Reflection_is_Key

 = Reflection Is Key =



by N. Rebore During the summer, English teacher Ms. Stacey Locurto and I read Dr. Randy Pausch’s book, __The Last Lecture__, a series of lessons on life for his children. Dr Rausch was dying of cancer and would not be there to share these stories in person. We also watched Diane Sawyer’s and Oprah Winfrey’s interviews with Randy Pausch and viewed his lectures on YouTube. We were inspired. We laughed, we cried—and then we reflected. As a result, we developed a multi-faceted project involving writing, reading, posting on blogs, podcasting, reflecting, creating PowerPoints (with music), using the power of the interactive whiteboard, and concluding with an oral presentation by each student of his or her own Life Lessons or, if you will, their message in a bottle, before an audience of students and teachers. To reach that point, we took baby steps with our students. Each day for a week, Ms. Locurto brought her journalism classes to the library to watch a segment of __The Last Lecture__ or an interview with Randy Pausch. As homework, the students were given a Reflection piece to be completed, in writing that night, and discussed in class the following day. For one reflection piece, students were asked to post their responses on Mrs. Rebore’s Blog, which is linked to the high school homepage. At the end of the week, Ms. Locurto and I introduced the final project; a PowerPoint presentation where each student would create their own Life Lesson. The presentation would include at least two lessons or ideas from Randy Pausch’s book, photographs that are important in their lives, quotations that reflect their own philosophy of life, and a song that best represents them. We are looking forward to watching the students present their Life Lessons. Some of our students, who are frequent library users, have, on their own, read or watched __The Last Lecture__. They reflected on some of Randy Pausch’s lessons. For example, Dr. Pausch said, “Brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show us how badly we want something.” In another lesson, Randy encouraged parents to allow their children, if they asked, to paint on their bedroom walls. On the podcast, our students reflect on these questions. I invite you to listen to our Library Knight Light Podcast. This project has reinforced my belief that reflection is central to the learning process. And finally, on a personal note, as for Randy Pausch’s lesson to let children paint on their bedroom walls – I’ve given my granddaughters, ages three and five, a wall on which to paint.  J  J