Comments for Kids: 8

This week I was assigned to read a post by a student on a class blog titled, 'Borman Blogging'. One girl named Cristal wrote a post about how her parents treated her. She said that sometimes she gets mad because her mom works all week and can only clean the house on Saturday and requires that Cristal help her out. She also said she gets frustrated when her dad asks her to bring him a cup of water or a hammer when he needs one. I reassured her that they loved her very much and one day she may need the same kind of help from her own children.

Week 8: Achieving Childhood Dreams with Randy Pausch

I knew this video was either really important and crucial to obtain an A in this class or it was inspirational and would aid me along my journey as an educator. The good news? Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was just that and even more. He is very funny and a sense of humor is always a great way to capture your audience even if whatever you're going to say is worse to listen to than hours of recorded elevator tunes. I watched this video twice and am really glad it was a required assignment because otherwise I would of never found it.
"Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted." This is one of the first quotes in Randy's lecture that captured my attention. He also said to cherish feedback, because when people are no longer helping you figure out how to do something better, they have just given up on you. This is especially important to me because if I, as a Secondary Science teacher (teaching Science itself is crucial all by itself) all of a sudden stop responding to my students, they will stop responding to me. And I'm sure all of you reading this can imagine how awful and frightening the thought of muted students sitting in your classroom- brains turned off. That most definitely scares the heck out of me.
Before watching this video, I had no idea who John Snoddy was.. then I googled him. And here's what I found: Jonb Snoddy is a seasoned entertainment executive with uniquely broad experience in entertainment technology. His phone number was even listed under his picture. And since I had to ask myself whether or not I was inserting links into my profile/blog posts, here's a link to John Snoddy's phone number. I didn't check to see if it was a working number, that ball is in your court. Randy Pausch said at one point in time Mr. Snoddy told him, 'When you’re pissed off or angry at someone, all that means is you haven’t given them enough time. Just wait, and they will surprise and impress you.' I like this quote so much that I'm going home to write it on the dry erase board that is stuck to the refrigerator. The reason I say this is because I moved back home last September and my mom is angry at me at least every other day. She probably has a reason to be but perhaps this saying will help her calm down before she addresses me. I also really like it because it applies to the relationship between a teacher and his/her student. Sometimes it can be easy for a teacher to loose patience with a frustrated student, and frustration can develop into anger in a split second. I'm not saying it's normal for teachers to be angry at their students. But I can understand being angry with yourself if your lesson plan fails and your students are stuck in the same mud that you are.
'Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.' As a sentence, this is such a simple statement. However, it can be dissected so deeply because it is a fundamental element in achieving our dreams and helping others achieve theirs as well. If you want to accomplish something so badly, a brick wall is just a metaphor- not an actual barrier that stands between you and a dream. It's an obstacle that you push through because you want something so badly. I am a single parent, a full time student, and I work part time. You best believe I wouldn't be taking 16 hours a semester if I didn't really want to become a teacher.
Randy Pausch's method of teaching is exactly how I envision my approach to teaching. I will strive to 'find the good in everyone' as he advises his audience. No matter what bad word your student shouts out loud during a lesson or how many times he gets sent to the office, I will find the good in the "bad student" I was warned about. Children are a lot like monkeys to me-- and not in the sense you are probably thinking of. They see, they do. We can't blame our children and give up on them ever changing or learning to do the right thing. We are going to be educators, and that means being a second parent away from a child's home. We have to set examples even if the ones that have already been set are bad ones. I thoroughly enjoyed Randy's speech and I think it was exactly what I needed for an inspiration boost. Thanks Dr. Strange, for making us do good homework.