EDTC 552 Initial Post

What visions and goals do you have for your career as a teacher, Technologist, Curriculum Designer? 

I have many goals as a teacher. I don't know if I can put them chronologically. But maybe that is okay because I think as an educator we have to be fluid in our approach and our understanding of what our students need. One goal I have is to make sure students learn from our past by using a lense of what is going on currently. History is a cyclical subject, thus making the age-old adage of "if we don't learn from our past we are doomed to repeat it" very true.  I believe learning more about education technology, and how technology can impact how we teach, is important because it offers me the best lense for how to best help my students in a future classroom. That is one of my biggest goals... to be able to constantly offer my students the best ways for them to learn and grow, not only in the history classroom but as citizens and individuals that can go out and make a difference in the world.

Introduce yourself to the class (provide some background information).

Well as you know I'm Josh. I grew up in Temple City, California and then went on to Azusa Pacific University where I graduated with a BA in Journalism. While at APU I met my wife, Chelsea, and we've been married a little over a year now. After college, we moved up to Spokane, Washington where I went on to work for the Spokesman-Review newspaper and then the local NBC affiliate running their sports website and contributing to the joint prep-sports website. Chelsea completed her MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University. While in Spokane I figured out that, while I love sports and loved covering teams and writing about them, I was much more interested in being a coach, a fan, and started to look into the idea of teaching (had we stayed I would've tried to get my credential at Gonzaga University). We moved back down a few years ago and after working a few odd jobs (construction, cook at a dive bar, freelancing) I took the CBEST, started coaching and subbing at Buena Park High School and began looking into credential/Master's programs. Now I am at La Habra High School doing the same and finishing up my credential and Master's I will begin student teaching this Spring.

Tell us something interesting about you!

This is a hard question. I guess something most people don't know (or assume) about me is that I am a Sci-Fi and Fantasy nerd. I love Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, etc. in all sorts of mediums. I am a big Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien fan. I love Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom series of novels. And so, so much more.

What is your content area and or current position?

My content area is Social Science (History) and I am currently a substitute teacher and Varsity football coach at La Habra High School.

What are your career goals?

I want to be a career teacher and eventually a head football coach at a high school. I hope to one day maybe teach AP Euro or APUSH because I like the idea of being able to delve deeper into these subject matters with students (though that might not be attainable if I am fortunate enough to become a head coach).

What do you hope to learn in this class?

I hope I can learn how I can utilize technology and instructional design to impact and benefit my students. I like the model of learning from experts in the field and how we can take their experiences and apply them to the classroom ourselves to help our own students. I am excited to dive into these subjects and learn how to use this information and grow as an educator.

Knowing Your Why

Michael Jr.'s "Knowing Your Why?" YouTube video is a good bit of brain food and is something that I think is a good little refresher for teachers at all levels, especially those about to go into the field.

Michael Jr. means to give people a call to give purpose to what they are doing by knowing why they are doing it. When it comes to teaching, if we know why we want to be in the classroom, why we are called to educate, why we want to be in that room, then what we are doing becomes much easier and has a purpose driving it.

I like the example of the church choir director that sings from one of his crowds. When he first sings he is almost doing what is expected of him and it is nice, but feels rigid. But when he puts some sauce up on those chicken wings he calls his vocal pipes, well he brings the HEAT! When it comes to being in the classroom, if we as educators forget the why, then we will do good things for sure, and sure students might learn. But when we can remember the why and put that knowledge into what we are doing in the classroom... then we will be able to bring that same fire and passion into our students' lives and might be able to have a greater impact on them as both an educator and an advocate.

I love what he says right at the end.

"When you know your why, your what becomes more impactful because you're walking towards or in your purpose.

Here is Michael Jr.'s video on Knowing Your Why?

476 Introduction and Some Thoughts on Teaching History

Well hello there. As you can see in my bio to the right my name is Josh Ouellette and I am currently a single subject teaching credential and masters student at the University of La Verne.

My plan is to teach History, really the first subject in school that I ever loved, and the subject I am most passionate about. While I see how Government and Economics are important subjects, the courses I would prefer to teach would be World History and U.S. History. Though at the end of the day I realize I'll teach any part of the subject that my future employer hires me to do.

When it comes to History I think it is important to show students examples from what is going on in the world today because there is always a form of how this has happened before in the past. Meaning that if we can contextualize something from the past to a student's present they can draw a link to the past to help shape how they view their present and future. I know the old adage is, "if we don't know our past we are doomed to repeat it," or something along those lines. And while this is definitely true, I think we need to go to the next step of that because we always seem to be repeating our past because I think we as History educators need to do a better job making the past reality, instead of allowing subjects to stay in the past.

Are you sufficiently confused about some of my pedagogical history thoughts yet? I kind of am too. Hopefully in this course I will be able to hammer out my ideas and better shape them into something that is hardened, yet still malleable, in order to better serve my future students.

I am also a football coach, spending the last two years at Buena Park High School, and aspire to one day be a head coach at the high school level. I am an avid sports fan, Dodgers, West Ham, Titans, USC in no particular order, and I'm sorry if you have to be around me if one of my teams lost that day. I love to read, historical fiction is probably my current favorite genre, but I love fantasy, Sci-Fi, classic novels, Harry Potter (it's its own animal), and biographies. I also love TV shows. We live in the golden age of content for TV right now. Some of my favorite shows would be "Vikings" (yes, I wish I was and should be an extra on the show), "Sons of Anarchy," "The Office," "Peaky Blinders," and a long, long list of other shows that varies across genres and subjects just like the list above.

Well, that about does it for this post.

Thanks for stopping by. The Dude Abides.

Spokane Doesn't Suck: My Experience with the Lilac CIty and Just How Wrong Cody Delistraty is about the subject

Some of the best advice I got while earning a Journalism degree was to "write what you know," which I am sure was borrowed from the film "Orange County" starring Colin Hanks and Jack Black. While I see where the author, Cody Delistraty, was coming from with his article "How Gonzaga became the central hope for the struggling city of Spokane," it is clear he is no longer writing what he knows.

Based in Paris (according to his own about me: https://delistraty.com/about/) and New York, the former Spokanite is a little out of his element and probably should've eschewed from writing this "personal insight piece" about Spokane and Gonzaga. See, Don't have to go to Oxford to use big words, just saying.

I won't lie and say Delistraty is a hack... his resume proves otherwise. But he missed the mark on so many things about a city I came to love and still hold dear. Maybe if he visited home more often, or remembered his non-bourgeoisie roots, he wouldn't have slandered an entire city or trivialized people's lives down to the successes and failures of a college basketball team.

By the way, there is still a highly successful arena football team, it just moved to the less corrupt IFL and aptly changed its name to the Spokane Empire in order to honor the railroading past Delistraty touches on. Not to mention a sought-after marathon in Bloomsday, the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world in the Nike-sponsored Hoopfest, or some of the best golf courses for the price in the country. Another note that should be mentioned is the value of high school sports is seen here like very few places in the country. Fans turn up, TV stations cover all types of sports, and kids earn a chance for five minutes of fame (or more) like many student athletes cannot in other metropolitan cities such as Spokane or larger never get.

Gonzaga is important to Spokane, there is no understating that, but it isn't a struggling city, it is one thriving in Delistraty's absence and getting better every day.

I witnessed games in the McCarthy Athletic Center, and Zag Nation creates an atmosphere like few others in college sports. But the idea of sports fandom sweeping up the masses isn't a new one and isn't one that should be applied to a college team that is really offering an experience easily replicated by the success of a program. There are the Cameron Crazies of Duke, the Dawg Pound at the University of Washington, the Hoo Crew in Virginia, and so many more cheering sections that are even bigger and can sway a game by the sheer size of the student body chanting.

Is Spokane a worse place to be than Durham, North Carolina or Charlottesville, Virginia? I don't think so. I would argue the opposite. There's nothing like taking in a sunset from atop the South Hill, taking in Spokane Falls from any of the bridges, or simply taking in the view of the river driving to Joe Albi Stadium on a Friday before a high school football game. I would say there is nothing so American as those moments I remember in Spokane. Nor "dive" bars as great as the Park Inn or Monterey Cafe.

I love the Lilac City, and it loved me back during my two years there. Spokane was good to me, I tried to be good to it and its people, and I was rewarded with memories I will always cherish. Spokane is just as much a part of my past as it is a catalyst for my future, and I can't thank the city and the friends and former colleagues I still have there for that aspect.

I am angry with a news source I covet for its usual accuracy and journalistic integrity. I use the guardian regularly for sports and political purposes. But it's not like the editors of the site knew Delistraty was puffing smoke on an invisible fire. They're a world away.

You can read the piece here, just make sure you add a slant everything he claims: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/14/gonzaga-basketball-march-madness-spokane-last-hope

The Spokesman-Review's Shawn Vestal adds a satirical take on Delistraty's piece. A great read here: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/mar/14/shawn-vestal-guardian-report-exposes-dreary-truth-/

Copyright, Sloppy Right... And Other Things I Learned in My EDUC 407 Class

It is sometimes hard to reflect and take away what we learn over the course of a class. Sometimes it isn't until a real life application comes along that we realize what we learned or how it shaped how we handle any give situation.

Education officials like to measure this in Growth and Proficiency, that is unless you're Betsy DeVos and don't understand the difference and try to deflect the question. Of course Proficiency is the measure of a student's comprehension and mastery of material, while Growth is measured by how much a student learns and how many gains they make during a school year. While it may seem similar, I assure it is different enough to split the education community and how they view school.

***Disclaimer: As much as I wish I could spend a post ranting about Betsy DeVos I promise I won't.***

Now one of the facets I found very interesting over the course of my EDUC 407 course was the importance of copyright in teaching. I come from a journalism background and have a pretty good idea about copy right law, fair use, and what is just downright stealing when it comes to materials. But what surprised me is just how fair use comes into play when using items as an educational example. I had always assumed it was free game for teachers to use photos and texts. But now it makes sense why even at the college level teachers only scan sections for handouts. While it may seem like common sense, and most of it is, understanding copyright and how it works in a classroom setting is pretty important.

I think it is really easy for teachers to get sloppy with their implementation of copyright in a classroom. But my argument is this, who will know? A student isn't going to see a picture on a presentation and report it. A teacher also doesn't gain from a photo in a financial way. Now I could see where photocopying whole chapters of new and new-ish books might be a problem, but even then teachers are allowed to use excerpts. As long as a teacher isn't blatant, I find it hard to believe he or she will get in trouble for using Google images or the like.

Another gain I made in my education during 407 was looking more in depth at web tools and how they can be implemented in a classroom.

I really like how Twitter can be used in teaching, especially history. There are tons of "fake" accounts for historical figures that pump out quotes and images. I think these can be used to connect students to the past with 21st century apps. Twitter is something that students can use to craft responses and is an easily tracked way of outside-the-box interaction of students and assignments. Another web-based feature

I also like GoGuardian, which monitors classroom chromebooks or other small school-assigned laptops and allows teachers to freeze out off-task students. While this is very school specific, I think it could be a useful took in flipping the classroom because then any in-class assignments, tests, or other class-directed activities completed by a student in class can be thoroughly watched to ensure maximum attention in school. Which in a flipped classroom format is only fair because the stress of homework is almost completely alleviated.

I'll end this post with this. I'm not a Prezi guy. I see how it could be more interesting to students but I really see it more as a distractor and somewhat gimmicky. I used it a little in college, but now with Google Slides being a roaming (and possibly better) version of Powerpoint, I can't see myself using Prezi. I'll take classic transitions like dissolve, comb, clock, and peel off any day of the week over the more flashy Prezi.