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Post date: Jan 13, 2015 5:36:30 PM
In January's AVID Newsletter you'll find information about KHS's visit to Hamline University, VVE 4th Graders "Buzzing", MNSU Faculty Visit to VVM and KHS, AVID students giving back to the community, the Cats and Fish Discussion technique directions and video, and current articles from AVID Weekly.
Spotlight on AVID
Kennedy AVID Juniors Visit Hamline University
VVE 4th Graders "Buzz"
After reading independently and identifying the problem in their books, students walked around to music, stopping to share and discuss with classmates when the music stopped.
MNSU Faculty Visit
Minnesota State University-Mankato is one of only a handful of AVID colleges in Minnesota! In an attempt to learn more about AVID in general and AVID in 6-12 specifically, faculty from the MNSU AVID Site Team visited Valley View Middle School and Kennedy High School to see AVID in action! They were able to attend an AVID elective class on curriculum day, an AVID elective class during tutorials, two content area classes that regularly implement AVID strategies, and chat with site coordinators from both schools.
A VVM 8th Grader explains his Tutorial
Request Form (TRF).
MNSU Faculty observes 9th Grade AVID Tutorials at KHS.
Bryan Legrand, a KHS English Teacher, describes his students' current project.
Jill McDermott, VVM's AVID Site Coordinator, describes the implementation of AVID at VVM.
AVID gives back!
The AVID 10th graders at Kennedy High School helped distribute children's books to Kennedy students to give to their younger siblings and cousins. The mission of this project is to get children's books in the homes in the Bloomington community. AVID students know that reading to young children is a significant predictor of future academic success. With the help of of our book finder, June Oliver, AVID students had hundreds of books to give away for free.
WICOR Strategy of the Month
Cats and Fish Discussion
Below is a video of VVE 4th Graders in Nicki Burnie's Class engaging in a Cats and Fish Discussion.
Directions for Cats and Fish
(see documents attached below for further information)
- Students read a text, take notes and develop their own questions.
- Prior to the Cats and Fish discussion, students are paired with a "wingman" to discuss their ideas about the text.
- During the Cats and Fish discussion, half of the class sits in an "inner circle" with their wingmen sitting directly behind them, forming the "outer circle."
- Each student in the inner circle is given three tokens.
- Students in the inner circle engage in discussion around the text.
- Each time a student participates in the discussion, he/she places a token in the middle of the circle.
- No student may speak a second/third time until every student has had an opportunity to place his/her first/second token in the middle.
- Periodically, the wingmen in the outer circle will support the students in the inner circle with ideas and information from the text.
- When all tokens have been placed in the middle, students switch places so the outer circle becomes the inner circle.
- The discussion continues in the same manner as above.
- At the end of the discussion, students debrief about their learning and the experience.
Additional videos can be accessed using the following links:
AVID Resources
Online AVID Support
Daily/weekly elective class lesson plans
Informational/instructional videos, handouts and downloads over many AVID Essentials, including Writing, Inquiry, Tutorials, Data and Site Teams.
A time sensitive support and collaboration forum for AVID Elective Teachers and Site Coordinators, providing an opportunity to collaborate with other coordinators and teachers from all over the country about issues and topics affecting their students and classes right now.
This web meeting allows coordinators and teachers a wide variety of dates and times to choose from to best fits their schedule.
*If you would like access to any of these resources and do not currently have an account on my.Avid.org, contact Kelly Killorn
AVID Weekly Article of the Month:
Elementary: A New Home for Bison
- This article describes the process of quarantining genetically pure bison to ensure the animals are disease-free before releasing them back into the wild.
Secondary: The Gift of an iPhone and Fears of What it Takes Away
- In the article “The gift of an iPhone and fears of what it takes away,” the author reminds parents and kids that technology is a privilege, and it should be accompanied by rules, conditions, and consequences.
All AVID Weekly articles, lesson plans and activities are archived monthly and available in the following Google Folders for anyone to access and use:
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