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ADVANCEMENT VIA INDIVIDUAL DETERMINATION
ADVANCEMENT VIA INDIVIDUAL DETERMINATION
All of our more than 500 students in the AVID program were selected based on their potential to be enrolled in the most challenging curriculum we have to offer in middle school and in the effort to ensure they have the skills and meet the requirements to gain admittance to one of the ten PGCPS High School Specialty Programs during their 8th grade year. Students all meet the data profile (grades and test scores) upon entrance to the program but academic growth for all of them is the expectations as they challenge themselves to chase excellence and secure a strong academic future.
CLASS AGENDA
CLASS AGENDA
A weekly agenda we will be using to recap learning in class sessions.
Students who miss class for any reason (illness, Field trips, testing, etc.) should go to the agenda to keep up with class happenings and work missed.
Resources for current and past work will be posted here to support student initiative and independence.
AGENDA Book Expectations
AGENDA Book Expectations
Using the school provided agenda book or a replacement, students will track their daily work in each class and any assignments plus important dates and events.
The goal of the agenda is twofold:
Track work and assignments day to day.
Build the skill of using the academic langauge from each class to log and track progression of learning.
BINDER CHECKS
BINDER CHECKS
All AVID students must carry all of their materials for every class in a single three ring binder. A stater binder was provided in September for every student who needed one.
Binders should be organized and be inclusive of all student work in each of their classes, organized to find materials quickly.
The goal is to elevate the worth of individual work, reinforce the need for regular notetaking, and build a personal learning resource to review, reflect and study from.
AVID tutorials are the cornerstone of our work with students to help drive increases in GPA's and student success. Mining the Agenda Book entries for confusing items helps students pinpoint areas needing support.
The TRF is the tool where students begin to explore their confusions from academic classwork.
Finally students come together in a Tutorial session to share their points of confusion from classes and to support each other through Socratic questioning just like a college study group would operate.
Class overview: WHAT IS AVID?
Class overview: WHAT IS AVID?
AVID is designed to increase school wide learning and performance. The focus of AVID is to ensure that all students and most especially the least served students in the middle, capable of completing a college preparatory path, will succeed in rigorous curriculum, will enter mainstream activities of the school, will increase their enrollment in four-year universities and colleges, and will become educated and responsible participants in a democratic society.
AVID is an academic, regularly scheduled elective class based on writing as a tool of learning, inquiry method, and collaborative grouping. The three main components of the program are academic instruction, tutorial support, and motivational activities. The goal of AVID is to educate the "whole student." This is achieved by unifying six important elements of education: students, curriculum, faculty, tutors, parents and community.
AVID Curriculum
The AVID curriculum, based on over 30 years of research and rigorous standards, is developed by middle and senior high school teachers in collaboration with college professors, and emphasizes teaching pedagogy which focuses on writing-to-learn, inquiry, collaboration and reading for comprehension. This allows college preparatory classes to be accessible to all students.
AVID Tutors
Tutors working with students during the AVID elective classroom setting is a hallmark of the program. As students from colleges and universities, tutors also serve as role models. Tutors are trained at the district level to provide academic support. They receive 16 hours of instructional training in writing, inquiry, collaboration and reading for comprehension. Tutors use Socratic dialogue while facilitating their group. Students learn a small group tutorial format analogous to study groups in the college setting.
AVID and IB
Both AVID and IB recognize the potential in all students. Both programs focus on the student as the center of the process, dealing with the whole child and providing the framework and the opportunity through which students can learn to be successful. This seems collaboration is just natural. Working together will can help more students to success.
IB provides a widely recognized, rigorous curriculum and assessment scheme that gives AVID students the perfect opportunity to demonstrate and apply the skills they have learned through AVID. The teaching practices in IB classrooms, the emphasis on learning skills and the many options for students to work towards their strengths all come together to allow AVID students to make that final step to post-secondary admission and success. IB has ample evidence that IB students are admitted, retained, and graduate at higher rates than the general population and those statistics include many students in IB schools with AVID strengths behind them.
In our own backyard, we have been able to demonstrate a clear connection between success in middle school AVID and completion of the IB's Diploma Programme at Laurel HS. Over half of the students from Dwight D. Eisenhower MS completing the IB's Diploma Programme ar Laurel HS are former AVID students.
Course Objectives
Course Objectives
AVID ELECTIVE OBJECTIVES
AVID ELECTIVE OBJECTIVES
Student Agency 8.SA
Student Agency 8.SA
Student Empowerment
1. Explore and pursue leadership opportunities in extracurricular and community service activities within the school and local and/or global community
2. Evaluate the impact of decisions on the world
3. Effectively manage stress and anxiety levels, including areas such as test preparation and test taking
4. Create a systematic decision-making model for personal financial decisions and circumstances
5. a) Maintain a strong support network for academic and career success b) Identify mentors to influence, support, and guide future transitions and success 6. Apply strategies to support motivation, especially when lacking intrinsic motivation
7. a) Strengthen ability to self-advocate related to areas of need b) Leverage support network to assist with areas of need
8. a) Reflect on current status and skills to strengthen mental flexibility now and in the future b) Recognize and overcome obstacles that could hinder future success
9. Apply self-awareness strategies and skills with a variety of academic challenges
10. Employ key learning points in real-world applications
Leadership of Others
1. Assess personal traits connected to integrity and ethical leadership
2. Pursue leadership and/or mentorship opportunities in the school and community
3. Reflect on conflict situations to strengthen ability to deal with the emotions that accompany conflict in leadership roles
Rigorous Academic Preparedness 8.AP
Rigorous Academic Preparedness 8.AP
Writing
1. a) Develop writing skills related to timed, argumentative, and descriptive modes of writing b) Gather information related to the writing prompt to generate a bank of resources and information c) Compose first drafts with a focus on establishing a clear purpose for the writing
2. Utilize inquiry strategies to develop additional questions as needed
3. Independently create and execute a plan for the revision process
4. Analyze the language of writing and edit for voice, flow, and clarity
5. Publish writing to an audience outside of the classroom, such as an online forum
6. a) Take notes with an emphasis on selecting the appropriate format for note-taking based on the note-taking objective b) Take notes with an emphasis on using strategies to organize notes (e.g., indentation, bullets, outlines, skipping lines, color-coding)
7. Reflect on how notes help to meet the learning objective and contribute to academic and personal success
Inquiry
1. Use questioning techniques to think critically about content and concepts
2. Generate questions based on a misunderstood concept or problem
3. Determine modifications to the process that would be needed to solve similar problems
4. Reflect on learning to make connections between new learning and the broader world
5. Reflect throughout learning on progress and continually adjust actions on major tasks or assignments
6. Reflect throughout a process on progress and continually adjust actions
7. Develop research questions/claim statements that effectively address the research prompt
8. Determine the perspective, validity, and reliability of information found within sources with the use of multiple sources (such as books, articles, and websites)
9. Synthesize information, sources, and data that support the research prompt
10. Construct written claims and support them with reasoning and evidence
11.Publish research to an audience outside of the classroom
Collaboration
1. Negotiate roles within a collaborative group through the adoption of effective elements of collaboration
2. Integrate multiple perspectives into group products
3. Deepen relational capacity through the creation of novel ideas and solutions
4. Interact with peers in complex situations (providing feedback, conflict management, academic discourse) while maintaining a focus on respect, trust, and empathy
5. Support all group members’ understanding of key concepts
6. Utilize technology to connect to the global community and to explore topics from multiple perspectives
7. Adjust ineffective verbal and nonverbal communication into effective communication
8. Demonstrate active listening by asking clarifying questions
9. Demonstrate command of grammar when communicating
10. Speak effectively before the whole class
Organization
1. a) Develop efficient, individualized routines related to using organizational tools and planning strategies to enhance academic performance b) Reflect on the use of an activity log or tracking system for community extracurricular activities and hours
2. a) Understand and demonstrate the concepts and practices of backward mapping b) Identify upcoming events to proactively avoid time-management conflicts
3. Create short- and mid-range goals that support achievement of long-term goals
4. Modify goals and actions appropriately based on progress
5. Manage varied visual frameworks to organize language and show relationships between key concepts
Reading
1. Select texts and justify how they meet the reading purpose 2. Build background knowledge related to the text preview
3. Connect vocabulary within texts to broader concepts in the text
4. Create text-dependent questions while reading that align with the reading purpose
5. Extend beyond the text by analyzing how to best apply key learning
Opportunity Knowledge 8.OK
Opportunity Knowledge 8.OK
Advancing College Preparedness
1. Refine key personal attributes for academic, social, and financial fit related to college selection
2. a) Reflect on current GPA and how it relates to choosing a college and career path b) Compare various college campus structures, services, and opportunities
3. Research and evaluate scholarship offerings, including FAFSA
4. a) Produce long-term academic plans that align with goals b) Plan for a successful transition to the next step in the academic journey c) Gain exposure to pathways offering work opportunities (credentials, certifications, internships, etc.)
5. a) Engage in information gathering to determine match, reach, and safety schools in order to mitigate “summer melt” and undermatching during the selection process b) Determine whether additional test prep and testing is needed to reach scholarships goals
Building Career Knowledge
1. a) Develop an authentic and personal definition of success b) Refine key personal attributes for academic, social, and financial fit related to career selection
2. a) Gain awareness of how academic performance links to career performance and success b) Expand thinking about potential career fields by encouraging discovery of a variety of career fields and the opportunities therein c) Develop knowledge and gain exposure to transitional phases related to work life
3. Identify best-fit career fields based on academic, social, and financial fit to develop short- and long-term career pathways
4. Engage in real-world experiences within career fields of interest, such as service learning projects, job-shadowing opportunities, or internship possibilities
OUR CURRENT LEARNING UNIT
OUR CURRENT LEARNING UNIT
Mr. Mellen
Mr. Mellen
About me
About me
I have been teaching at Dwight D. Eisenhower MS since 2007 and have worked in PGCPS since 1999. In that time I have taught RELA 7 and 8, ESOL Beginners, 8th grade Science, 7th grade Social Studies and the AVID elective course. I am currently the master scheduler for our school and one of the AVID Elective teachers.
I grew up in Pennsylvania and I was the first in my family to graduate from college. My parents sacrificed a lot to make sure my sisters and I could all attend and complete college. All three of us graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, and all three of us went on to earn Master's Degrees.
Despite all of that, the truth is that I was not the best student (except during my Master's program). I had trouble with studying, turning in work, being generally unmotivated, and pushing my teachers' buttons. I always seemed to be in some kind of trouble or behind on deadlines. Along the way, though, I was lucky to have two very influential teachers who pushed me in the right direction at just the right times in my life.
My goal teaching AVID is to help press every one of the students I work with closer to their own right directions, whatever those might be - but focused on some type of post high school learning in an area that they find fascinating. That's the secret I discovered to earn good grades - to be so interested and invested that the work doesn't even seem like work.
Thanks for entrusting your children to me this year. It's going to be a most excellent journey.
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