Advancement Via Individual Determination.

Speaker 1:  Ok, so hey we are the 7^th grade AVID class at Boeblingen Middle School,  We are here to talk to you about AVID. We are going to tell you about the causes and effects of  AVID. We are La, Ciara, Esh, and Justav.  (not real names)

 What is AVID?

Avid is a class to get you prepared for the future. Basically, it gets you ready for college. “One world one binder.”  This means that everything you need is in one binder. You can be prepared for every class with all your required materials.

 Speaker 2:  Every Tuesday and Thursday are arranged days for tutorials. Tutorials are helpful days where special tutors come in to explain questions about classes you are having trouble in.  To be prepared for tutorials, you must have a tutorial request form with two questions ready and handed in before the bell rings. Each of these questions have to be according to the Costa’s Levels of questioning. Some of you have might even heard about this routine from Language Arts at the beginning of the year of 7^th grade.

 Speaker 3:   Cornell notes are the main idea of AVID. They are notes taken in a special way to help students understand the main idea of the information given in the class. These notes can be very helpful when it comes to studying for tests. On the left side about 3 inches from the red line is a line made by students to write questions about the topic. On the right side, comes the actual notes. Whatever notes come about on the board or what important points come out of the teacher’s mouth. Sometimes when a teacher really wants you to write something down into your notes, they will either raise their voice or repeat the statement.  

Speaker 1:  Notebook checks, oh man watch out. You’d better have your binder ready and prepared at all times..

In your binder you’d better have this:

Notes taken in class properly about 10-15 per week.

Learning logs if you didn’t take notes in class.

Assignment logs, fill ‘em out or your gonna have a lot of make up work. Assignment logs have the assignment due date, how many points you’ve earned, the points possible, the date it’s required to be turned in and the date it was turned in and the subject.

Dividers

Pencils pens, HIGHLIGHTERS—for note taking.

Assignments

Handouts

Worksheets

Writing Paper

Speaker 4:  Every couple of weeks we have AVID Alerts. AVID Alerts are ways to be notified of your grades. Our AVID teacher hands out  a slip of paper that has all of our class period or hours. We fill them out with the class and teacher name. Then we  hand it to them and kindly request that they write our current grades. They then sign it and we take it back to our AVID teacher after our parent or guardian signs it. These are a good way to see how you can improve in your classes and how you are doing. We can also use these grades to see in which classes we need to ask tutorial questions.   

Speaker 2:  On other days, besides Tutorials, there are also many different activities that are being done in class. Many writing activities are done throughout the week. There are also many lessons on preparing for your future. Sometimes there are special college students and financial advisors that come in to talk. Although this class sounds pretty hard, turns out its really not. You just have to be determined enough to get your work finished on time.

 Family workshops are a whole different story. One of our AVID participants makes really good food. On these nights there are special treats and useful information given out to you and your parents. This workshop is a family deal. You bring the whole family and they all participate in the nights plan.  

Speaker 4:  Philosophical chairs are an important part in AVID. Philosophical chairs is basically a debate over a controversy. Three sides of  the question are formed. The yes side, the no side and the stuck in the middle side. When the debate starts each person gives their ideas, and has to wait after two people to say another statement. The  next person to speak must acknowledge the previous person’s statement but not interrupt the person who was talking.  

Examples:

I hear what your saying, but..

I understand…

I get what your saying…however 

The people who really don’t have an idea for this debate will go to the back of the room until they decide a side they’ve chosen to be on. The people in the back cannot elaborate on someone else’s statement, or talk until they choose a side. If someone on the other side persuades the other person on the opposite side to change their thoughts, they may move to the other side. To be successful in this debate, you must have a good idea of the topic and have good facts that you can back up.  

Speaker 3:  So lets move on to National History Day.  National History Day is a competition where middle and high school students research a topic they have chosen that fits to the theme. This year the whole AVID class attended this competition because it relates to WICR which is Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Reading. All of these elements were used in the researching for National History Day.

 Another fun school-wide event sponsored by the PTA is Traditions Around the World. We participated in this event during the wintertime. This was an event made for students to see how the world has different cultures and how they celebrate their holidays. For this event we made food, crafts, and decorations.

 Speaker 1:  Work hard, play hard; this is a motto that our AIVD teacher uses. Every Friday we have a kick back day. We just chill and eat popcorn. If we have time, we just sit and talk.  We have fun activities that we do all period. For example, we watch movies and play a variety of games.

 So this is our practical AVID life. AVID is a combination of hard work, determination, and mostly organization. The benefits from AVID include  your grades rising, better note taking strategies,  and great social skills.

 This has been La, Esh, Ciara, and Justav speaking for AVID!