Freshman Academy AVID Focus

What does AVID stand for?

Advancement Via Individual Determination

AVID Mission

AVID's mission is to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society.

What is our AVID focus?

The Freshman Academy will be focusing on two AVID strategies this school year. Focused note-taking and e-binders.

Strategy 1: Focused note taking

• Note-taking skills are critical in secondary school and college settings. Effective listening, clear handwriting, organized outlines and recording of key points are among the most critical note-taking skills. This AVID technique is being interwoven in all our Freshman Academy core classes to improve students skills and enhances academic success.

• Five Phases of Focused Note-Taking

Strategy 2: E-Binders

• The AVID eBinder is organized into units of instruction. Each unit is then divided into task pages, which are smaller chunks of learning content, like a lesson, activity, lab, or step in a process. Each task page is divided into four elements:

  1. Essential Question

     • The essential question is used by students to guide thinking and frame note-taking in order to accomplish an authentic task.

  2. Focused Note-Taking

     • A five-phase note-taking process that can be used and adapted for various note-taking purposes and embraces a variety of note-taking formats.

  3. Learning Artifacts

     • A student-created product in which students capture the learning that happened in class and revise it in order to add the metacognitive hooks that support deeper understanding and recall of information.

  4. Learning Blog

     • A place for students to synthesize what and how they learn through writing.