Pausch's Last Lecture

I really enjoyed Pausch’s last lecture because it had a lot of good advice to use in the classroom. He believed in an interactive classroom where students can be themselves and explore. I believe that, like he said, it is important to empower students’ dreams and to never set the bar. If you do they will limit themselves. It is also important to remind students that obstacles or “brick walls” are only tests to see if you truly want something.
I like the idea of an interactive classroom because of the word “active” in interactive. It means students are constantly involved and applying what they have been taught. Knowledge is worth very little to kids if they cannot apply it in some way. I would like to be able to have a good reason besides, “You will need this skill to get into college” for teaching my students specific lessons. For example I could have them use stamps to create an old looking newspaper and have the class check the work for correct spelling and grammar. If an apostrophe or a letter is missing the information will no longer make sense. This will show my students why it is important that they learn proper spelling and grammar.
While setting the bar sounds like a good means of quality control it seems to set kids back more than help them. The bar is seen as a the best a project could possibly be and that nothing need be done to go above it in order to get an A. The moment a teacher sets the bar students begin to limit themselves. They begin to decide what kind of grade they want and what they have to do to get it. A teacher should continually encourage his or her students to keep doing better than they have done before. While praise is certainly necessary it should never be said that things could not be done even better the next time around. Students need to learn to build on the skills they have already learned and become innovators. They should keep developing and moving upward not backwards or remain static.
Life throws obstacles at everyone and it is important that we all learn how to deal with them. In the end it seems that the people who really want to overcome them do. If a student has the proper support, encouragement and will power to bring his or her failing grade up to a passing one he or she will. The old saying what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger really is true because those who fight their way to whatever it is they want are usually the better for it. When students begin to realize that a challenge in class is not an invitation for failure but a means to prove just how bad they want to get that A school will begin to look less like a torture chamber and more like a gym rock wall for the brain.
The ability to empower the next generation is something I look forward to because it will mean that I have made my students’ lives and the lives of people I may never meet a little better. I have a lot of my own dreams but I would like to help others achieve their own as well. If everyone would do this the world would be a much better place and people would live with fewer regrets. Dreams are an important part of school because they are often times the driving force behind a student’s success. I know my dreams were what kept me going whenever class and life got rough. I made it through and I would like to help others do the same.