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.

The Journey of A Reading Man: Can You Use Literature to Teach History?

The Journey of A Reading Man

Arrows may have slayed Smaug The Dragon, But his jewel-encrusted belly will always gleam on the bottom of the long lake.

Bard the Man could have saved more of his people, if only he had shot closer to Erebor.

A Hobbit changed the fate of Middle Earth, But it was his Uncle who saved the fate of a Kingly Dwarf. Is one better than the other in the end?

Gandalf the Wise guided the story, But the players were not swayed by a wizard.

Twas adventure that most called to the Robber, A most likely Thief indeed. 

Gully Foyle Jaunted through space, But in the end he took the secret of how he did it to the grave.

While he could cover the marks on His face, Anger reveals always reveals what we all truly feel in the end.

Anger a man who changed his stars, and you'll find a Hero lying inside. 

The Gouffre Martel could not hold Him, And the Love of His life was fittingly evil.

Olivia, Robin, and Jisbella, Three names that really hold the power of Man.

Jaunting through space and time to save them, Saving Himself in the end.

Hemingway was truly a man Who held the Stars as his Destination, But Running Rum was what he chose to express.

He Taught many to be Strong and Courageous, But it's not like Women can often relate to his Words.

Moby Dick is not the only Fish to vex a Man, For a Marlin too stymied an Old Man.

Fighting Franco the Fascist a Man named Jordan fell in Love, But He still had to die a Lonely death worthy of the Man who created Him.

Same goes for Jake and Frederic, Two Men who never really got to Hold the Women they Love.

Ernest's Contemporary more elegantly displayed the hold of a women's mystique, Making them equal or better in His eyes.

Hemingway thought Fitzgerald drank to much, But it was the longer lived who's Liver too ran out of time.

Boats may beat us back against the Current into the past, But in the Present of the story no other could describe so eloquently the intricacies of a relationship.

In the end Fitz and Zelda were Beautiful and Damned, But it is the Hope of a Green Light at the End of a Dock that Holds my Fixation.

All tales Great, All Magical stories, But what is it worth if we only measure life with Gold?

Tolkien, Bester, Hemingway, and F. Scott, Not far apart in the time line of a Man. 

But their stories all different, yet are still the same. 

Be it Space, or Earth, or the Realm in between, The Escape created by these Stories is always Serene.

Give me Life, Give me Pain, Give me Love, Then let me Die,

For the Journey of The Reader is But to Wonder why?

This is just something I jotted down while subbing a well-behaved class. I've been thinking about what shaped me in High School and what continues to do so in my world today. I know literature, especially classics such as the ones exampled above have molded me into who I want to be, interestingly these are all stories that are well steeped in history, even Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination" uses what was his modern time and the figures in it to shape the past of the dystopian future he created.

While this is not necessarily related to teaching, I have come to realize that well-read students tend to be the most well-rounded scholastically. I feel like if I can incorporate literature into my history classes one day that it can only help create better history students. People like Bernard Cornwell write very historically accurate works of fiction. If I can utilize this tool (I know, not a Web 2.0 tool), then maybe students will appreciate and learn from and about history in a more holistic manner.

Flipping The Classroom

This week in my EDUC 407 class we learned about "flipping the classroom." which is the process of students doing the initial learning at home through online resources and then doing the "homework" for said learning in the classroom the next day.

This concept really called to me in a unique way because of how it gives students a way of having more one-on-one time with the teacher and how it offers more active learning in class. I feel when students are engaged they have a better chance of retaining the material. And by making the classroom active and as rigid it can help encourage engagement. 

The fact that flipping the classroom is a possibility is in itself just downright cool. Thanks to screen sharing (screencasting) videos, or even going through slideshows the added voice over, teachers have a way of giving students the chance of going back and re-watching a presentation on a subject with the addition of teacher instruction. Which can only help in terms of studying for mid-terms, finals, or even just quizzes and tests. 

Last time I wrote about how we can't expect students to pay attention for long stretches, especially because of technology. Well this is the back door. Making homework simply watching and briefly interacting with a video no longer than the many a student will most likely already do so at home on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat simply makes sense. Spending about 10-15 minutes of time for homework, and super easy homework at that, gives even the most attention deficit students a chance at learning and maintaining the material they are taught. 

This model also helps set students up for college in a unique way. While professors may lecture for a little longer than a brief five to 10 minute video, they will also want to engage the class in discussion (for most subjects). Having to engage in discussions online about the teaching in a forum, and then talking about what is learned and re-connecting to the key points in class the next day is almost exactly what happens in a twice-a-week, hour-an-a-half-long class in college. Many professors even want students to have gone over presentations before class, which again only furthers the good habits that flipping the classroom can embed. 

My only caveat with this is for students who don't have access to the internet at home. Which I'm sure then there are accommodations that could be created. 

I'm interested to see how many teachers begin flipping the classroom as the practice becomes more common. 

Ever Changing Future Changes How We Teach

As a substitute teacher I get to see students at their worst, usually. Some are model students always, but even 4.0 pupils have a penchant to slack off a little when a sub is in the room instead of their regular teacher. This aspect of slacking off grows even more exponentially when you throw technology into the mix.

I have seen how technology can be a negative force in education. Hell, my laptop screen hardly ever on task items on the screen when I was in classes in college. So how can we expect the children of a quickly changing and ever-present technological age to be paying attention in class for more than a brief stretch of time?

Personally after watching the videos detailed in the first week of my EDUC 407 class I have come to believe that we can't. I think we have to grow as teachers to include technology into the way information is disseminated to students. If not, why would a student not long to get back to the newest thing on their phone, tablet, or even school-provided Chromebook.

Videos, interactive websites, and other technology-based facets of learning are becoming more and more present in a classroom. The difference between when I become a full-fledged teacher (I'll be 27 going on 28) and when I graduated high school will be 10 years. And in that 10 years the difference between the amount of technology and a the expectation of a student to use tech-based outlets for their projects and even daily homework is jaw-dropping.

As I go into teaching history, hopefully the valuable information of our past dives into the minds of students even if it is presented in a modern way. Even the way we view history is changing thanks to new technology in the fields of forensics and archaeology (Hitler didn't die in the bunker). So I think teachers, especially new ones, have to realize that how we teach students is going to be ever changing.