Post by gatordog on Aug 13, 2008 11:57:41 GMT -5
From Tribune op ed page. I found this to be a very moving article. I hope this can guide and inspire our student's teachers. The highlighted section expresses very well what I want my kids to get out of school.
Last lecture' a lesson in great teaching too
By Charles Lipson
July 29, 2008
There is something wonderful—and inspiring—about people who work hard in the shadows for decades and then become "overnight successes." Clara Peller was one, unknown to the wider world for eight decades until she shouted, "Where's the beef?" Deanna Dunagan is another, a terrific actress known mainly to Chicago audiences until she won a Tony for her dazzling performance in Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County."
And then there's Randy Pausch, who labored quietly in Pittsburgh, teaching students at Carnegie-Mellon University, until 11 months ago. That's when he was diagnosed with a fast-moving terminal illness and decided to sum up the lessons he had learned in life in a public farewell lecture at the school. Pausch, 47, died last week of pancreatic cancer.
With wisdom, good humor and a total absence of self-pity, he ruminated on his life's lessons. Audiences loved it and, within weeks, his "last lecture" became a giant YouTube hit. The video led, quite unexpectedly, to a book, "The Last Lecture," that has stayed on best-seller lists since it was published in April. Not bad for a guy forced to run a two-minute drill against pancreatic cancer.
To sum up your life's work in a compelling, accessible lecture is every teacher's dream. That is exactly what Pausch did. I say that as someone who paces the front of a classroom several times a week. I love teaching and working with students, just as Randy did. I love explaining new ideas, challenging my students' preconceived notions, and responding (with good grace, I hope) when they harpoon my own.
To watch Pausch's last lecture is to know that he shared that love. By displaying it so openly, in a video watched by millions, the professor of computer science also showed how great teachers connect with students. Actually, teachers like Pausch do two things at once. On one level, they convey specific ideas and analytic methods and then help students absorb them and respond creatively. They spend hours showing students how to differentiate equations, interpret Hamlet's soliloquies or splice DNA. In my own classes, I explore why wars and trade disputes occur, and how states sometimes manage to avoid them.
Explaining issues like these is central to education, but it is only half the job. The best teachers also serve as models for students. Good teachers bestow their love of learning, their willingness to work hard and their ability to think imaginatively to unravel the mysteries. Those lessons can launch students on their own paths—the real goal of any teacher.
Good teaching points students toward important questions, gives them the tools they need to inquire and inspires them to continue exploring for themselves. Ultimately, every teacher lets go and hopes the students can proceed on their own—and hopes that they will want to.
That achievement usually lies hidden behind classroom doors. What Pausch did was throw open those doors and show the world what a great teacher does. Perched on the edge of life itself, he asked hard questions and gave straight answers. It was his way of prodding us, gently but urgently, to search our own lives for our own lessons. That is teaching at its very best.
Charles Lipson teaches international politics at the University of Chicago.
Last lecture' a lesson in great teaching too
By Charles Lipson
July 29, 2008
There is something wonderful—and inspiring—about people who work hard in the shadows for decades and then become "overnight successes." Clara Peller was one, unknown to the wider world for eight decades until she shouted, "Where's the beef?" Deanna Dunagan is another, a terrific actress known mainly to Chicago audiences until she won a Tony for her dazzling performance in Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County."
And then there's Randy Pausch, who labored quietly in Pittsburgh, teaching students at Carnegie-Mellon University, until 11 months ago. That's when he was diagnosed with a fast-moving terminal illness and decided to sum up the lessons he had learned in life in a public farewell lecture at the school. Pausch, 47, died last week of pancreatic cancer.
With wisdom, good humor and a total absence of self-pity, he ruminated on his life's lessons. Audiences loved it and, within weeks, his "last lecture" became a giant YouTube hit. The video led, quite unexpectedly, to a book, "The Last Lecture," that has stayed on best-seller lists since it was published in April. Not bad for a guy forced to run a two-minute drill against pancreatic cancer.
To sum up your life's work in a compelling, accessible lecture is every teacher's dream. That is exactly what Pausch did. I say that as someone who paces the front of a classroom several times a week. I love teaching and working with students, just as Randy did. I love explaining new ideas, challenging my students' preconceived notions, and responding (with good grace, I hope) when they harpoon my own.
To watch Pausch's last lecture is to know that he shared that love. By displaying it so openly, in a video watched by millions, the professor of computer science also showed how great teachers connect with students. Actually, teachers like Pausch do two things at once. On one level, they convey specific ideas and analytic methods and then help students absorb them and respond creatively. They spend hours showing students how to differentiate equations, interpret Hamlet's soliloquies or splice DNA. In my own classes, I explore why wars and trade disputes occur, and how states sometimes manage to avoid them.
Explaining issues like these is central to education, but it is only half the job. The best teachers also serve as models for students. Good teachers bestow their love of learning, their willingness to work hard and their ability to think imaginatively to unravel the mysteries. Those lessons can launch students on their own paths—the real goal of any teacher.
Good teaching points students toward important questions, gives them the tools they need to inquire and inspires them to continue exploring for themselves. Ultimately, every teacher lets go and hopes the students can proceed on their own—and hopes that they will want to.
That achievement usually lies hidden behind classroom doors. What Pausch did was throw open those doors and show the world what a great teacher does. Perched on the edge of life itself, he asked hard questions and gave straight answers. It was his way of prodding us, gently but urgently, to search our own lives for our own lessons. That is teaching at its very best.
Charles Lipson teaches international politics at the University of Chicago.
