Last Lecture Post

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture is packed full of substantial advice; not only teaching advice but advice to help a person live a better life. The four teaching/life skills I have chosen to focus on are: 1) Fundamentals 2) Enthusiasm 3) Respect 4) Brick walls. I believe that teacher's have the most important job. As teacher's we have a great deal of power over the future acheivements of our students. Our attitudes, our level of compassion, our amount of concern will be one of the major determining factors of a child's success in school.

Randy mentions in his lecture that teachers need to focus on the fundamentals, and that we need to get these down pat before we get fancy. I agree with this statement 100%. When I taught 7th grade science I spent more time on fundamentals because it is the foundation from which my students were going to build. If the foundation is shaky, there is a good chance that the structure will fail. When a student masters the fundamentals there will be a confidence that becomes present in that child's school attitude. Teacher's play such a huge role in planting the seed of confidence in a child. And as that child grows in education that seed will grow into a plant and one day will produce fruit of its own. Student/teacher bonds will form when a teacher goes the extra mile to help a struggling student. These bonds are crucial to the student. The student begins to see that the teacher cares and can be trusted. The bond that forms leads me to my next teaching/life skill: respect.

On the first day of every new school year I would start with "The Talk". I wouldn't start of with the rules or with my expectations. I would start of on a personal level. I taught 12 and 13 year olds and I can remember what it was like to be that age. Everyone, no mater what age, wants to be respected. But I feel that at this age it is more needed then ever. I would let them know that even though I didn't know them, I respected them, and it was up to them to keep that respect. If I give my respect I expect respect in return. If respect was shown respect was given. Randy mentions loyalty in his lecture. He gave the example of the student having problems with the dean and he went and stood up for the student. Because he was willing to stand up for that student, that student is now standing up and taking the lead for Randy. It is because they respected and believed in one another. I spoke with me students in a tone as if I were talking to friends. I assured them that I would always treat them as people, not as children, but as individuals with ideas, opinions, and thoughts.

I loved Randy's enthusiasm. I couldn't help but keep listening to what he had to say. When a person believes 100% what they are saying then that enthusiasm pours out of them. In teaching my students picked up on my level of enthusiasm. I set the tone for learning each and every day. If I did not buy into an activity, then I could not expect them to. Most days I was excited about what we were doing in class and I tried to make each learning activity have a certain level of fun in it. Making learning fun and engaging was the most challenging aspects of being a teacher. I had to work hard at it, but it always paid off when I say the excitement on my students faces or when students walked in the room telling me they couldn't wait to come to science class.

I saved brick walls for the last topic. I hate brick walls. I have never thought about them the way Randy talked about them in his lecture. He said that brick walls are not there to stop us, but to get us to prove what we can really do. We have to persevere. We have to keep working until we make it to the finish line. We have brick walls in every area of our lives (school, home, work, family, friends, grocery store, etc). He also spoke of being self-reflective and I think that when I hit a brick wall that is what I do. I reflect on what happened and then work on a solution and work hard to get over the wall or how to knock it down. Teachers can give students the necessary skills to be able to identify those brick walls and help them get over that wall. No child is going to be great at every subject. That is where the teacher comes in to make the difference.