Blog Post #7

Response to Randy Paush's "Last Lecture":

Since I have began college I have had to watch this lecture for one of my classes each year. Every time I watch the lecture I find new things to think about. I feel that through his speech he makes his one 75 minute lecture fun and keeps the audiences focus consistently on his speech. Not only is he an amazing public speaker, but he also uses many great teaching techniques thorough his speech. While giving his speech he also talks about different teaching techniques that he uses in his classroom.

I really enjoy Randy's speech because he is such a great speaker which helps. He seems very confident with his lecture and knows where he is going with every topic which keeps our (the listeners) attention. He also brings humor in and out of his lecture which can be a great technique when trying to keep the students attention.

Randy uses technology in several great ways with his lecture. First of all he begins his speech with a short introduction followed by his first major point and an outline over the projector. Personally I feel that having an outline to go along with at the beginning of a lecture keeps me from getting totally lost. He also puts pictures on the projector so that the listeners can stay interested and also get a better understanding of topics (i.e. childhood, pictures from events along the way).

The biggest point he makes in his speech is his 'head fake'. By getting his audience to focus on one thing he indirectly gets his listeners to learn or think about something else. By learning how to use this teaching technique you can teach students so much more. Using Randy as an example he gave this lecture to his audience. However, he in fact 'head faked' everyone. He ended by saying that people have been asking if he is leaving anything for his children. The 'head fake' was that the speech was written for his children.

By watching this speech a teacher can pick up several teaching techniques that can be, when used in the proper ways, very effective with students. From Randy's speech we gather the uses of technology can be greatly helpful. He used technology to show the listeners his outline as well as photographs and graphics to aid in his lecture.