AVID Article in Local Paper

Today an article was published in the local paper about AVID and the upcoming AVID job fair.  


Mr. Duez and Ms. Tibbetts (seen in the picture to the right) were quoted a few times in the story.  I think the author Mike Morris did a GREAT job.  He captured AVID perfectly.  Thanks to him for helping us get the word out about the program and finding tutors to help our kids.


Here is a link and part of the story:  Ultimate Lake Houston - Humble ISD AVID Program Focuses on Potential

July 29, 2010 10:50 am

 

Mike Morris wrote:

The Humble Independent School District will hold a job fair on Aug. 12 for tutors interesting in assisting its AVID program, an effort aimed at helping students reach their full academic potential.

The program, Advancement Via Individual Determination, targets students who are capable of challenging themselves in school but may not be doing so. These kids are then enrolled in honors courses and supported with small-group tutoring and a study-skills curriculum. The ultimate goal is success at a four-year university.

AVID, starting its fourth year in Humble ISD, is now offered as an elective class in every middle and high school. Central to the effort are the college and some advanced high school students who visit AVID classes twice each week to tutor small groups of pupils as they transition to tougher coursework.

The job fair will be held 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the board room at the Administration Building, 20200 Eastway Village Drive. All tutors receive 16 hours of training in AVID techniques, and are paid for their time.

Returning tutor Raisa Byers, 21, a student at Houston Baptist University, said the work involves some social guidance as well as academic counseling.

“It’s so much more than you helping them with their homework,” she said. “To have someone besides their family to encourage them and be a positive influence in their life, it really does make a difference to see how much kids need that, how important it is to them.”

Byers and her 80 or so fellow tutors across the district work with four to seven kids in each AVID class. Their students must come to each session with at least two questions about their coursework.

“I’ve helped a student on their homework or review for a test and then they come back the next week with an A on their paper and say, ‘You helped me with this,’” Byers said. “To know that you’re helping a child succeed academically and personally and socially — it’s so rewarding.”

The tutoring is about collaboration, not giving hints, said Susan Tibbetts, who coordinates the AVID program throughout Humble ISD.

“It’s teaching them to think ahead about the questions that they have in their courses and then helping them figure out . . . how to find the answers on their own,” Tibbetts said. “The other members of the group will say, ‘Have you checked your notes? What about this?’ They question them to death and they eventually figure out the answer.”

This approach appears to be working. Sixty percent of AVID graduates enroll in four-year colleges, according to the Humble ISD figures. Another third initially enroll in community colleges; many later transition to four-year schools, Tibbetts said. Almost 90 percent of AVID graduates who enroll in college graduate.

“A lot of them, I would say almost without exception, didn’t realize they had the potential,” Tibbetts said. “They just didn’t realize that they needed to be in the advanced class.”

This success doesn’t happen magically, however. Supporting the students is a lot of work, said David Duez, an Atascocita High School history and AVID teacher.

Not only do AVID teachers work closely with the students for four years, counseling them through hard times personally and academically, Duez said, but AVID teachers also must monitor all of their 60 or more AVID students’ grades.

“Teachers come to me and they say, ‘What’s going on with Billy?’ or, ‘What’s going on with José?’ They want to know that from me before they even call home,” Duez said.

Despite the taxing transition to a more emotionally demanding role, Duez said the aim of the program and the success it fosters keep him motivated. He would have been an AVID kid growing up, he said.

“The biggest thing that has kept me going with AVID is the mission behind it and what it is that we’re trying to build, for not just each individual student but for our school and our community,” Duez said. “What AVID does is remind everyone we really should be asking more from these kids.”

It was very cool to be interviewed about AVID and I was honored to represent the program.  A couple of years ago I was interviewed by the local Kingwood cable channel about the program and tutoring as well.  You can see that interview here:  http://avidahs.blogspot.com/2008/09/tv-interview.html


Last year I was interviewed by another local paper because of our AVID program's involvement in Road Trip Nation.  You can see that article here:  http://avidahs.blogspot.com/2009/12/road-trip-nation-article-about-ahs-in.html 


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AVID in college? It is at UTMB

UTPB to implement pilot AVID program

Very interesting article. I had heard that some California schools have AVID at the college level for freshmen, but never in Texas.

A progressive curriculum that has worked wonders at local public schools for at-risk, average-achieving students with college in their sights may soon be making its way up the educational ladder to the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

For the first time in the university’s history, the Advancement Via Individual Determination program — which is more popularly know by the acronym AVID — may have found a new permanent home among some of UTPB’s freshmen seminar classes.

Only two years after its implementation at Ector County Independent School District campuses, the program already has experienced explosive growth and success in local secondary schools by targeting at-risk students with average grades and helping them move toward their goals of going to college.

So AVID’s sonic boom has reverberated throughout the area, catching the attention of higher education officials in the northeast side of town.

Rey Lascano, special assistant to the president and director of continuing education and outreach at UTPB, said the university plans to implement a pilot program this fall semester in two of its freshmen seminar classes that utilizes many of the AVID curriculum’s hallmarks.

"This is a program that’s been successful just about everywhere that it’s been implemented," he said. "All you have coming from something like this is a win-win."

Very interesting.

Cornell Notes & Philosophical Chairs

Today and tomorrow I am a presenter in my district for AVID Path Training in Social Studies. Basically it's two days of time with middle and high school teachers to present 'best teaching practices' to them. The great thing about the training is that we actually 'do' and model the work.

Today we focused on topics like Using Poetry, Cornell Notes, Jigsawing, Quick Writes, and Philosophical Chairs. Two things jump out to me and seemed to be significant. First, teachers really appreciate well-prepared and on task professional development. A teacher stopped me and my partner about an hour in and announced how excited he was that this training was going so well. He has been through three professional development experiences this summer and was stunned that we were on the ball. It was great to see how appreciative he and others were.

The other thing that stood out was how two techniques went over well with the teachers. The first was Cornell Notes. It may have been the best and most clearly designed Cornell Notes lesson that I have taught. (I might finally be getting the hang of this thing) Here is the power point that I used to introduce C Notes:
AVID HISTORY PATH: Cornell Notes

At the end of the power point, I distributed a sample of US History Cnotes with a grading rubric on the flip side. Then I had each of the participants grade it for themselves. Then we did "4 Corners" and had the teachers go to an A, B, and C corner (There were no Ds). After discussing it in their corner group, one person presented the faults they had with the notes.

This was a wonderful way of emphasizing with the teachers what good note taking is and how they could do this with their students to impart just how to take notes and what the teacher is looking for. I think it went over very well.

Also we did a wonderful Philosophical Chairs debate. The teachers got into it. The first thing I did was show my power point on PChairs to introduce the rules:
AVID HISTORY PATH: Philosophical Chairs PPT
Then we modeled Philosophical Chairs with this question:
Should the "Cash for Clunkers" program be continued by Congress?
The debate was split in 1/2 and was very lively, but well mannered. I think the teachers got a great feel for just how they can use it.

I am looking forward to presenting Engaging the Text, Document-Based Questions, Free Response Questions and Socratic Seminar tomorrow. This has been a wonderful group to work with. I can't believe that school starts in less than 2 weeks!

AVID Field Trip

Some of you may have been wondering, "Where was Mr. Duez on Tuesday?"


Yesterday we took our AVID freshmen class to Rice University. It was a great trip and a BEAUTIFUL day. Perfect weather. It is really an amazing university. The kids were blown away and exhausted when we got back to school.

This is a picture of me and my other AVID freshmen team member. She has a class of freshmen AVID as well. I am so lucky to work with such great people.



I told you it was a beautiful day. But, we are now 4 for 4 in beautiful days for field trips. We have had amazing luck with the weather over the past two years.