The last lecture book reflection #1

This summer my mentoring team and I have the fun activity of discussing a book titled The Last Lecture. The title of this book alone draws pondering thoughts that one day things that we start in life will one day end. From reading the first part of this book The Author Randy Pausch tells us how he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was only given six months to live. He knew that with this short time he wanted to prepare his family for a life without him. He also wanted to maximize his time that he had left with his family. However, he was given the opportunity to give one last lecture and even though his wife didn't want him to give up on himself. He wanted to create something that people would remember him by. He didn't want people to remember him for the guy who passed away of pancreatic cancer, but instead the guy who lived an amazing and inspiring life. 

One of the things he talked about was when he was growing up he believed he had won the parent lottery. A story that he tells is how even though his mom was reluctant he was allowed to paint whatever he wanted on his bedroom walls. Eventually, his mom came to realize that his room was something to be proud of and was a sort of showcase for her when she showed her house to guest. this showed that when you allow people to take their own space and their own thoughts and allow them to be creative they can flourish and bring something to your life that you may have never expected. 

Another thing that he spoke of was how hard his football coach had pushed him and one of the things he believed is when people push you that means they still believe in you, but once they stop pushing you is when it shows that they have given up on you. As a teacher we should push our students to go above and beyond, pushing them to do things that they may not know they are capable of, but as teachers we see it in them. We should never stop pushing and give up on ours students. 

This book has already taught me so much in just the first couple chapters on different perspectives of life and teaching. I can not wait to be able to further share with you the next parts of this book, stay tuned!