Blog Post #10

What can we learn about teaching and learning from Randy Pausch?

Much can be learned about teaching from Randy Pausch. In Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, he spoke of the importance of your students being placed in an environment that is going to prove to be challenging for them. This is to encourage the students to continue to push themselves to perform at their best ability. Another important point Pausch speaks of is making sure to present the material to the students in an interesting way. As a future teacher, I am constantly racking my brain trying to think of ideas to keep things interesting and at times fun. The students are much more likely to remember what they have been taught if they had fun while learning it. The term Pausch uses to describe this technique is called, Edutainment, which can be thought of as sort of a mixture of Education and Entertainment. Students have a higher chance of retaining information when they are directly involved in the lesson, and are able to participate hands on. Every student learns differently than the next, and to assume that every student will perform the same is absurd. The method that works for one student may be what another finds confusing. It is the job of the teacher to find the common ground, or a comfortable median that works for their class to accommodate all the the students' individual learning styles. In order to know what methods work best for them, students need to know how to self evaluate themselves. This will also allow the students to recognize the areas they have room to improve upon.

As a student, I am constantly learning new things everyday. Although one day in the near future, I will be a teacher in my own classroom, I do not forsee myself not continuing to learn everyday. Of course that may entail me sitting in a desk, taking notes for 8 hours a day. However, I do predict my students will be teaching me something new everyday. I consider myself to be a Lifetime Learner and look for inspiration in everything everyday. My future students, I know, will inspire me, but my job will be to also inspire them everyday. After watching Pausch's video, he has taught me when it comes to teaching and learning, you need to understand that not every student learns the same as the next and it is our job as future educators to find the happy median between all the techniques to successfully present the material to our students. Also, we must always encourage our students to express their creativity, and to constantly be challenging themselves to perform at their best. Most importantly, we will always be learners. Even when we become teachers, we will still be learners. No matter the situations, we will always be learning something new, whether it is from coworkers, or from our students. I can only hope to inspire my students one day, that they can hopefully in turn, use to inspire another.