Randy Pausch "Last Lecture"

After I read the "Last Lecture" I was thrilled to see a man with such a horrible disease and about to die so ok with it. Mr. Pausch seemed to be an incredible person with lots of talent, and full of inspiration. He seemed very popular, and loved by so many people. During his lecture, I learned some things, things that maybe I could instill in my students when I become an educator. I lisened to a few related segments on Mr. Pausch and his death, and it was said that his lecture touched so many people, but was actually meant for his three children.
One thing I really liked about Mr. Pausch, was that he used props during his lecture. I am all about hands on oppurtunities, I feel that it helps students to remember what was being taught or to help them remember how a certain thing works. In his presentation, there where appropriate photos, and there was not any lengthy slides with many words, just straight and to the point. He tells us that anything is possable, and I believed he proved that. Almost everyone of his childhood dreams came true, and there where brick walls, but it didn't matter, because they are just there to show how bad you really want something. As a teacher, when a student encounters a brick wall, we should be there to tell them that it's there for a reason, and if you want it bad enough, it will show by the way you choose to go around it.
There where many things that I can say I learned about teaching in this lecture. One being, to enable the child hood dreams of my students. Help them, push them, if they want to give up, don't let them. When they do exceptionally well on a project or assignment, tell them it's great, but "I know you can do beter" don't be satisfied, seek for more make them think. Teach the children fundamentals of things, just like Mr. Pausch's childhood football coach did. Don't use the balls, first begin with the basics.
My favorite, the "head fake" the best way to teach is to have the kids think they are learning something else. The Alice program, describes this well, kids thought they were having fun and making video games, while in reality, they were learining something hard. That's what we could do in the classroom, think of ways to allow the kids to think they are having fun, but really learning something that they may have though would be to difficult to do. Mr. Pausch really believed in computers and technology, he kinda reminds me of Dr. Strange, wanting his students to suceed and helping them any way he can.