Pausch talked about achieving our dreams and he even shared his boyhood dreams with us. I have many dreams for my life. Some have failed, some have already been accomplished, and some I am still dreaming about. Some dreams that had failed were out of my control; like wanting my grandfathers to see me graduate high school, they both passed too, too quickly. Others I have achieved on my own, like gaining strength and endurance in my yoga practice. Even though it is upsetting not to get to live out a dream, we can still learn something from it. Like Pausch's "brick wall." If we are open, we can learn just as much by not reaching our dreams as we would if we did. I truly believe in that because he added, "experience is what we get when we don't get what we want." Allow yourself to be awoken by every experience, never shut out knowledge.
In order to accomplish our dreams, Pausch tells us that we need to "bring something to the table." This could be anything, any talent is valuable. He discussed this when he shared his boyhood dream of becoming Capt. Kirk; the captain on Star Trek didn't possess the same great qualities as the other main characters (intelligence, engineering skills, medical skills, etc.) but what he did possess was leadership. I absolutely agree with Pausch when he said that leadership, in any situation, is just as valuable as intelligence or mastered skills. I have been told, and I also believe myself, that I carry leadership skills, so this really affected the way I perceive my other qualities (for the better of course!).
Another topic he talked about was in the form of a question, how can we enable the dreams of others? This concept requires us to focus on others and not ourselves. We are working towards becoming teachers, right? And if we can't encourage others to pursue their dreams then we won't be good teachers. We must put ourselves before them and guide them on the right path, help them when they stumble, and be there for them when they succeed or fail. We've talked about this in class and Pausch mentioned it, too; we need to get our students/peers to be self-reflective in their work. They can achieve so much more if they are engaged in their own progress that leads them to success. There's another thing I liked that he mentioned. I learned that when my critics stop critiquing me is when they have given up on me. People will critique us because they care. So, when we get comments from Dr. Strange or the lab assistants we need to appreciate the evaluation and learn from it.
I really enjoyed watching his video. He kept things interesting, he was hilarious, and has accomplished so much in his lifetime. He is so inspiring, and his outlook on life is how we should all be. I think my favorite part was the "brick wall" concept. I think that really applies to us as future teachers. Amazing post!
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