Summer School 2008 Starts

Hello to each and every one of my teaching and classified colleagues.

I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has worked so hard to recruit, assess, advise, and register our summer students. We could not have done it without you! Our department is heavily dependent on the collaboration of ADA, program coordinators, program assistants, faculty, student specialists, lab personnel, and student and short-term workers in order to build classes for each session, and I truly appreciate your commitment to our department. You can be assured that your efforts have made and will continue to make a difference in the lives of the many students who have come to us for help with their English.

I would also like to thank Marty Furch, Anne Stadler, Dean McDonald, Mike Ellis, Jose Vargas, Michael Jordan, and Lee Hoffmann for making sure that our "smart classroom" project for A-12, A-13, and A-14 was completed in time for our summer school. As of today, all of the five classrooms that we "own" in the A building are each equipped with a teacher computer, a data projector, a VCR, and an audio system. (We still need a new screen for A-13, though.)

To turn on the data projector, push the "Power" button on the small plastic control panel that is mounted on the wall next to the computer. If you wish to project from the computer screen, push the "Computer" button on that control device. If you wish to use the VCR, push the "Video" button. There are also two triangular buttons for adjusting audio volumes. When you are done with the data projector at the end of your class, please remember to push the "Power" button twice to turn the projector off.

This summer at Fallbrook, there will be a group of 30 or so students sponsored by Migrant Education of the San Diego County Office of Education for the first time. I would like to thank Gary Sosa and Claudia Covarrubias as well as Patricia Wilcox of Migrant Ed for making this collaboration happen.

Speaking of Gary, in case you haven't heard, he has been appointed as one of the two Basic Skills Coordinators for the whole district with 80% release time and has been working hard with many colleagues on ways to best assist basic skills students at Palomar. Way to go, Gary!

This summer, we will be saying goodbye to Melissa Lloyd-Jones, a long-time adjunct colleague who has deservedly won a full-time position at MiraCosta College. Congratulations, Melissa!

Our own unfilled full-time position has been reopened. I look forward to some equally qualified adjunct colleagues applying for this position.

The INEA teachers held their latest meeting last Friday on the main campus. They were all enthusiastic about the updating of their teaching materials and online resources.

Preparation for the success of our summer session and beyond is important. Those who take care of a few things at the start of summer can make a positive impact on how much we can achieve by the end of the session and in the future as well. First and foremost, since the college only receives state apportionment for officially registered students, if you can add more students to your class, it will assist the college in boosting enrollment. Specifically, if your class still has openings for more students, consider taking in more eligible students such as appropriate waitlisted ones, returning ones, those transferring from another program, etc.

Secondly, I strongly advise every teacher in our dept. to get connected with their students in such a way that the students will want to show up in class day after day. As you know, for noncredit classes, which are the absolute majority of the classes we offer in summer, attendance hours are like our lifelines. This is by no means to attenuate the importance of attendance and participation as a first step to learning.

All students should be given a syllabus with clear expectations of them listed, among other things. A hard copy from each instructor is due by Friday to our ADA via program coordinators for filing purposes.

As always, with a tradition of excellence and high quality instruction in our dept., the 2008 summer school promises to become another successful session.

I hope everyone, whether teaching or not, has a great summer.