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AVID , which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination is a college preparatory program that has been on Dobie’s campus for seven years. It is offered as an elective class that meets five times each week during school hours with the purpose of supporting core-class curriculum.
Students receive two days of instruction in scholastic readiness skills, two days in tutor-led study groups and one day in motivational activities -- field trips, service projects, guest speakers, academic survival skills, inductive thinking, and more.
In the AVID classroom, the program also provides students with study skills, including time management, note-taking, and online research. Cornell notes, weekly goal sheets, learning logs and homework are kept in AVID binders. Time-management calendars and assignment logs are kept in school agendas. AVID tools help students organize their daily routines. And, while all of that is amazingly helpful to Dobie’s college-bound students, and by association, their peers, AVID research says we can do more!
Our campus goals for AVID this year are three-fold: Expand AVID methodology to all classrooms where writing, inquiry, collaboration and reading occur; improve the organizational skills of AVID students and incoming 6th graders by using AVID strategies; and, increase site team enrollment in AVID’s summer training institute.
While AVID has been on our campus at Dobie for seven years and in the state of Texas since 1997, it has an even longer history of helping students across the world.
In 1980, federal courts mandated segregation in San Diego, California. Mary Catherine Swanson, head of the English department at San Diego’s academically praised Clairemont High School feared that new students would not have the same advantages as those who had come from Clairemont’s feeder schools. Her solution was to create the AVID program; an elective class that is more like a philosophy. Swanson determined that holding students accountable to the highest standards, while providing academic and social support, would allow these new students to rise to the challenge.
Today, this program that started with 32 students in one classroom in San Diego, now serves over 200,000 students in over 2,700 middle schools and high schools in 39 states and in the District of Columbia across 15 countries.
And, we are growing still.
Update November, 2007 New Program Takes Root This year at J. Frank Dobie an exciting new initiative has taken root! “Sprouting Healthy Kids” is an after-school program that takes place every Wednesday in which Dobie students and teachers grow fresh produce in a garden they planted in October. Lisa Laykasek, Dobie Science Teacher, sponsors the program on campus. “I really enjoy seeing these kids get into the garden and light up with discovery,” Laykasek says. “This is all so new to them. I hope we [create] life-long memories for these students.” Dobie’s gardening program is a cooperation between the Sustainable Food Center (SFC) (www.sustainablefoodcenter.org) and Austin ISD. One branch of SFC, the Community and Youth Gardening provides resources for area students to learn the art of food production and organic gardening. According to its Website, the vision of the SFC is to “create a healthy community where healthy adults and children are able to grow, share and prepare their own food while minimizing our impact on our natural resources.” Though this is Dobie’s first year with the SFC, it began as Austin Community Gardens (ACG) as a YWCA project in 1975. In 1987, ACG became a non-profit organization and in 1993, Sustainable Food Center was established. The very next year, the SFC was awarded a grant by the National Center for Appropriate Technology for Significant Achievement in the Field of Sustainable Agriculture. After over a decade of awards that followed, SFC started a farm-to-school food systems education project called Sprouting Healthy Kids in 2006. According to its founders, the project is “designed to bring fresh produce from local farmers into Austin-area low-income middle schools and teach children about new foods and healthy eating behaviors through gardening projects and nutrition education programs.” Dobie student Sara G. has been a part of the project for over a month. “Gardening makes me feel happy and good and calm. I am meeting new friends, having a lot of fun and learning new things.” Student Rachel E. concurs, “Gardening relaxes me. I have fun making friends, plus I can eat what I grow as I learn about how healthy it is.” Student Glenesha reports that she likes gardening because it’s brand new to her… Planting the seeds to new adventures and new knowledge is what Dobie is good at doing. Moreover, our students continue to cultivate their newest interests as part of a program that will proudly continue to bloom on the back lots of our campus. Christy J. Barrett AVID coordinator / READ 180 instructor J. Frank Dobie Middle School Tutors Needed!
Engaging Guest Speakers Needed!
Jumpstart's Read for the Record Dobie Middle School’s AVID program was pleased to participate in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, a national campaign to engage tens adults and children all across America in setting the world record for the largest shared reading experience ever. Dobie Middle School’s AVID program gave its full support to this campaign on on Oct. 12 at Hart Elementary School by reading to over 200 kindergarteners and pre-K students. This is Dobie's second year with the program. Dobie AVID students recommend other ways for us all to become involved in helping today’s youngsters love to read: · Volunteer your time to work with children and teachers at a school, community center, Head Start or child care program · Support the creation of high quality preschool experiences in your local community, state, and across the country · Thank early childhood educators and others who play a vital role in preparing young children to succeed in school and beyond. Consider donating a book to one of the many at-risk children who have no books in their homes. You can do this at www.readfortherecord.org.English & Language Arts Rigor in the Classroom
AVID SCRAPBOOK - Click pictures to see larger versions and see what AVID is doing at Dobie!
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