Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was very inspirational! He gave so much wonderful advice that I could write for days about it all. His words can be applied not only to life in general, but also teaching and learning. The biggest driving message of his lecture was enabling the dreams of others. Giving someone else the chance to achieve their dreams is far more rewarding than achieving your own. I think this should be the ultimate goal for every educator. Not only should you teach them the things they need to know, but you should encourage them to chase their dreams! If they want to drive an ice cream truck or go to space, it is our job as educators to help them in any way we can. He also said to never lose your sense of childlike wonder. In this day and age, with all of our cynicism, I find that point to be extremely important. Especially for educators! How can you identify with your students enough to teach them, if you can't see the world through their eyes? A piece of advice from one of Randy's colleagues that was about people, was to wait. And if you wait long enough, then people will surprise and impress you. They just need more time. This applies directly to how I feel about profiling in the classroom. If a teacher treats a student like a slacker, that student is going to be a slacker! It's referred to as the "self-fulfilling prophecy." I believe in giving people additional chances. You can't know everything about a person. And as such, you can't judge them based on a small piece of information. You have to find the best in people.
There were two wise points he made that go hand in hand. The first, was that the best gift an educator can give is to get someone to be self-reflective. And the second was that if you get feedback, don't get defensive. Cherish the feedback and use it to better yourself. How can you teach someone to be self-reflective if you can't do it? Evaluating your own work and your "self" are two things that every individual has to be able to do to succeed. We should show our students how to do this! What is readily apparent to some may not be the case for others, so we have to show them how.
He also gave so much good advice on basic core values; the things that everybody should do. It is advice that not only applies to educators, but to people in general: apologize when you screw up, be honest, be earnest, because you can't get there alone, never give up, help others, focus on other people besides yourself, loyalty is a two way street, and show gratitude. These are things that should be a no-brainer. I've included these here because I think that in order to be a successful educator, you have to be a good person. You also have to be a lifelong learner. Randy's lecture wasn't just some psychobabble that he wrote on a napkin. Those lessons he shared were things that he learned over the course of his life. We have to follow suit. When he earned his degree, that didn't mean his education was over. The same will apply to me when I graduate. I can prepare for decades and not be totally ready. When that day comes, I will simply follow my favorite piece of advice from "The Last Lecture." And that is "Don't complain. Just work harder."
Hi Stephanie, agree with this post. Randy Pausch's last speech was such an inspiration. One of the best things that Randy said was about self-reflection. How can teachers teach self-reflection if teachers are unable to do that themselves. Also, I like how you pointed out the core values that Randy talked about. Thank you for sharing Stephanie!
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