch was able to follow his dream of working with the Aladdin VR project. After the successful project, Dr. Pausch was offered his dream job of a Disney Imagineer, but he happily turned it down and became a professor.

Dr. Pausch then talked about how to help others achieve their dreams. As teachers, we have a big impact in encouraging students to achieve their goals, even if their goal is unrealistic. Dr. Pausch told a story about one of his student's goals: to help create Star Wars movies. Dr. Pausch thought to himself that they probably won't make other Star Wars movies, but he did not tell the student what he thought about his unrealistic goal, but encouraged him to follow his dreams. Dr. Pausch, then, wanted to help other students with the dream of building virtual worlds. His college-level class taught students how to come up with creative ideas while working in a group with three other people. The students weren't graded on the project itself, but how the group worked together as a whole. Although I won't be teaching any virtual reality classes, I love the idea of not grading students on the actual project, but rather how they worked together with their assigned group. I believe that this goes back to head fake learning. Dr. Pausch wanted all of his students to succeed in their assignment, but was more concerned with their ability to work well with others. While the students were focused on creating a virtual reality, Dr. Pausch was focused on watching them work together with their classmates. Dr. Pausch taught the virtual reality course for about a decade.

Dr. Pausch and Don Marinelli created the Entertainment Technology Center, a master's program at Carnegie Mellon. The two were given full reins over this degree program and completely broke the norm of traditional education. Dr. Pausch and Dr. Marianelli created an entirely project based program at the University. They had the view that this was a master's level program and the students were educated enough to not be asked to read for their degree. There were no textbooks and no lectures; it was an entirely hands-on and field trip based degree program. The program has 5 written agreements promising to hire students because of their enrollment in the Carnegie Mellon ETC program. Again, Dr. Pausch uses the head fake teaching strategy in these master's-level students. The students think that they are learning how make movies and video games, but they are really learning how to program. Dr. Pausch, like the Mad Hatter, used the head fake strategy throughout his entire teaching career. It has obviously been a successful strategy, so it is a strategy that I will most certainly use in my history classroom by allowing students to learn something difficult through doing fun projects and activities. 

In the last section of his lecture, Dr. Pausch shares his lessons learned, which I can apply in my classroom. The first lesson is the role of parents, mentors, and students. These people all have a role in our lives because we learn from them all. I have learned from my parents, my mentors/professors, my friends, and I hope that I will have the opportunity to learn from my students in my class. This is, yet again, another example of Dr. Pausch's head fake theory. We, the teachers, are under the impression that we are only teaching from the students. We are head faked because we not only teach our students, but we learn from them. I will learn from my students and I will encourage them to learn from the same people: their parents, their mentors/professors, their friends, and any other people that will walk into their lives. 

The second lesson is to decide if you are a Tigger or an Eeyore. I will be a Tigger in my classroom and encourage all of my students to be Tiggers. I will encourage them to follow their dreams and never lose hope. The third lesson is never lose child-like wonder. This is important in the classroom as we are encouraging our students to go for their highest goals. We must have the child-like belief in them that they can do anything that they have ever dreamed of doing. The fourth lesson is to help others. It is obvious how I can use this lesson in my classroom. This is a lesson that I must teach by example by focusing on my students and ways that I can help them. I must also encourage them to help others through the examples that I set for them. The fifth lesson is loyalty is a two way street. We must be loyal to our students and expect them to be loyal to us. A classroom without trust and loyalty is a classroom where there will not be much progress. We must learn from each other, trust each other, help each other, and encourage each other to reach our dreams. The last lesson in the lecture is to get people to help you. We can not achieve our goals if we do not ask for help. This is another way that I will have to teach by example in my classroom. I can not expect my students to come to me for help if I do not ask for help myself.