The Last Lecture

"
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
--Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave—“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”—wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come."

If you don't wanna read the book, you can watch 'The Last Lecture' on YouTube.

I cried when I got to the end of the book. :|

How great is a parent's love for his/her children...

Love and cherish thy parents while they're still around!

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (editted)

"This engaging series of childhood recollections tells about an ideal school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom and love. This unusual school had old railroad cars for classrooms, and it was run by an extraordinary man - its founder and headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi - who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.

In real life, the Totto-chan of the book had become one of Japan's most popular television personalities - Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. She attributes her success in life to this wonderful school and its headmaster.

The charm of this account has won the hearts of millions of people of all ages and made this book a runaway bestseller in Japan, with sales hitting the 4.5 million mark in its first year."

I'm now reading Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi.
I think all teachers should read it.
Think the book really shows that every child is unique in their own ways, and helps bring across the point that we should, as teachers, cater to their learning needs. :)

Reading this made me feel sad that we can't have such an education system in Singapore.
Trust me, school would be so much fun...
AND learning would be taking place all the time.

Oh well, I hope I'll be able to conduct similar lessons next time... :)

Edit:
I think these are some things teachers should do, "... believe all children are born with an innate good nature, which can be easily damaged by their environment and the wrong adult influences ... aim to uncover their "good nature" and develop it, so that children would grow into people with individuality ... let children's characters develop as naturally as possible..." -p.191