Thursday, May 25, 2017

SCEL's Closure

Friends and Partners,

Spokane College of English Language (SCEL) began August 14th, 2007. I started at the college as a volunteer and have since been substitute, instructor, senior instructor, and director over the past six years. Instructors by my side today have been here even longer. I'm grateful for Nicole O'brien from whom I have learned heaps in teaching ELL phonetics, Ronica Penar and her superb classroom management and cross-cultural communication skills, Neal Hallgarth who seems to know a little bit about every academic topic ever, and Abby Monta who can teach vocabulary or build a woodshed with equal acumen.

So it is with heavy hearts we will see SCEL's doors close at the end of this month. Our owner issued a letter last Friday with the news (included below), but I felt it necessary to send out my own letter to express my gratitude for all of you who have helped cultivate the network of learning and friendship of which SCEL was only a part.

Our community (both locally and globally), is a robust network of exemplars and creators who have inspired me to become a better educational leader.

If you see opportunities for any of these fine educators, please consider them; any team will be better off for bringing them on board.

We've seen hundreds of students graduate through our program and go off to many places around the world to lead, create, and inspire. As we've said to these students, this is not goodbye, but we'll see you again; in what capacity we'll meet in the future, I don't know. That's the adventure of life. Thank you all for six of the greatest years to date, and please, keep learning.

To reach me directly for any future communication, please save my personal email:


In gratitude,

Joshua Porter, Director
Spokane College of English Language


--

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Final Presentations

Here are some guidelines for your final presentations. Presentations must:

  1. have between 5 and 12 slides (no fewer than 5, no more than 12)
  2. have an image on each slide, and no more than 45 words on each slide
  3. be 5 minutes in length
  4. have good grammar, spelling, capitalization


Please use either Prezi, or create a Google slide in your drive (I prefer Prezi, because I believe it is easier and gives you more freedom to create) prezi.com

Tips for creating your presentation, and for practicing your presentation:

Creating

  • keep the slides simple - just include the most important information
  • make it interesting - think to yourself "If this were someone else's presentation, and I were watching it, would I think it was interesting?"
  • have fun with it - don't be afraid to get creative, some of the best things happen if you freely create without worrying about what other people (including your teacher) will think. Make it your own and be adventurous with your choices
Presenting
  • you know how to present well
  • Speak loudly and clearly
  • look at your audience (when practicing at home, pretend they are sitting in front of you)
  • if you use note cards, make them very simple, and try to only use them as a backup if you forget something. Otherwise, keep them behind your back
  • time yourself - make sure that your presentation is no less than 4.5 minutes and no more than 5.5 minutes
  • Remember - it doesn't have to be exactly the same each time, you just have to know your basic information
Please have your presentation ready to go on Monday morning. If your presentation is incomplete, you will not receive full credit. This is a 50 point homework assignment!

Here is a picture of a hedgehog:





Tuesday, December 8, 2015

ENG140 Week 10 Tuesday

No homework today other than to continue reading The Old Man & The Sea (audio). You should get through page 35 by tomorrow. Do NOT get lazy. The quarter is almost over, and you can get 100% on this test if you read the story and take notes.

Monday, December 7, 2015

ENG140 Week 10 - Monday

Today in class:

We completed presentations, then we introduced the author biography for Ernest Hemingway.

Homework for tonight:

Read the first 20 pages of The Old Man & The Sea

Week 10 Weekly Writing

Watch the following video and make notes on the video. Then write a 100-200 words describing what makes a "powerful call to action".