AVID also support students in developing the college-readiness skills of learning through writing, focused note-taking, and supporting the writing process. The act of putting thoughts into writing and sharing them with others can motivate students to provide evidence, details, and support for their views. Reading comprehension increases when students are required to process text-based ideas that they must subsequently summarize or reflect upon through writing. Writing also prepares students for classroom discussions, inquiries, and collaboration opportunities. While educators occasionally refer to summarization and note-taking as mere “study skills,” they are two of the most powerful skills that students can cultivate.

Writing is a complex task that depends on knowledge of a large body of skills, abilities, and collaboration within each phase of the process. Students who become proficient with all stages of the writing process become flexible, proficient writers who are able to adapt to various purposes. Effective writers spend most of their time in the pre-writing and revising stages, while continuously gathering feedback from peers and instructors throughout the process. External feedback (from teacher and peers), along with self-reflection and formative evaluation, allow the writer to think critically about the purpose and content of their writing as they strive to communicate effectively.

We work on improving our writing skills in AVID a lot!

At the heart of inquiry is the creation of a learner who will think deeply about content in order to arrive at a more complete level of understanding. Inquiry within the classroom fosters an environment where students question, analyze, discuss, and construct a greater understanding of the world around them and the content being studied. A key to successfully integrating inquiry within the classroom is an understanding that questions—specifically ones that lead to deeper levels of thought—must be both teacher- and student-driven. A well-crafted question can guide students to a deeper examination of their learning so that they can approach an answer only after considering multiple perspectives and sources.

AVID focuses on developing collaborative skills through relational-capacity building activities, as well as structures to support collaboration throughout instruction. Collaboration affords students the opportunity to work with peers in various group configurations as they engage subject matter across content areas. While collaborating in small groups students learn to work together to inquire, explore, and answer questions. They become better listeners, thinkers, speakers, and writers; they discover ideas and remember them because they are actively involved.

Organization is multifaceted and not only centers around the ability to manage materials, but also around the ability to organize thinking, time and self. Hence, organizational skills are both mental and physical. In the AVID classroom, these skills are the foundation for success and are visible across all components of WICOR. The components and activities laid in building organizational skills within students—where in the beginning, the related skills are explicitly taught, and throughout the year, responsibilities are gradually released to students.

AVID focuses on reading to learn through the use of critical reading strategies. Some key critical reading strategies teach students to apply comprehension before, during, and after reading. Successful students often apply many reading strategies simultaneously. Lessons to illustrate vocabulary-learning techniques are integrated into meaning-making activities that teach academic language within the context of comprehension and communication tasks.

A strong vocabulary makes us better readers.

AVID-9 student sample

In today's world, so much of our reading is from an electronic copy. AVID students learn how to mark the text digitally to increase engagement.

AVID-9 student sample