1
00:00:00,180 --> 00:00:02,940
Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.

2
00:00:02,990 --> 00:00:04,660
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.

3
00:00:05,310 --> 00:00:09,980
In this episode, you'll hear Part Two
of my conversation with Bill Torgerson,

4
00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:14,499
a lecturer in Rhetoric and Composition
at Appalachian State University.

5
00:00:14,809 --> 00:00:18,470
My conversation with Bill took
place before Hurricane Helene, which

6
00:00:18,470 --> 00:00:22,179
has had devastating effects on the
campus and surrounding communities.

7
00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:27,040
We have included donation information
in the show notes for the App

8
00:00:27,090 --> 00:00:31,510
State Disaster Relief Fund and the
restoration of the treasured Valle

9
00:00:31,610 --> 00:00:33,730
Crucis Park in Bill's neighborhood.

10
00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:39,069
More links and information about today's
conversation can be found on Digication's

11
00:00:39,229 --> 00:00:41,219
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

12
00:00:41,550 --> 00:00:45,450
Full episodes of Digication Scholars
Conversations can be found on

13
00:00:45,460 --> 00:00:48,310
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

14
00:00:49,150 --> 00:00:54,525
I was just curious if you'd stumbled
upon some Uh, students in creating these

15
00:00:54,525 --> 00:00:59,445
recommendations, if you encountered
work that may have been done beyond

16
00:00:59,445 --> 00:01:04,004
your course, that you could view in
the context of what they had done

17
00:01:04,004 --> 00:01:05,614
during their time with you too.

18
00:01:06,554 --> 00:01:08,394
There's so much growth that happens.

19
00:01:09,205 --> 00:01:15,695
Yeah, I don't, um, You know, if I put your
name in, you know, like a student turns in

20
00:01:15,695 --> 00:01:17,505
the wrong link or the links not working.

21
00:01:17,505 --> 00:01:20,935
And so I search and that's another
thing that's really nice about us all

22
00:01:20,935 --> 00:01:24,775
being on the same platform is, you know,
I'll do a little extra work to try to

23
00:01:24,775 --> 00:01:27,945
find your portfolio because whatever
you've turned in, isn't the right link.

24
00:01:28,244 --> 00:01:31,775
And then I'll see that you've maybe
created other portfolios, but usually I

25
00:01:31,775 --> 00:01:34,195
have so much to read and respond to that.

26
00:01:34,195 --> 00:01:34,695
I'm not.

27
00:01:35,210 --> 00:01:37,120
Poking around others, perusing.

28
00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:46,250
Well, so Bill, I, I also wanted
to bring up, so you ha I learned a

29
00:01:46,250 --> 00:01:53,190
little bit about you from your own,
um, kind of, uh, website when I

30
00:01:53,190 --> 00:01:55,179
was preparing to talk to you today.

31
00:01:55,239 --> 00:01:59,035
And there are some Lovely aspects.

32
00:01:59,045 --> 00:02:02,105
Uh, first of all, you
have your own podcast.

33
00:02:02,585 --> 00:02:07,065
Uh, I wanted to learn a little bit
about that if you'd like to share that

34
00:02:07,065 --> 00:02:12,475
with our listeners and kind of your
perspective on being a Writer that teaches

35
00:02:12,475 --> 00:02:17,374
writing, writing is still something
that you're doing creatively today

36
00:02:17,604 --> 00:02:22,424
and how that ties into what you might
be doing in your classroom currently.

37
00:02:23,220 --> 00:02:28,730
Yeah, so I have a podcast that I
call 'Torg Stories', um, and really

38
00:02:28,730 --> 00:02:33,329
the, the inception of it was, it
was just an excuse to talk to people

39
00:02:33,329 --> 00:02:36,920
I wanted to talk to, which you've
probably heard like that before.

40
00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:41,369
So I don't know if you know this,
um, for a period of maybe five years

41
00:02:41,370 --> 00:02:45,959
or so, um, I was what was called
the director of Creative Writing for

42
00:02:45,959 --> 00:02:48,579
the, uh, Rhode Island film festival.

43
00:02:48,690 --> 00:02:49,220
Oh, you were?

44
00:02:49,780 --> 00:02:50,810
No, I did not know that.

45
00:02:50,810 --> 00:02:51,314
Okay.

46
00:02:51,705 --> 00:02:56,295
So, I've, you know, been on your
campus, um, and had a film show there,

47
00:02:56,305 --> 00:02:57,865
actually, had one film show there.

48
00:02:58,145 --> 00:02:58,965
Very cool.

49
00:02:58,965 --> 00:03:03,835
Um, so that started because, um, I wrote a
first novel called Love on the Big Screen.

50
00:03:04,525 --> 00:03:10,725
And, um, and I had studios, et cetera,
interested in the novel to option it.

51
00:03:10,735 --> 00:03:11,855
No one ever optioned it.

52
00:03:12,405 --> 00:03:15,445
Um, and I thought, well, I'm
going to write my own screenplay.

53
00:03:16,239 --> 00:03:17,810
I'm going to adapt my own novel.

54
00:03:18,300 --> 00:03:24,080
Um, and so I did that and then, um,
that won the grand prize of the Rhode

55
00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,750
Island film festival competition.

56
00:03:27,210 --> 00:03:32,909
Um, and so now I got like this, this
all access pass at a film festival.

57
00:03:32,909 --> 00:03:35,619
And I really fell in love
with the short films.

58
00:03:35,709 --> 00:03:41,760
Um, it just had so much in common with,
uh, the short stories that I loved, for

59
00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,750
example, and documentary films, which
I've done a couple of those independently.

60
00:03:46,940 --> 00:03:53,520
Um, and that really paired with, uh,
you know, like the idea of an electronic

61
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,280
portfolio and creating in digital spaces.

62
00:03:55,290 --> 00:03:59,840
So I would watch these short
documentaries, almost like

63
00:04:00,209 --> 00:04:01,480
character sketches, really.

64
00:04:01,929 --> 00:04:04,260
Um, and I thought I can make one of these.

65
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:10,600
Uh, and so then I started, I mean, so
being there led to me, um, going back

66
00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:12,220
to that idea of it's fun to make stuff.

67
00:04:12,270 --> 00:04:15,509
I made my first one was about my
father who hunted these things called

68
00:04:16,084 --> 00:04:20,584
Morale Mushrooms, which is a really
cool family artifact that we have,

69
00:04:20,625 --> 00:04:25,044
um, but, I mean, for example, there
was this guy named Chris Sparling.

70
00:04:25,554 --> 00:04:28,564
He was at the film festival, and
he had just written this screenplay

71
00:04:28,565 --> 00:04:32,825
called Buried, and Ryan Reynolds was
the star of this, this great, this,

72
00:04:33,114 --> 00:04:36,825
he wrote this screenplay so that he
could star in his own screenplay,

73
00:04:36,825 --> 00:04:40,424
and almost the whole film takes place
in a coffin buried in the ground.

74
00:04:40,435 --> 00:04:41,984
I don't know if you've ever
seen Buried, but anyway.

75
00:04:42,304 --> 00:04:43,824
Ryan Reynolds ended up wanting to do it.

76
00:04:43,835 --> 00:04:46,265
And he was like, well, I can't
say no to Ryan Reynolds, but I

77
00:04:46,265 --> 00:04:47,405
wanted to interview this guy.

78
00:04:47,414 --> 00:04:49,984
So, um, and other people like him.

79
00:04:50,034 --> 00:04:52,854
And so I started this podcast
called it Torg Stories.

80
00:04:53,205 --> 00:04:56,215
So if I was like, Hey, Chris, do you want
to, you know, have dinner for an hour?

81
00:04:56,675 --> 00:04:57,395
Talk to me.

82
00:04:57,395 --> 00:04:58,675
You know, no, not really.

83
00:04:58,775 --> 00:05:02,975
Um, I'm not too busy , but if I, if I get
in touch and say, Hey, I have a podcast,

84
00:05:02,975 --> 00:05:04,594
would you be a guest on my podcast?

85
00:05:04,895 --> 00:05:08,075
People tended to say yes to
that more than dinner with me.

86
00:05:08,075 --> 00:05:09,755
So that, that's kind of where it started.

87
00:05:10,045 --> 00:05:11,844
So it's been 20 years.

88
00:05:11,844 --> 00:05:14,545
They're not all available 'cause I've
changed platforms a couple times.

89
00:05:14,664 --> 00:05:14,815
Sure.

90
00:05:14,995 --> 00:05:17,325
But it's just kind of turned into one.

91
00:05:17,325 --> 00:05:18,494
I get to talk to my sister.

92
00:05:18,494 --> 00:05:21,525
She's my most, we kind of
co-host most of the time.

93
00:05:22,364 --> 00:05:22,515
Okay, great.

94
00:05:23,145 --> 00:05:25,125
And then it continues to be an excuse.

95
00:05:25,655 --> 00:05:29,335
Um, to just invite anybody I want to
talk to for an hour onto my podcast.

96
00:05:29,810 --> 00:05:31,670
Well, I certainly understand that.

97
00:05:31,670 --> 00:05:33,229
I mean, that's part of
why you're here, Bill

98
00:05:35,750 --> 00:05:35,930
Yeah.

99
00:05:35,930 --> 00:05:38,960
I wondered what, like what you
would say is your motivation.

100
00:05:39,409 --> 00:05:42,380
I mean, I'm sure it's multi-pronged
to have these conversations.

101
00:05:42,710 --> 00:05:44,930
Yeah, well, it is multi-pronged.

102
00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:52,130
Um, I absolutely love the
community that we get to work

103
00:05:52,130 --> 00:05:54,770
with and that we serve with our.

104
00:05:55,235 --> 00:05:56,265
platform.

105
00:05:56,354 --> 00:06:01,685
Um, and I, you know, I often, I think, as
I mentioned before we started recording,

106
00:06:01,685 --> 00:06:07,474
you know, I feel like I've known you for a
long time, even though we haven't actually

107
00:06:07,474 --> 00:06:10,189
sat down to have a conversation like this.

108
00:06:10,189 --> 00:06:15,275
Um, and there's a lot of people out there
like that, you know, I've discovered them.

109
00:06:15,775 --> 00:06:22,575
Um, through ways that they have been
using the platform or things that they

110
00:06:22,585 --> 00:06:30,104
have shared in other social media areas
where they may have tagged Digication

111
00:06:30,135 --> 00:06:34,005
or, um, been speaking specifically about.

112
00:06:34,465 --> 00:06:39,105
using ePortfolios or, um, other
kinds of high impact practices

113
00:06:39,105 --> 00:06:40,625
where they're using Digication.

114
00:06:41,435 --> 00:06:48,585
And it's just been such a joyful
experience to see how, you know,

115
00:06:48,595 --> 00:06:54,545
people are using something that I've
created and the value that they have

116
00:06:54,545 --> 00:07:00,575
found in their teaching, the value
that students have found in, you

117
00:07:00,575 --> 00:07:02,515
know, learning about themselves.

118
00:07:02,875 --> 00:07:07,935
Connecting to other people within their
school communities or beyond, um, you

119
00:07:07,935 --> 00:07:13,105
know, we talked a little bit about these
kind of shifting kind of life trajectories

120
00:07:13,105 --> 00:07:20,135
and kind of pinnacle moments and very
often those Stories come out within the

121
00:07:20,155 --> 00:07:22,775
pages that they create within Digication.

122
00:07:22,784 --> 00:07:28,354
So you do get these kind of windows
into the, the people that you're, you

123
00:07:28,354 --> 00:07:30,504
know, helping to support and serve.

124
00:07:30,504 --> 00:07:35,584
And, um, but I don't often have the
opportunity to interact with everyone.

125
00:07:35,704 --> 00:07:41,159
And, right that's something that really
shifted when I, um, You know, began

126
00:07:41,159 --> 00:07:46,440
focusing on Digication full time and
was no longer directly in the classroom

127
00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:48,820
working with students one on one.

128
00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,570
Um, so this is something that
we've wanted to do for a long time.

129
00:07:52,579 --> 00:07:57,399
I think we're in our third year now
and, um, it's just so much fun to

130
00:07:57,410 --> 00:08:01,330
have the, the chance to, to talk
to people and to be able to share.

131
00:08:01,905 --> 00:08:05,775
Their experience with, with other
people that are kind of following

132
00:08:05,775 --> 00:08:10,825
our, our channel and interested
in the, the bigger community that

133
00:08:10,825 --> 00:08:14,215
they've kind of become a part of
through the use of this platform too.

134
00:08:15,374 --> 00:08:15,834
Right.

135
00:08:16,445 --> 00:08:17,115
Yeah.

136
00:08:17,825 --> 00:08:22,344
Um, so I know another element of
your life that's very important

137
00:08:22,355 --> 00:08:25,265
is your love of basketball.

138
00:08:25,435 --> 00:08:30,375
And I hope that you might
share some stories about that

139
00:08:30,435 --> 00:08:32,414
aspect of yourself as well.

140
00:08:33,370 --> 00:08:38,870
Yeah, you know the first thing, I've
always kind of balanced between Um,

141
00:08:39,210 --> 00:08:42,569
liking to make stuff, which started as
writing and then just being a basket,

142
00:08:42,580 --> 00:08:46,030
a college, a small college basketball
player and a basketball coach.

143
00:08:46,420 --> 00:08:49,990
And I used to like try to, I
used to hide those parts of

144
00:08:49,990 --> 00:08:52,009
myself from each other's camp.

145
00:08:52,020 --> 00:08:56,309
Like, um, you know, when I was applying
for University jobs, I wasn't necessarily

146
00:08:56,310 --> 00:08:58,590
saying anything about basketball.

147
00:08:58,590 --> 00:09:02,260
And so I don't know if you'll know any of
these names, but somebody like Pat Conroy,

148
00:09:02,570 --> 00:09:04,540
um, who wrote "The Prince of Tides."

149
00:09:04,830 --> 00:09:06,740
Um, so he, he was a Writer.

150
00:09:07,124 --> 00:09:11,114
Um, you know, a respected Writer
at universities who also played

151
00:09:11,124 --> 00:09:12,525
basketball at the Citadel.

152
00:09:12,905 --> 00:09:18,155
Um, and who kind of balanced, um, Sports
and Academics and a guy named Richard

153
00:09:18,375 --> 00:09:21,904
Ford, uh, who won the Pulitzer and he
wrote a book called "The Sportswriter."

154
00:09:22,244 --> 00:09:26,164
Um, and a guy like John Irving who wrote
"The Cider House Rules" and was also

155
00:09:26,165 --> 00:09:27,904
the local high school wrestling coach.

156
00:09:28,275 --> 00:09:34,834
Um, So like those are three people I think
of who helped me sort of say I can proudly

157
00:09:34,834 --> 00:09:40,015
be a Creative Writer and I can proudly
be, uh, heavily involved in sports and

158
00:09:40,015 --> 00:09:49,134
really, um, I kind of transitioned from
coaching to, writing around  2002, and

159
00:09:49,149 --> 00:09:54,129
then I had, and I thought I was done with
coaching, and I was done with sports.

160
00:09:54,700 --> 00:09:58,540
Then I had two kids, and I used to,
so I lived in New Canaan, Connecticut

161
00:09:58,540 --> 00:10:04,430
for a while, and I had a second grade
daughter who's now a senior, and I

162
00:10:04,430 --> 00:10:10,270
used to play in this old guy pickup
basketball game at lunch, at the Y,

163
00:10:10,350 --> 00:10:13,560
and I had signed my daughter up for
second grade basketball, and they

164
00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:15,110
were like, and everyone calls me Torg.

165
00:10:15,635 --> 00:10:17,895
And they were like, Torg,
you're not a bad player.

166
00:10:17,915 --> 00:10:19,834
We don't have anybody to
work with these girls.

167
00:10:20,145 --> 00:10:21,005
Will you do it?

168
00:10:21,155 --> 00:10:26,795
And so literally, I just went
from being, okay, I'll, I'll

169
00:10:26,795 --> 00:10:28,285
work with these second graders.

170
00:10:28,614 --> 00:10:30,605
So that was like 15 little girls.

171
00:10:30,755 --> 00:10:35,735
And then I immediately started to see
like, Yes, I'm connecting with my students

172
00:10:35,735 --> 00:10:41,595
in the classroom, um, but nothing like I'm
connecting with these 15 second graders

173
00:10:41,595 --> 00:10:42,795
who I'm spending all this time with.

174
00:10:43,105 --> 00:10:48,795
So I just, it's sort of weird, I just kind
of follow my daughter Charlotte through

175
00:10:48,795 --> 00:10:54,065
school from second grade up through being
a senior and then like one thing leads to

176
00:10:54,065 --> 00:10:55,995
another, you know, she's a seventh grader.

177
00:10:56,730 --> 00:10:58,490
And they're like, would you
coach the seventh grade?

178
00:10:58,630 --> 00:11:03,600
And then I was an assistant and our
head coach here at Watauga High School.

179
00:11:03,950 --> 00:11:04,950
Her name is Laura Barry.

180
00:11:04,950 --> 00:11:10,020
And she took an assistant job surprisingly
to us at Davidson College last August.

181
00:11:10,550 --> 00:11:12,769
And so it's like, she's like,
I think you should do it.

182
00:11:12,940 --> 00:11:15,580
And you know, some of the parents
were like, you should do it.

183
00:11:16,179 --> 00:11:18,510
Um, and there's trickiness in being that.

184
00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:19,930
So I have two daughters on the team.

185
00:11:21,270 --> 00:11:21,980
It's hard on them.

186
00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:22,730
You know, I make.

187
00:11:23,205 --> 00:11:25,865
Every day you make decisions
that make some people unhappy.

188
00:11:25,905 --> 00:11:27,335
There's no way you can avoid it.

189
00:11:27,895 --> 00:11:30,615
Um, I'm sure you run into
that managing your company.

190
00:11:31,035 --> 00:11:33,975
Um, and they, sometimes people take
it out on my kids a little bit.

191
00:11:34,075 --> 00:11:36,265
Um, but they were all for it.

192
00:11:36,285 --> 00:11:40,544
So we just had a really incredible
season, uh, where we went to the final

193
00:11:40,554 --> 00:11:42,504
four and we played at Wake Forest.

194
00:11:42,975 --> 00:11:46,925
Um, so we lost in the final four
in a close game, um, which was

195
00:11:46,974 --> 00:11:49,364
exhausting, but also thrilling.

196
00:11:49,394 --> 00:11:53,284
So, um, I've always kind of just like
balanced those two parts of my life, my,

197
00:11:53,584 --> 00:11:59,114
my writing, teaching, writing self with
my, um, spending my afternoons playing,

198
00:11:59,154 --> 00:12:00,964
you know, working with kids in the gym.

199
00:12:01,104 --> 00:12:06,024
So it's much more, it started out much
more as a way to be around my daughters

200
00:12:06,024 --> 00:12:11,535
and be around their peers and it did
basketball, um, although I might be

201
00:12:11,535 --> 00:12:12,675
tricking myself a little bit on that.

202
00:12:13,655 --> 00:12:18,344
Oh, I mean, I just think that that is so
wonderful and what an opportunity for your

203
00:12:18,344 --> 00:12:30,344
daughters to, to be able to watch you in
this kind of leadership and mentoring and

204
00:12:30,404 --> 00:12:34,434
coaching role throughout their childhood.

205
00:12:35,144 --> 00:12:37,314
And, you know, you mentioned that.

206
00:12:38,025 --> 00:12:43,625
Um, you know, you're making these
decisions every day and that not,

207
00:12:43,685 --> 00:12:47,404
you know, not everyone's going to be
happy with those decisions and even

208
00:12:47,404 --> 00:12:53,714
for them to be able to see that kind
of decision making and response to,

209
00:12:53,784 --> 00:12:59,245
you know, certain times where there
may be friction and, uh, enjoying the,

210
00:12:59,255 --> 00:13:04,435
the competition, even when, you know,
the, the wind might not come through.

211
00:13:05,084 --> 00:13:07,805
Um, you know, what a wonderful experience.

212
00:13:08,265 --> 00:13:08,515
Right.

213
00:13:08,515 --> 00:13:14,635
If you take it back to like Art and
Sports, I mean, something I could

214
00:13:14,635 --> 00:13:18,864
start to see when my kids were very
young was some of the things that

215
00:13:18,864 --> 00:13:24,854
I had learned from sports that had
served me well, um, as being creative

216
00:13:24,884 --> 00:13:29,415
in that, for example, just the idea
of perseverance or taking criticism.

217
00:13:29,415 --> 00:13:33,325
So, you know, I grew up a
basketball player, constantly

218
00:13:33,325 --> 00:13:38,064
being evaluated, sometimes not very
cheerfully, um, my performance.

219
00:13:38,104 --> 00:13:40,025
And so when I was in graduate school and.

220
00:13:40,530 --> 00:13:43,610
Getting feedback on things I had
written, you know, some people

221
00:13:43,610 --> 00:13:44,900
really struggled with that.

222
00:13:45,010 --> 00:13:50,329
And for me, it was something that
I was used to, or, um, maybe, maybe

223
00:13:50,329 --> 00:13:56,520
set my first novel out, you know, 75
times, um, until finally someone, you

224
00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:57,919
know, an independent press took it.

225
00:13:57,959 --> 00:14:02,160
And just that it never occurred to me
that I was going to stop sending it out.

226
00:14:02,850 --> 00:14:06,569
Whereas, I could see that other
people without that sports background

227
00:14:06,589 --> 00:14:08,130
maybe were more apt to give up.

228
00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:13,309
Or, you know, I applied for
50 jobs coming out of school

229
00:14:13,309 --> 00:14:14,969
and only had four interviews.

230
00:14:15,670 --> 00:14:18,320
So just like some of the things
I learned from sticking with

231
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,849
something in Sports or getting
used to setbacks really transferred

232
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:24,700
to lots of other areas of life.

233
00:14:24,700 --> 00:14:28,139
And so that's like something I wanted
for my kids and the reason I sort of

234
00:14:28,149 --> 00:14:31,910
re engaged with Sports, which of course
you can get in other ways from sports,

235
00:14:31,910 --> 00:14:33,430
but that was just a path that we took.

236
00:14:34,180 --> 00:14:34,660
Yeah.

237
00:14:34,709 --> 00:14:35,060
Yeah.

238
00:14:35,060 --> 00:14:39,420
I feel really fortunate that, um,
you know, I had a lot of support

239
00:14:39,429 --> 00:14:44,610
from my father and he always
watched a lot of College Basketball.

240
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,430
So, uh, I also played
basketball growing up.

241
00:14:48,665 --> 00:14:51,035
Um, and, and soccer.

242
00:14:51,065 --> 00:14:55,435
I was better on the soccer field than
on the basketball court, but I always

243
00:14:55,435 --> 00:14:59,835
enjoyed the game and being part of
the team and I talked to my kids a

244
00:14:59,835 --> 00:15:01,954
lot about, you know, just go try out.

245
00:15:01,955 --> 00:15:04,405
You may not get to play most games.

246
00:15:07,410 --> 00:15:11,770
You may end up sitting on the bench unless
your team's really far ahead and you might

247
00:15:11,770 --> 00:15:15,859
get out there for the last five minutes
or something, or you might find that this

248
00:15:15,859 --> 00:15:21,100
is something that, you know, becomes a new
passion for you, but you know, you don't

249
00:15:21,110 --> 00:15:23,880
know until you, until you give it a go.

250
00:15:23,930 --> 00:15:29,059
And I loved being part of the basketball
team, even though most of my role

251
00:15:29,059 --> 00:15:31,629
was just helping during practice.

252
00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,819
You know, I didn't mind that
I was spending time just

253
00:15:34,829 --> 00:15:37,430
cheering on the the sideline.

254
00:15:37,469 --> 00:15:42,980
Yeah, that's a hard sell probably
always but today just that all the

255
00:15:42,980 --> 00:15:47,049
rewards there are for being on a team
which have nothing to do with the

256
00:15:47,049 --> 00:15:49,950
number of minutes that you're on the
court or the shots that you're getting.

257
00:15:50,730 --> 00:15:55,720
That's something that I'm always
trying to point out and that I think

258
00:15:55,750 --> 00:15:58,749
kids would see if they were sort
of left to see it on their own, but

259
00:15:58,749 --> 00:16:00,140
they hear so much from you know.

260
00:16:00,490 --> 00:16:01,730
'How many points did you score?'

261
00:16:01,730 --> 00:16:02,550
You're not getting to play.

262
00:16:02,550 --> 00:16:03,150
You should be playing.

263
00:16:03,190 --> 00:16:07,280
So it just always, you know, it is
fun to do those things, but also just

264
00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:09,850
pointing out all the rewards there
are that have nothing to do with play.

265
00:16:10,559 --> 00:16:11,069
Yeah.

266
00:16:11,130 --> 00:16:11,430
Yeah.

267
00:16:11,430 --> 00:16:18,410
And I'm sure so, and you may have some
obvious parallels that you can draw

268
00:16:18,410 --> 00:16:23,160
from, but I can't imagine that this
experience coaching doesn't somehow find

269
00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,460
its way into the way that you teach too.

270
00:16:26,550 --> 00:16:29,100
Are there certain things
that you draw from?

271
00:16:29,770 --> 00:16:31,440
And I feel.

272
00:16:31,785 --> 00:16:37,995
I sort of try to not like behave
totally like a coach in the

273
00:16:37,995 --> 00:16:39,775
classroom, but I think I fail in that.

274
00:16:39,805 --> 00:16:41,074
I guess I worry about that.

275
00:16:41,074 --> 00:16:47,984
I know that the classroom is not
the practice court gym, um, but even

276
00:16:47,985 --> 00:16:50,495
some of my students, I think there's
just something about me that says

277
00:16:50,495 --> 00:16:55,095
coach because some of my students
sort of fall into calling me coach.

278
00:16:55,615 --> 00:17:00,445
In the classroom, I think just because
of the way I am, which is probably louder

279
00:17:00,445 --> 00:17:06,685
than most professors, more excitable, more
like moving around the room, sitting down

280
00:17:06,685 --> 00:17:08,815
next to you like, what's going on here?

281
00:17:08,905 --> 00:17:13,335
Maybe, you know, not not like
confrontational, but just More like, I

282
00:17:13,335 --> 00:17:16,945
am a presence here that you're going to
interact with when you're in this room.

283
00:17:17,385 --> 00:17:23,935
Um, and I think it, most of the time, in
observations, you know, from superiors or

284
00:17:23,974 --> 00:17:29,094
colleagues, it's usually very positive,
even though I feel self conscious about

285
00:17:29,094 --> 00:17:31,325
trying to tone that down a little bit.

286
00:17:31,810 --> 00:17:36,710
Um, but I do think that this, this would
be what I would point to as a coach and

287
00:17:36,710 --> 00:17:42,060
as a professor, you know, the ability
to learn content, the ability to present

288
00:17:42,070 --> 00:17:47,140
the content in an engaging way that makes
it easily digestible to the audience,

289
00:17:47,140 --> 00:17:48,609
whether it's a player or a student.

290
00:17:49,009 --> 00:17:52,490
Um, those are really important
in both of those spaces and

291
00:17:52,490 --> 00:17:53,620
probably strengths of mine.

292
00:17:54,300 --> 00:17:54,750
Yeah.

293
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:55,190
Yeah.

294
00:17:55,190 --> 00:18:00,790
And I imagine that your students really
Enjoy the level of energy that you bring

295
00:18:00,790 --> 00:18:07,350
to the classroom, and I think for many
people, you know, that maybe don't know

296
00:18:07,350 --> 00:18:11,980
you and your classroom just listening to
this and thinking back that your title is

297
00:18:12,270 --> 00:18:17,649
Lecturer and Rhetoric and Composition, and
I can imagine that, you know, the first

298
00:18:17,649 --> 00:18:22,070
vision may have been someone standing at a
podium at the front of the classroom and I

299
00:18:22,070 --> 00:18:26,710
can imagine that, you know, the experience
in your classroom is very different that,

300
00:18:26,730 --> 00:18:32,649
you know, you're moving around and talking
to students and have a, um, high level

301
00:18:32,659 --> 00:18:41,615
of enthusiasm about, um, Storytelling
and learning and student success.

302
00:18:41,645 --> 00:18:48,805
And I think that, um, one of the most
transformative experiences I had as a

303
00:18:48,805 --> 00:18:51,764
teacher was I participated in what's
called the National Writing Project.

304
00:18:51,765 --> 00:18:57,544
And that's when I say I went from
a person who set, who stood at the

305
00:18:57,544 --> 00:19:01,745
podium and prepared lessons to a
person who sat next to my students

306
00:19:01,745 --> 00:19:03,465
as a fellow Writer and creator.

307
00:19:03,465 --> 00:19:05,145
So that changed everything.

308
00:19:05,155 --> 00:19:06,415
So it's even, even.

309
00:19:06,825 --> 00:19:09,825
Sometimes that's caused me, you know,
cause I've also, I've taught every

310
00:19:09,825 --> 00:19:12,715
grade, um, six through graduate school.

311
00:19:12,715 --> 00:19:16,235
So I've taught sixth graders and I've
taught every single grade in between sixth

312
00:19:16,235 --> 00:19:18,875
grade and seniors, uh, in high school.

313
00:19:18,875 --> 00:19:23,305
And then all the way up to working
with graduate students, um, in college.

314
00:19:23,305 --> 00:19:28,325
So, um, and one thing that ran
into trouble sometimes Would be a

315
00:19:28,325 --> 00:19:31,425
supervisor like a principal would come
in and observe me and they would be

316
00:19:31,515 --> 00:19:32,675
like, well, where's your teaching?

317
00:19:32,675 --> 00:19:37,715
You didn't do anything It's like everyone
in the room has a book that they're

318
00:19:37,715 --> 00:19:41,824
really interested in and everyone
is working on a writing project.

319
00:19:41,965 --> 00:19:46,575
You know with enthusiasm and all I'm
doing is walking around and saying

320
00:19:46,595 --> 00:19:52,655
keep going you're doing great as you
ask questions So it's a style that

321
00:19:52,655 --> 00:19:58,760
sometimes I had to sell and frame to
my superiors, but, uh, it's certainly a

322
00:19:58,770 --> 00:20:03,720
much more fun day working with students
when that's the way that you're working.

323
00:20:03,730 --> 00:20:04,930
Absolutely.

324
00:20:04,970 --> 00:20:10,400
And that, you know, I wish that more
classrooms could, could be that way.

325
00:20:10,460 --> 00:20:15,089
And, uh, I hope you get a lot
of support from your superiors

326
00:20:15,129 --> 00:20:18,490
currently in, in that style.

327
00:20:18,500 --> 00:20:23,160
I mean, great teaching is having
that student engagement, right?

328
00:20:23,310 --> 00:20:23,560
Yeah.

329
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,850
The last two stops for me, you know, St.

330
00:20:26,850 --> 00:20:31,960
John's, uh, and here at App
State, um, incredible support.

331
00:20:31,970 --> 00:20:36,500
Just like, um, I feel like,
um, yeah, everybody's concerned

332
00:20:36,500 --> 00:20:37,430
about how I'm feeling.

333
00:20:37,439 --> 00:20:38,689
It is my energy good.

334
00:20:38,689 --> 00:20:42,590
And, um, as opposed to like
giving me orders about things.

335
00:20:42,599 --> 00:20:47,560
So, um, I, I, at App State, I
feel like I'm with my people, uh,

336
00:20:47,610 --> 00:20:49,160
as far as pedagogy is concerned.

337
00:20:50,420 --> 00:20:50,820
Yeah.

338
00:20:51,370 --> 00:20:52,850
Now, Bill, I have to.

339
00:20:53,205 --> 00:20:55,365
Mention this because it's behind you.

340
00:20:55,365 --> 00:20:59,865
In your video, you have a big, uh,
the big word 'Believe' up there.

341
00:20:59,985 --> 00:21:00,075
Right.

342
00:21:00,495 --> 00:21:02,985
Would you mind talking
about that a little bit?

343
00:21:03,405 --> 00:21:05,845
So does that mean that you've
seen 'Ted Lasso' or you have not?

344
00:21:06,515 --> 00:21:12,465
I have seen a, I have not seen every
episode, but I am a fan, but yeah.

345
00:21:12,495 --> 00:21:16,034
Um, it sounds like that might
be coming from Ted Lasso

346
00:21:17,164 --> 00:21:17,524
That's right.

347
00:21:17,524 --> 00:21:21,215
So, um, I mean, I already had,
uh, I can't quite remember the

348
00:21:21,215 --> 00:21:23,314
poster, but way before Ted Lasso.

349
00:21:23,919 --> 00:21:27,689
I had a picture, um, of
a unicorn in therapy.

350
00:21:28,290 --> 00:21:32,170
On the wall of my office, um,
and the unicorn is being told

351
00:21:32,170 --> 00:21:33,310
you have to believe in yourself.

352
00:21:33,639 --> 00:21:40,620
Um, so just a super corny, earnest,
perhaps midwestern - I'm from Indiana

353
00:21:41,049 --> 00:21:45,319
- um, you know, of just being a good person
and being helpful and we can do it.

354
00:21:45,749 --> 00:21:52,520
Um, and so Ted Lasso was a really
unusual show about, you know, kindness,

355
00:21:52,590 --> 00:21:59,715
uh, and it was weird to have, um, Such
a positive lead character in a show.

356
00:21:59,995 --> 00:22:03,525
Um, and so I, I also have some
Ted Lasso figurines back there.

357
00:22:03,695 --> 00:22:08,215
Some of those, those are
presents also from my family.

358
00:22:08,554 --> 00:22:11,735
Um, but, um, I just sort
of load up behind me.

359
00:22:12,105 --> 00:22:16,305
With artifacts of family life,
mostly a little bit of basketball.

360
00:22:16,665 --> 00:22:18,295
I got a little Larry Bird back there.

361
00:22:18,655 --> 00:22:23,924
Um, and then, and then Ted, you know,
I like Jason Sudeikis, who I think co

362
00:22:23,924 --> 00:22:28,365
created Ted Lasso, um, college basketball
player, which people don't know.

363
00:22:28,655 --> 00:22:31,194
Um, I'm also a big standup comedy guy.

364
00:22:31,545 --> 00:22:34,275
Um, so that's SNL and he was on SNL.

365
00:22:34,275 --> 00:22:38,245
So there's a lot of intersections
of like the stuff I love, which is

366
00:22:38,385 --> 00:22:41,205
sports and laughing and making stuff.

367
00:22:41,939 --> 00:22:42,360
Yeah.

368
00:22:42,569 --> 00:22:42,929
Yeah.

369
00:22:42,959 --> 00:22:47,279
Well, and it sounds like
kindness also, and yeah.

370
00:22:47,399 --> 00:22:47,820
Thanks.

371
00:22:47,820 --> 00:22:48,239
Good.

372
00:22:48,299 --> 00:22:48,870
I, yeah.

373
00:22:48,874 --> 00:22:48,955
Great.

374
00:22:48,955 --> 00:22:49,794
Care for people.

375
00:22:50,459 --> 00:22:50,909
Yeah.

376
00:22:51,239 --> 00:22:54,209
Well, thank you so much
for joining me today, Bill.

377
00:22:54,209 --> 00:22:58,979
It was wonderful to have a chance to
connect with you and get to know you

378
00:22:58,979 --> 00:23:02,189
a bit more, even though I've felt like
we've known each other a long time.

379
00:23:03,180 --> 00:23:04,860
I really appreciate it.

380
00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,090
Um, I'm excited to share your
story with our listeners too.

381
00:23:09,149 --> 00:23:12,519
Yeah, I enjoyed, I enjoyed
talking with a host for a change.

382
00:23:12,540 --> 00:23:17,450
Usually I'm the one who's trying
to listen and also see what

383
00:23:17,450 --> 00:23:18,560
question I'm going to next.

384
00:23:18,570 --> 00:23:23,090
So it was, it was great to have you,
uh, carry the workload today, Kelly.

385
00:23:23,490 --> 00:23:24,050
Yeah.

386
00:23:24,060 --> 00:23:26,499
Well, my, my absolute pleasure.

387
00:23:27,319 --> 00:23:28,319
Take good care.

388
00:23:29,109 --> 00:23:29,350
All right.

389
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:29,720
Thank you.

390
00:23:30,310 --> 00:23:30,740
Bye.