Randy Pausch is a fantastic speaker. He is very motivational in how he approaches an audience and knows just how to grab their attention. I learned some very valuable things from watching this video; some statements, direct and others indirect.
He started off his speech with a list of his childhood dreams; all which he achieved in some sort of way. He told a story about a football coach. He went to practice one day and noticed that there were no footballs. His coach basically said that, “There are 22 people on a field at a time. Only one has a ball. We are going to work on what the other 21 should be doing.” They were working on fundamentals. As a volleyball coach, myself, we work on “no-ball” practices quite frequently. It is not about what can you do with a ball all the time; it is about how to prepare yourself for what may come at you. This is not just a physical lesson, it is a life lesson. I hope that I can train my girls to understand this as well as Randy’s coach did. Sports are not just about the physical aspect and competition. They are about discipline, teamwork, preparation, priorities and shaping one to be well-rounded.
Randy Pausch used the analogy of a “brick wall” several times throughout his speech. He stated, “Brick walls are not there to keep us out, they are there to show us how badly we want something. They are there to stop the people who do not want it badly enough… Brick walls let us show our dedication.” That really stood out to me. My whole life I have heard the brick wall analogy, but never put into these terms. As a teacher, you watch students face brick walls each and every day; some being school work and others being personal or social life. You can’t make them knock over their own brick walls, but you can set a good role model for them in doing so yourself and sometimes assisting where help is necessary. After all, not everyone is tall enough to climb their own brick wall. Sometimes we all need a little boost.
Randy quoted something from John Snoddy saying, “Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you, because when you’re angry at them, you just haven’t given them enough time.” Sometimes that is a hard thing to do, but you just have to do it. I will be in a special education classroom once I graduate. I know that this classroom, especially, requires MUCH patience. As a special education instructor, you must learn to work at a pace that works with them. It is easy to become discouraged in this process. I am a person that wants immediate results with everything that I put effort into. The statement from John is a great reminder to just wait it out and let someone surprise you. It can also make it even sweeter when you do not expect something from someone and they surprise you.
I am really thankful for the video, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. I will definitely be using this as an inspirational resource in the future.
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteYour blog was very well written and full of great details. I love how you related his experiences with his football coach to your experience with your volleyball team. Your picture code seems to be working great. I do believe that you wanted to say “you can…. Not can you.” Overall you did a wonderful job.
Hey Lauren!
ReplyDeleteYou did an awesome job with this blog post! You seemed to have a great understanding of Randy Pausch's video, and I agree that he is an inspirational speaker to say the least. Your writing is thorough and well-written. You write with such enthusiasm, and it makes it very enjoyable to read.
I loved how you talked about your volleyball team and related it to Dr. Pausch's coach. Sports truly do add so many fundamental lessons to our lives. I also enjoyed your statement, "After all, not everyone is tall enough to climb their own brick wall. Sometimes we all need a little boost." It is so true that many times we need others's help by giving us a little motivation and encouragement.
I only found a couple of grammatical mistakes in your post, but they were very minor. In the last sentence of your first paragraph, I would reword it to something like this: "I learned some very valuable things from watching this video; some statements were direct while others were indirect." And in the first sentence of the second paragraph, I would replace the semicolon with a comma.
Other than those minor details, your post was awesome. Keep up the great work!
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It was very well written and inspired. You used great personal examples to show how well you related to the post and were able to apply it to your own experiences. I really appreciated your last paragraph on your career as a Special Education teacher. Very insightful! I can tell that you are very dedicated to your students and will be a great teacher :)
Keep up the good work,
Carly
Lauren, this was an enjoyable read. You provided great details to connect the lecture with your own experiences. Like you, I hope to coach one day, so I appreciated the "no ball" type of practice as well. My basketball coaches always did the same thing in order to teach the fundamentals. As far as grammar goes, Claire is right about that one semicolon, but besides that the post looks great. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
ReplyDelete