AVID Library: Check it out!

The AVID library is now open for those who want to read all about it.
Advancement Via Individual Determination is a program designed to help under-served kids “in the middle” achieve in rigorous coursework to better prepare for college. Mrs. Elisabeth Sonis is teaching an AVID section of 30 freshmen, but AVID does not stop there. AVID offers training and methods all teachers can use, which is where the AVID library comes into play.
A small AVID library of staff development materials are available for checkout in the conference room across from Jay Crystal’s office.
Each of the books is reviewed below by Ryan Somerville, who taught AVID for three years in Freeport Illinois.

Implementing & Managing the AVID Program, High School: This is the book for those who want to join the AVID team. You know, teachers like you! This book details the AVID methodologies of WICR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration and Reading—AVID is a lot like alphabet soup!), and shows the AVID plan for ensuring that students “in the middle” have access to and success in a rigorous curriculum. If you did not attend the AVID summer institutes and want a thorough description of the program, this is the book.

College & Careers, Student Guide: This book does what AVID does best: break down the path to college into achievable steps. There are over 100 pages of reproducible activities helping students explore their goals, career aspirations, decision making, and junior and senior year checklists for the college bound. I went to college because my friends and family did. I didn’t know any better, it was just how the system worked for me. This volume explains the system to the kid who may not be aware of the hidden rules one needs to know to be on the right track to college.

Strategies for Success, Student Guide: College is not easy, nor is getting ready for it. This volume details for the student the AVID methodologies in easy to understand introductory lessons. It also has great reproducibles for the teacher. The volume covers Cornell notes and learning logs, study groups and time management, as well as behavior issues such as conflict management and communication skills. Choosing the path to college can be surprisingly stressful to kids. This book has some tools to help them manage the trip!

High School Writing, Teacher Guide: Having taken an eight year hiatus from teaching AVID, it is the expansion of the AVID language arts curriculum that has impressed me the most. This 400 plus page volume is packed full of lesson ideas and methods. Sure, you have probably seen them before and probably use a lot of them, but having them in one book without the college textbook style explanations justifying their psychological validity is very nice. Activities include AVID methodologies such as Cornell notes, the writing process, vocabulary, sentence analysis and revision, reflective writing, expository and persuasive writing. Great one-stop shopping for the English teacher.

World Languages Supplement, Teacher Guide: This is the thinnest in the library. It offers the same explanations of Cornell Notes and the AVID methodologies of writing, inquiry, collaboration and reading. Example methods in the book apply to ELL and foreign language classrooms. Activities include circle of conversation, storyboards, living history, acrostics, on/off transparencies, quickwrite, writearound, 5 x 5, superbowl, draw and guess, match-ups, line-ups. Methods seem to stress fun for reluctant learners.