Blog Post #7

"Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out." Randy Pausch said this in his last lecture before he died in 2008 called Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. I had not heard of him until I watched his video and wow, his message was powerful. It is true that most people and I am one of those people sometimes, go through life complaining about anything and everything. We never seem content and appreciative of what we have and the opportunities that come our way. In today's society it is always "I want more" and that is such a bad attitude to have towards the life you were given. As teachers, we must make sure our students are grateful for the opportunities they are being given in the classroom because it will show them that they can always be worse off than they are now. They are blessed to even be given the opportunity to receive an education at all.

Another statement that Randy Pausch said in his video was "It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit...and keep moving forward." I think that is the toughest balancing act as a teacher to do with your students. It's like a mother of a toddler. She wants to keep him in a protective bubble so he will not get hurt but that is not reality or how the toddler will every learn. As a teacher, you have to watch your students fail and become discouraged by there failure but then you have to be the hero that helps them stand back up and try again. Without the help to get up and keep moving forward, they might never get back up or try again.

The last statement that stuck out to me from Randy Pausch's video was "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." This statement is very important to me because my dad has always said something like that to me and they are both very true. Not one person in this world can truly control the obstacles in there lives so you have to improvise and use what knowledge you do have about the problem at hand and deal with it head on. As teachers and constant learners, we have to continuously deal with problems or modify something because it is not going to work out like you had planned. We have to teach our students this as well because if we just teach them the facts and never give them obstacles to face, they will come to an obstacle one day and they will not be prepared and isn't a teachers job to get your students prepared for the real world? That is how I see my job as a teacher and I think it is one of the most important parts of teaching. If your students leave your classroom unprepared, how are they supposed to keep progressing in life to one day become a successful part of our society? I hope one day my students will be able to say that I make an impact on them and helped them progress in life because that is what teaching is all about.