I found Randy Pausch's speech incredible and inspiring. Honestly, I was not looking forward to watching the video because it was an hour long, but I found myself intrigued throughout the entire video. I can not imagine knowing that I have only a few months to live and still being that motivated and at peace with life. I loved his style and techniques of teaching. When he started talking about the class that be began I noticed a few teaching techniques that he used that I thought were great. As he went continued talking about that class, it was obvious that the teaching techniques he used were working.
One way of teaching that he mentioned I really liked. When he began talking about the class that he started and telling the students that they have to work in a group to create something great, he did not give them guidelines. He only gave them two things that they could not use and he allowed them to be creative and decide what they wanted to create and how they wanted to create it. It was evident from his story that his students excelled with the little directions that they were given. The students were not limited on what they could create which allowed them to liberty to produce a new, fascinating project.
I also really liked that after his students blew him away with what they had created he responded to them by saying "you can do better". I believe it is important to encourage students' work, but it is also important not to make them complacent in the performance. By telling a student that he or she could do better you are encouraging them to work harder and dig deeper to create something that may even surprise them.
I am very much a believer in students being involved in what they are learning. I think that students should be hands on when it comes to everything that they are being taught. That is exactly what Dr. Pausch did throughout his career of teaching. He allowed the students to teach themselves how to build virtual realities. He did not stand in front of the classroom while the students took notes about how to build one, they actually did it.
I believe that this video will inspire anyone who watches it. I have never heard someone speak about having goals and trying to reach them like he did. I was absolutely inspired by watching it and it is by far my favorite video we have watching so far.
I really enjoyed your response to Randy. I agree with 100 % about knowing I only have such amount of time to live. I was glad to him have a positive attitude and willing to share his life experience with us. This just taught us we shouldn’t take anything for granted. I really enjoyed the video as well. I pretty sure everyone has. It was inspiring and informative. Well, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteAllison,
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate your statement … Honestly, I was not looking forward to watching the video because it was an hour long, but I found myself intrigued throughout the entire video. I had this problem with things like this when I first started and Dr. Strange helped me realize that if we go in with a negative view then we will never learn anything new. When I first saw this video I thought the same thing and then I watched it and was inspired and amazed. I learned to appreciate new learning opportunities not only from the lecture but from the assignment itself. We as educators need to become more positive about learning experiences. This is the wonderful part of learning in EDM 310!