Randy Pausch: Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch is on the top of my list now for people I want to be like. One thing he mentioned actually twice in his lecture was great, when he would talk like he never had a job. I have often heard if you love what you do, it will never feel like work. He also spoke about all the obbstacles or brickwalls that are put on our path to acheiving to weed out the people who really want or just want it a little bit. Also that they are there to challenge you not to stop you.

I learned so much through this, and very motivated to hold onto the things that I have always wanted to and have dreamed of. I had three pages of notes after watching him. My favorite technique he used not only through the lecture but also in any of his classrooms, is the "head-fake" theory. It is true by showing a group of kids that something is fun, or entertaining, but at the same time they are learning something valuable is my goal. Teaching is hard, let alone teaching students how to make virutal reality stuff on the computer, I would not know where to begin.

I really enjoyed how he got the audience involved in it, and also all the visuals he used. All students learn differently, but by showing us all the things he had accomplished with pictures, bringing out the bears, and even showing that really funny clip of the bunnies that his students had made was great.

While Pausch spoke about lessons learned, I was glad to hear that he was learning from his mistakes, and learning from what other people said, and giving back by incorporating everything he learned with his students. There are many lessons to be learned through failure or just finding another goal, also through true criticism from others, you can do nothing but better yourself. The story of Andy Van Dam telling him that he was jerk and how it was going to limit what he would be able to accomplis was interesting. I had never thought of it like that, but the people who are working with you are going to either love you or hate you and that is very important when you are working on a team.

One of his accomplishments that is now going global is ETC. The curriculumn has nothing to do with books, it is completely hands on, and there are companies that have a signed agreement stating that they will hire your students. He showed from beginnig to end how the program was developed all of the good and the bad that he went through while making this program.

This man always showed grattitude and always wanted to help others. Also about how loyalty has to be there when working together and starting new things. At the end of his lecture he was just showing examples of famous people and how they stuck with their dreams. The one thing I will take from this is when he said, " Don't complain just work harder", and I will. I know that compliaing does nobody any good, the only thing that will make it better is to push yourself and work harder. Karma is a touchy subject to some not all believe in it, but it is true you will get what you put in, if you truly love something go for it by working hard, you can only be rewarded.

Overall Randy Pausch was an amazing man, gave many amazing lectures I am sure. Now I am going to focus on my "Alladin", and focus hard on my dreams no matter what brick wall I might come across.