Being the youngest in my family I'm not afraid to be bring up the rear on anything noteworthy going on anywhere in this world or even in nether worlds. It is what I do. So it is not beyond my type of person to be passing on to you something you have probably already heard about ad infinitum since December 2007 when it was presented. Most things I assume everyone is already aware of. Then I thought, "Gee, did I already, over the course of the last 5 months, hear about this somewhere and passed it by?" Actually, I think I did. Which just shows-to-go-you if it is something worth finding, it will find you eventually...in spite of yourself...if you live long enough...
So I picked this video off WWR's Jim's Links (basically, his Google reader) and he got it from "Open Culture" by Dan Coleman (who may also be the youngest child - he posted April 20th) ...I would have no idea. I can't tell who he is. Perhaps if I spent an hour trying to figure out what 'track back' means but it sounds like something the FBI would use to send me to Guantanamo Bay or if I kept linking and linking forever. I wont post this if I do that. Thank you Dan, anyway...My point is it got to me, eventually, and now it is my turn to play it forward because it obviously carries an extremely important message. It seems especially vital to anyone in the educational field...anyone who works with youth or, frankly, anyone who had a youth of their own.
It has been jangling in my mind to ask the students what they want in terms of library services but it wasn't until I saw the entireity of this presentation did I understand what I was fishing for in terms inclusion. I had missed the part where I actually have to listen...Okay...also, after I listen...THEN what? Embedding in this video is a map to then what for anyone who is willing to open up to it...for anyone who might toy with the thought they could make a small improvement in a student's life. Within is a clue to a place to stand and help.
The fact the man is dying notwithstanding, his entire life up to this point is a great gift to everyone who listens to what he has to say about what has worked for him in merging the creative with the technical - the artist and the engineer - the right and left brain - the past with the future - the us and the them. After I watched this I came to understand something clearer regarding my role in the lives of the people around me and education, in general. Embrace the familiar of what is like us, the predictable, the family, the known; for it is there that rest resides; and go ahead to encourage the opposites of what is love; for it is there that the creative spark of life brings motion, action and growth into our lives and into the evolution of humanity. A great gift, understanding.
Thank you Randy Pausch. May your light of a life lived well shine on.
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